Vince Focarelli vows he’ll fight bid to deport him from Australia over his criminal past
FORMER gang leader Vince Focarelli says he will fight a move to deport him from Australia. The controversial ex-bikie boss-turned-restaurateur has been served a “notice of intent’’ to cancel his visa.
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FORMER gang leader Vince Focarelli says he will fight a move to deport him from Australia.
Originally from Italy, the controversial ex-bikie boss turned restaurateur has been served a “notice of intent’’ to cancel his visa because of his shocking criminal past.
Focarelli now has 28 days in which to file a submission to the Immigration Department “justifying’’ why he should be allowed to remain on Australian soil.
His submission will be included in a report to federal Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton, who will then make the final decision.
Focarelli, who has cheated death on several occasions, on Thursday claimed he was yet to be served with any documentation and that he would fight the move to boot him out of the country.
“It was a shock to me and my family. It’s surreal. Still can’t get our heads around it,” he told Triple M’s Roo & Ditts.
“I’m a human being like everybody else, we have all made mistakes ...”
He said that he only learned about the move on Wednesday night.
“Prominent people welcome my new life, and believe me with conviction that I have changed,” he said.
“We will fight this with everything we have.”
Focarelli, who now goes by the name Imran Salaam, conceded he had a chequered past but claimed he was now a reformed man.
“It would have made more sense (to deport me) back in the past,” he told Channel 7’s Today Tonight.
“I know what I’ve done in the past that would attract this sort of attention but ... I’ve sort of settled down to the best of my ability and made progress in life and to do the right thing.
“To the government’s defence, if there’s any people in the community that feel that (I should be deported) I understand, and to their defence, they have every right.
“Jail was put in place for rehabilitation to give back to the community, I’ve done that ... I’ve paid my debt to society.”
Focarelli said his relationship with police had “never been this good, ever”.
Focarelli, who was a key figure in more than a decade of gang-related violence in Adelaide, is the 42nd South Australian to be targeted under the strengthened provisions of the Migration Act.
