Milad Mokbel dies of motor neurone disease
The youngest Mokbel brother has died, with Milad Mokbel succumbing to motor neurone disease this week. And elder brother Tony, who is behind bars at Barwon Prison, may not be aware of the news.
Breaking news
Don't miss out on the headlines from Breaking news. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Milad Mokbel, the younger brother of jailed crime boss, Tony, has died of motor neurone disease.
Mokbel is understood to have succumbed to the disease on Tuesday.
It is not known if Tony, who is an inmate at Barwon Prison, near Geelong, has been made aware of the news.
Milad had followed his charismatic older brother, who he idolised, into illicit drug trafficking and along with other brothers Horty and Kabalan, became a police target.
All four Mokbel brothers would be convicted of being in the illicit drug trade during the gangland era.
Milad was also one of barrister-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo’s key scalps for police.
He spent almost a decade in prison after she turned one of the family’s drug cooks against them.
Milad was also a gambler like his brothers and fuel this habit with the profits of the Mokbel drug cartel.
It inevitably led to police attention in connection with a Rye drug lab which operated in 2002-2003.
Others investigated over the clandestine lab was older brother Tony and underworld figures Nik Radev and Carl Williams.
Both Radev and Williams would later be murdered.
In April 2006, Milad was arrested as part of an elaborate police sting in which Gobbo — the Mokbel family lawyer — was integral in orchestrating.
Milad was granted parole about five years ago.
Although he served most of his time in prison for major drug offences, Milad also held a conviction for refusing to answer questions to the Australian Crime Commission about the 2004 gangland murder of Lewis Moran.
During his sentencing hearing in 2008, Milad accepted he had been a “willing, eager, knowledgeable and genuine” drug trafficker.
Tony was described as a “loud, overbearing and inspiring person” who Milad looked up to.
Milad gave no explanation for his conduct and was “prepared to be a man about it and face the consequences”.
As the youngest Mokbel brother, Milad left school aged 15 and got into the restaurant business, mirroring Tony’s choices.
He then ran a hydroponic business and a butcher shop.
After marrying wife, Renate, they had three children together.
The family’s crime empire, however, would lead them both to jail.
Renate had been convinced to put their $1 million Brunswick house up as surety for Tony’s bail in 2006.
But when “Fat Tony” fled his cocaine trial, Renate failed to pay.
She would serve two years in prison after Tony went on the run to Greece and she served a further six months for perjury.
It would later emerge Gobbo had prompted Tony to abscond his trial just as she began her role as informer 3838.
Milad was one of the original 20 convicted people who was sent a letter by the Director of Public Prosecutions in 2018 over the Lawyer X scandal.
The royal commission probing the saga could find that his case was tainted by Gobbo’s use as a registered police informer.
Milad could have taken legal action against the state. Tony has filed an appeal.
MORE NEWS