Daughter’s colourful tribute to gangster dad Nabil Maghnie

Sabrine Maghnie has used her leg to pay a loving tribute to her slain gangster dad. Andrew Rule and Mark Buttler with the latest crime buzz.

Sabrine Maghnie, the daughter of late Melbourne crime figure Nabil, has taken to social media to show off a new tribute to her dad.

Ms Maghnie posted on Instagram an image of her bearing what appears to be the words Mad Lebo tattooed on her lower right leg.

The colourful Nabil, who bore a “Mad Lebo” tattoo across his tummy, was shot dead at Epping in January last year.

One version of that confrontation has it that Maghnie senior became angry after his daughter was involved in a road rage incident and confronted those he thought responsible, demanding compensation.

Sabrine Maghnie shows of her tribute to her late dad. Picture: Instagram

Nabil Maghnie sporting his unique tattoo.

But as things heated up at the Dalton Rd property, someone produced a gun and shot Nabil before wounding one of his mates and his son, AJ.

“Negotiations have broken down,” as one seasoned detective observed at the time.

No one has been charged over the killing.

Meanwhile, another of Nabil’s brood is into the third year of a long stint on remand over a nightclub shooting.

Jacob Elliott, now 20, was arrested in 2019 over the double-fatal Love Machine nightclub drive-by shooting in April of that year.

The matter is expected to go to trial next year.

Maghnie’s wounded son returned to the scene on the night he and his father were shot. Picture: Wayne Taylor

NEVER WASTE A CRISIS

Are arrests becoming a branding opportunity for those wearing the cuffs?

Deadline revealed recently that a bikie detained up Cobram way was rocking the exclusive SYLM (support your local Mongols) fashion line when cops dragged him down the drive for a trip to the cop shop.

Two gentlemen picked up last week may have taken his lead when scooped up by police investigating an extortion racket linked to the Comanchero gang.

They were looking sharp in tops bearing the logo of the Nitro Gym in Narre Warren, raided by detectives as part of the same operation.

Nitro, which has been linked to Comanchero head honcho Mick Murray, has made its share of headlines over the years.

The Princes Highway fitness centre has been the target of drive-by shootings, fire bombings and much scrutiny from the biggest police force in the land.

The nabbed Mongol in his SYLM top.

The perfect opportunity to promote your local gym.

BALACLAVAS NEAR THE BEACH

So, who were the three men in balaclavas apparently meeting another character in a dark-coloured SUV in a daybreak meeting in the borough of Queenscliffe the other morning?

Were they crooks trying on their gear in the dawn light before doing something nasty like a run-through of a drug house?

Were they cops trying on their gear before doing something nasty like a raid on crooks in a drug house (see above)?

Or were they spooky customers from nearby Swan Island, where the gun-happy chappies from an alphabet soup of security organisations, special forces and some police branches practise the dark arts of espionage, surveillance and counter-terrorism?

Off-duty spooks and soldiers have been known to play up, which is how three SAS soldiers came to kill themselves doing crazy speeds across the narrow causeway linking Queenscliff with Swan Island, dangerously drunk at 1.30am after a big night in a local pub in 2007.

Earlier the same week, locals say, the same three had been hooning around local streets.

All of which fits in with the Sheraton Hotel debacle of 1983, when five masked men waving machine guns terrified guests and staff in a city hotel and were lucky not to get themselves shot by real coppers.

It turned out the “gunmen” were trainee spooks from good old Swan Island. It seems they had emptied the mini-bar before pulling their dumb stunt as part of an anti-terrorist exercise, described by the then Police Association boss as like something out of a James Bond film.

Embarrassed Defence officials made their excuses, the red-faced spooks were handed to the military police and little more was heard about it.

THIS LITTLE PIGGY

A Melbourne family got a nasty surprise recently when they found a pig’s head had been dumped on the front porch overnight.

It’s unclear what the message was about but it is certainly not an original way to make a point.

