Nabil Maghnie both friends and enemies with underworld heavyweights
Nabil Maghnie was known as one of Melbourne’s most dangerous men, with powerful friends and enemies in the underworld. It was a miracle he made it to 44, given the “long list” of potential enemies.
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Nabil Maghnie reaching 44 was like a normal person living to 120, it was observed on Friday.
Maghnie had twice survived being shot, driving himself to hospital on one occasion with wounds that would leave him in an induced coma.
A few years back, he and mates punched on with seven Mongol bikies in a brutal brothel confrontation.
Last May – loaded on cocaine – he walked away from the kind of warp-speed road smash which would have been fatal in a lot of cases.
“He was just too hot for too long,” one seasoned detective said.
“He was a crime-wave on his own.”
Father-of-five Maghnie rode his luck for two decades, until it ran out on Thursday night at Epping.
It is unclear how many people he shot but sources believe he would have made double figures.
Maghnie operated in a world of shadowy car park meetings, cashing in on the kind of intimidation his reputation generated.
In the process, he made some serious enemies in the outlaw motorcycle gangs and Middle-Eastern organised crime groups.
“He wouldn’t have been buying his bananas green,” one underworld source said on Friday.
Maghnie’s world had started to close in over the past year.
In April, he became a person of interest to Taskforce Sector homicide detectives who were investigating the double-fatal Love Machine drive-by shooting in South Yarra.
Sector also had him under fierce scrutiny over the ambush murder at Dandenong last March of crime figure Mitat Rasimi, a former Tony Mokbel associate.
Tight bail conditions over the road smash had restricted his movements and, possibly, his ability to carry the tool of his trade, a gun.
Those who know of his activities say that, despite the violent and impulsive reputation, he was nobody’s fool.
“He seriously flew under the radar. He was very smart,” one police source said.
But, even if he wanted to stay low-key, that became impossible after the Love Machine shooting last April.
His son, 18-year-old Jacob Elliott, was charged with two counts of murder over the deaths of security guard Aaron Osmani and patron Richard Arow outside the popular club.
Daughter Sabrine had allegedly been ejected from the venue in the weeks leading up to the shooting.
Investigators were believed to have received something of a gift when a Suzuki Swift allegedly linked to the shootings was found near the scene three days later.
It was across the street from another Suzuki which had been incinerated, probably in a bungled attempt to destroy evidence.
One of Maghnie’s sons – Ali Maghnie – was allegedly booted from Love Machine just hours before the fatal drive-by shooting.
After Ali was thrown out police believe he went straight to his father’s Docklands apartment.
It is alleged he met Moussa Hamka there, who police say disposed of the murder weapon used in the shooting — a .32 Calibre pistol.
Another man, Allan Fares, has also been charged with the alleged Love Machine murders.
Maghnie was arrested at his Bundoora home on November 8 by detectives from Sector.
The arrest came after a day of raids connected to the Rasimi murder.
After his arrest Maghnie emerged from Melbourne West police station and warned waiting media to turn their cameras off. He said he didn’t even know Rasimi had been killed.
“Not at all, I didn’t even know he was dead,” he told media when asked if he knew why Rasimi was murdered.
“I’ve got no f---en clue” he said of the investigation.
He told media to “f–k off” when asked why police were at his house and refused to comment on what he was questioned about.
On Friday, he was described as a “prominent member of the Middle Eastern organised crime scene” in Melbourne by one experienced investigator.
Sources told the Herald Sun it was “only a matter of time” before Maghnie was killed and there was a “long list” of potential suspects.
Another law enforcement source said “a few will be celebrating”.
One figure who spent time with Maghnie described him as intelligent and someone who was able to operate in gangland circles but still function in the “squarehead” sphere.
“He certainly had his own set of morals, in a weird way. They’re a bit out of whack with everyone else’s,” he said.
“I always found him to be hospitable.”
Others were not so complimentary.
One person familiar with his activities said Maghnie got his way via intimidation and a reputation which gave him strong powers of persuasion.
Certainly, there are shooting victims who suffered memory loss when approached by police after encounters with him.
In July 2016 Maghnie attacked a feared Middle Eastern organised crime figure at Crown Casino, throwing a punch at him moments after seeing him at the venue’s Atrium Bar.
An all-out brawl erupted with punches and bar stools sent flying.
Maghnie was on the radar of Victoria Police’s anti-bikie Echo Taskforce for many years.
He was regularly linked to the Comanchero gang and was well known to some of its most senior figures, including national president Mick Murray and office-bearer Hasan Topal.
There are also indications he was at odds with the rival Mongols outfit.
He and two mates allegedly once fought seven of the bikies at the Gotham City brothel in South Melbourne.
In 2011, Maghnie came under scrutiny after the shooting of Bandido strongman Toby Mitchell outside the gang’s clubhouse in Brunswick.
The other person of interest in that matter was his mate Gavin Preston, now doing a minimum nine years in jail for shooting two drug dealers, one fatally.
It is not known whether Maghnie and Preston were still on good terms.
In 2016, he somehow survived an attempted hit after arriving for a meeting where he suffered bullet wounds to the face and chest.
Maghnie, who was once described as being involved in the building industry, just happened to be armed at the time.
It was later alleged that he fired eight shots from inside the vehicle as three were pumped through the windscreen by his would-be killer.
On another occasion, he was shot in the groin.
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In May last year, he survived a crash after allegedly rocketing along at 200km/h in a luxury Range Rover in Woodstock before hitting a roundabout and colliding with another vehicle.
He was considered a gun for hire and had a target on his back for most of his adult life.
Observers had been for some time wondering how much longer Maghnie’s good fortune could hold up.
They got an answer to that question on Thursday night in Daltons Rd when he died looking up at the sky with his arms and legs spread across the tarmac.