Deadline: Conflicting stories on Toby Mitchell’s Mongols departure

What’s behind Toby Mitchell’s Mongols departure? There are conflicting reports on why the biggest name in Melbourne’s bikie world is a bikie no more.

Toby Mitchell preparing for a run outside the Mongols clubhouse. Picture: Rob Leeson.

Mark Buttler with the latest crime buzz.

Under new management

Toby Mitchell’s departure from the Mongols had the OMCG jungle drums beating furiously in recent days.

It seemed the news came as a major shock to some but not others after being broken by the Herald Sun’s Brianna Travers.

One version is that Mitchell decided he had been in the bikie world long enough, had been shot twice, and, at 47, it was time to give it away.

Another is that he had been on shaky ground for a long time and that his association with one particular fellow, along with his own flamboyant profile and some avoidable public incidents, had been grinding the gears of key players who gave him the Don’t Come Monday.

Others believed there were influential members close to president Mitchell who would have resisted any regime change but could not stand in the way last week.

As for what it all means, views again differ.

Toby Mitchell’s time with the Mongols is over. Picture: Ian Currie

Mitchell is the biggest name in the bikie world but the good mail is that his departure will change nothing for the Mongols or their business model, whatever that may be.

The men named as having forced the change are a couple of uncompromising Queenslanders with lively CVs, Nick “The Knife” Forbes and Phillip Main.

Main has been in Victoria for a few years now after a history of violence and drug crime in the Sunshine State.

Highlights included throwing a man from a four-metre balcony at a nightclub and fighting police who had the temerity to turn up at a hospital casualty department where he was being treated for an unreported gunshot wound.

Forbes is a big OMCG name in Queensland.

He was one of the combatants in the brutal 2006 Ballroom Blitz affray at a kickboxing tournament, which involved other bikie world luminaries like Christopher Wayne Hudson and the late Shane Bowden.

Bowden, a former Mongol punted from the gang on bad terms, was killed in a shooting ambush on the Gold Coast in 2020.

Forbes’ son Hayden is one of 10 men charged over that killing.

Cop camel plan a load of bull

Victoria Police last Friday boasted about its latest acquisition, a caravan of camels.

Victoria Police's Instagram post.

The force’s Instagram page said the camels were part of an expansion of the mounted division.

It was announced the move would help the organisation address the twin perils of climate change and out-of-control fuel prices.

No surprise for anyone who knew the date that this was an April Fool’s prank.

Angels’ Seven Years War

The Hells Angels are notable for many things but a capacity for marathon copyright battles in the civil courts is not high on that list.

So we were surprised to learn the feared bikie gang’s various fights with online retailer Redbubble, here and in the United States, had now been running for seven years.

There is the promise of more to come with a Federal Court judge recently ruling that a previous settlement over the use of gang logos did not release Redbubble from the possibility of facing a lawsuit from the HAs.

It’s unclear what that means for non-members wanting to turn up at a BBQ in a Hells Angels T-shirt while chugging from a stubby holder with their emblem.

But Deadline can find none for sale online and it’s certain an average citizen flashing such merch would be taking some kind of risk if unlucky enough to do so in the presence of the one-percenters.

A German tourist once bashed at the club’s Lipton Drive, Thomastown, clubhouse can attest to that.

The Hells Angels’ famous logo.

He told some Angels in a city strip venue that he was a member back home and was cheerily invited to Thomastown where there was an impromptu episode of Hard Quiz (topic; German Hells Angels).

The poor fellow’s knowledge came up short and he spent the next few hours being bashed and tortured by people a good deal meaner than Tom Gleeson.

Meanwhile, a keen Herald Sun reader recently noted to Deadline that it was great to see the Angels had gone all equal opportunity and were recruiting women.

The comment was prompted by a court report regarding member Jasmin Destanovic.

This reader, who needs to brush up on her OMCG knowledge, was disappointed to learn the HAs were not yet woke and that Jasmin could also serve as a man’s name.

As a court heard last month, Jasmin the Nuts for Donuts store in Kealba and is sweet again after successfully seeking bail to run the business.

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1000 beers before 1000th goal

Last week, we mentioned that a top Victoria Police detective had, back in 2004, been part of a St Kilda rabble who stormed Football Park when Fraser Gehrig booted his 100th goal of the season.

This has since been denied by the officer, who has confirmed he was at the game but did not run on because of the risk it could stall the Saints’ momentum.

He went on to make the valid point that we should have approached this tale with more scepticism because of the low likelihood he would exercise, even for a G-Train landmark.

Now that’s been cleared up, it turns out the force was again ably represented when Buddy Franklin booted the 1000th of his career at the SCG 12 days ago.

One excited employee from HQ fell flat on his face as he ran on to the ground after an all-day session in seedy Sin City bars.

He then struggled to his feet with the steadiness of a newborn calf before shooting disturbing phone video, maniacally screeching into the camera and distributing it to concerned recipients.

Roberta Williams with Dhakota before her 21st. Picture: Instagram

Glammed up for special day

Deadline had never heard of the term “glow-up” until alerted to some social media pics recently posted by Roberta Williams and her daughter Dhakota.

It was explained by a more fashion-conscious colleague that Roberta had indeed undergone a “glow-up” to look the goods for Dhakota’s recent 21st birthday.

Accompanying one post, the proud mum wrote: “21 years ago today you entered my world and made it a better place. Through the rain, hail, storm and sunshine, you’ve been right there beside me.”