Inside the Mongols bikies gang upheaval that saw Toby Mitchell punted and underworld shocked

Victoria’s highest profile bikie, Toby Mitchell, wrongly thought being punted from the Mongols was an April Fool’s prank. But the club’s hostile takeover was no joke.

Toby Mitchell was ousted from the Mongols in a hostile takeover. Picture: Mark Stewart

Underworld figure Toby Mitchell thought fellow Mongols were pulling an April Fool’s prank on him when he was punted from gang.

The Sunday Herald Sun has been told Mitchell – Victoria’s highest-profile bikie – met with key gang powerbrokers at their Port Melbourne clubhouse on April 1.

It was there that he was told he was out of the feared outlaw motorcycle gang in a hostile takeover which shocked some in Melbourne’s underworld.

Mitchell is believed to have initially taken the decree as an April Fool’s Day prank but reality soon set in.

Sources said that by the next morning he had his Mongols tattoos removed at the City of Ink parlour in South Melbourne, operated by his great mate and former Richmond footballer Jake King.

Ex-Tigers player Jake King with ousted Mongol Toby Mitchell.

Gang rules dictate that departing members must erase or obscure their club tattoos.

It has been said that Mitchell’s continued association with one Melbourne crime figure was at the root of his expulsion and that those in the know would not have been at all surprised that he was ousted.

But others believe the call was tainted by resentment about his high profile.

Late Friday evening Mitchell posted on Instagram: “Your circle is supposed to be proud not jealous”.

It is unclear what the fallout will be.

Mitchell still has friends within the Mongols and there is speculation some may be weighing up their future with the international outfit.

But other observers are adamant no one is going anywhere.

The man himself is said to have indicated he is finished with the OMCG world but the fact is he remains one of its best-connected figures.

Nick 'The Knife' Forbes is at the helm of the new Mongols regime.

Phillip Main is Forbes’ sergeant-at-arms.

There are those who believe Mitchell would be a valuable acquisition for another club if he decided to sign on elsewhere.

He had previously been a member of the Bandidos and spent years out of bikie gangs before joining the Mongols.

The 47-year-old Mitchell has been shot twice previously and had a succession of scrapes with the law in recent years.

The new regime is being led by Queenslanders Nick “The Knife” Forbes and Phillip Main.

Mongols bikie Aaron Ong was charged with the shooting death of Paul Virgona.

Former Mongol Shane Bowden was killed in a hit on the Gold Coast.

Forbes is national president and Main, who moved to Victoria some years ago, his sergeant-at-arms.

It has already been a turbulent period for Victorian Mongols with serving and former members shot, others facing high-level criminal charges and, now, an apparent coup.

In 2019, Rocco Curra was shot and almost died in an ambush in the eastern suburbs.

Months later, fruiterer Paul Virgona was shot dead on the EastLink Freeway and Mongols Josh Rider and Aaron Ong later charged.

In 2020, Mongol Shane Bowden was released from prison and shot 15 days later at Epping. He died later that year in a hit on the Gold Coast.

Last year, Cobram-based sergeant-at-arms Joshua Eddy was arrested and charged with high-level drug offences.

The gang has recruited heavily in recent years, patching over many members of the Bandidos outfit.

Among them was that club’s former national president Jason Addison, an OMCG powerbroker in the Echuca area, which is viewed as a strategically important piece of the bikie landscape.

Originally published as Inside the Mongols bikies gang upheaval that saw Toby Mitchell punted and underworld shocked