Those with long memories will recall the so-called Pig’s Head Gang did the same thing at the Moe home of Greg Domaszewicz on the night that toddler Jaidyn Leskie vanished.

The pig’s head tossed through Domaszewicz’s window caused huge problems for authorities who tried unsuccessfully to prosecute him over the little boy’s death. The defence was simply able to claim that whoever threw the pig’s head might also have abducted Jaidyn.

The pig’s head outside Greg Domaszewicz’s house in Moe.

More recently, a pig’s head was dumped at the home of a key witness in the trial of a US policeman charged with killing George Floyd.

A horse’s head in the bed is, of course, one of the signature scenes in The Godfather film franchise. The pity is that it gives idiots ideas.

A few hours after the manager of the Tunnel nightclub caught Melbourne reptile Mark McConville dealing drugs in the club in July 1992, and threw him out, he found a pony’s head nailed to the nightclub door.

McConville, a killer and a key suspect in the disappearance of teenager Prue Bird, had hacked the head off a child’s pony to stage a grotesque act of revenge.

The only good thing about it is that McConville later ended up dead.

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HOT DOGS CAN BE A HEALTH HAZARD

There was a time when livestock thieves in the high country took the risk of being shot if they stole cattle, horses or sheep. Stealing someone’s dog is also considered a low act.

A dog is either a highly valued working animal or like a member of the family. Owners are very sad when they go missing.

Still, whoever picked up two small dogs belonging to Steve and Tamara Rabie near Mansfield four weeks ago should be given the benefit of the doubt.

The dogs were obviously well-fed and cared for, with collars and tags, but perhaps a shortsighted passer-by thought they were lost — and so gave the dishlickers a ride to somewhere else.

The thing is that Oscar the smooth-haired dachshund and Scotty the rough-haired Jack Russell are friendly to a fault and will jump in a car with anyone who opens the door.

Oscar (left) and Scotty (right) are missing.

Oscar is an “entire” dog, a stud animal, and so the mystery dognapper might be thinking of doing a bit of backyard breeding.

It happened late on the afternoon of Friday, October 22. While Steve was busy doing chores around the property in Dueran Lane outside Mansfield, the dogs went off chasing bunnies. He thinks they wandered under the fence on to the lane and that a passing driver picked them up. One dog might get snakebitten, but not two.

If the dogs reappear there’ll be no questions asked. If a third party passes on a tip about their whereabouts, a tasty reward is on the cards. But if and when the police — or private detectives — find them in the wrong hands, prosecution will be robust.

Dognappers should note it hasn’t ended well for the three rocket scientists who shot a dog walker to steal Lady Gaga’s three French bulldogs in Hollywood last February. The victim didn’t actually die from his wounds, otherwise the trio would face life in prison.

As it is, they are on serious charges that will see them inside for many years.

As to the mystery of the missing Mansfield dogs, the best result will be if someone notices that a neighbour has suddenly acquired a hairy terrier and the black and tan sausage dog in the last month.

Let Deadline know. Or the Mansfield by-laws officer, or even local police, who are overstretched monitoring Mt Buller snowfields traffic.

HARD TO SWALLOW

Only the most strident law and order types would sing the praises of prison food.

Those who’ve been inside say it comes in well behind hospital and airline meals in the bad food stakes.

But it seems some criminals still have unrealistic expectations of cuisine standards behind bars.

Deadline has been told that a bumptious bikie banged up a while back asked for the menu on arrival at one of our state’s maximum security hotels.

Presumably, he thought there might have been someone to carry his bags to his room and leave a nice chocolate on his pillow.

The gourmet bikie, who has served up more than his share of knuckle sandwiches, was gently informed of the limited dining range. Prison as punishment, apparently, means more than loss of liberty.

STICK AROUND

A bloke recently picked up over a particularly nasty Melbourne murder may soon have other hurdles to jump.

Word is that police are keen to talk to this fellow over the kidnapping of a man and woman at gunpoint in the days before he was arrested over the killing.

He will most likely be in no position to go anywhere for a long time.