Police foiled Christopher “Badness” Binse’s underworld plot moments before likely hit carried out

A PRISON rivalry spilled onto the streets when Christopher “Badness” Binse stuck a tracking device on standover man Gavin Preston’s car as a revenge kill plot over Toby Mitchell’s shooting.

Gavin Preston

A PRISON rivalry spilled on to the streets of Melbourne when Christopher “Badness” Binse stuck a tracking device on standover man Gavin Preston’s car as a revenge kill plot over the shooting of Bandido Toby Mitchell.

The Herald Sun can reveal the tit-for-tat underworld war in which a tracker was central to a kill plot averted by Victoria Police after it conducted a raid minutes ­before a likely hit.

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The details — and these jailhouse pictures of under-the-radar underworld figure Preston — follow his guilty plea this week over the killing of major drug dealer Adam Khoury in February 2012.

Khoury, who had been a leading drug supplier, was killed in his North Melbourne apartment after an argument with Preston over a drug debt and because he feared he would “lag” on him over another crime.

Sources have told the Herald Sun Khoury had inside knowledge of the shooting of Mitchell outside Doherty’s Gym in Brunswick in November 2011.

Before Mitchell’s shooting, Bandido Savvas Tsivicos was associating with Preston and pushing for him to be “patched” into the outlaw bikie club.

But police, despite questioning Preston about the murder attempt on Mitchell with a co-offender, did not have enough evidence to lay charges.

Preston has privately ­denied being involved in the murder attempt of Mitchell.

In the months after the Mitchell shooting, Binse would lay in wait with a firearm outside Preston’s house after following the tracking device to Melbourne’s southeast.

He fled the scene after ­special operations group police officers stormed the property as he watched from his car.

The abandoned car would later be searched by police who located the gun.

Mitchell, who quit the Bandidos in part over the club’s lack of response to his broad daylight shooting outside Doherty’s Gym and another unrelated bullet he took in 2013, was not happy.

Last year, Preston was stabbed in Barwon Prison by inmates believed to be associated with an outlaw bikie club member, but it has not been linked to ­Mitchell.

It can also be revealed Preston — a founder of the ­notorious Prisoners Of War gang with jailhouse killer Matthew Johnson — was interviewed by investigators over calls he made to Barwon prison before the murder of Carl ­Williams.

Preston, who was working in construction at the time of Williams’ killing in April 2010, was aware of an “outside man’’ involved in the crime.

There has been speculation payment was made to Johnson’s family after Williams’ death by the “outside man”, who is suspected to be a Mr Big currently going through the court system.

It is also believed:

POLICE intercepted Preston on his way to “see’’ Mick Gatto with a gun under the seat of a Mercedes-Benz with another criminal on Collins St in 2012;

PRESTON, a CFMEU member, was involved in extorting about $50,000 from Delta bosses after assaulting a co-worker and threatening and bashing a manager;

A FORMER highly trained police officer was hired by underworld figures to track Preston;

BINSE mouthed the words, “I’m coming for you, Gav”, after he was escorted by detectives into the bowels of Melbourne’s Magistrates’ Court following a 44-hour siege in Keilor; and

A PHOTO of Preston’s girlfriend was found on Binse’s mobile phone.

Preston and Johnson both graduated to killers after long and undistinguished criminal careers involving robberies and violence.

But before Johnson killed Williams, there was a fallout with ­Preston.

Part of the fallout was over Johnson’s ­alleged shooting of unarmed and unsuspecting 18-year-old Bryan Conyers in Pakenham in 2004.

Even though Johnson was acquitted of the crime, the shooting of Mr Conyers over a small debt (concerning marijuana) was considered to be against “the rules’’.

Despite the fallout, Preston would call into Barwon Prison’s Acacia Unit where Tommy Ivanovic, Johnson and Williams were housed.

An investigation by the Victorian Ombudsman detailed a phone call on February 2010, believed to be Preston, as saying “a lot of people being unhappy’’ with Williams making statements to Victoria Police.

Williams is described as a “dog’’.

A prison supervisor told the Victorian Ombudsman he had not listened to the phone call, which was referring to the criminal world outside jail, prior to Williams’ death and no action was taken to protect him despite a prison intelligence report made on February 15, the day after the call.

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