Deadline: Drained dam exposes Tony Mokbel’s dirty secret

He’s fallen foul of many of Victoria’s laws, but Tony Mokbel’s apparent environmental offending has only just come to light.

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Mark Buttler and Andrew Rule with the latest scallywag scuttlebutt.

Here’s the drum

Tony Mokbel is a convicted drug dealer of the highest order and suspected of all manner of other criminal activity.

But could it be that the former underworld kingpin’s empire may also be linked to environmental offending in the distant past?

The saga — which we’ll admit goes back many years — has it that Mokbel once was forced to unload a country property where his race horses were kept.

Gangland scuttlebut has it that a dam on the property dried up or was drained and that was when an interesting discovery was made.

In the bottom was a heap of drums.

There might have been a very good reason for this breach of Environment Protection Authority industrial waste disposal regulations.

Some had once contained the kind of chemicals which could have been of use in the manufacturing of drugs.

There has long been talk that the water did not have a positive effect on the nags which drank from the dam.

Could it be that former underworld kingpin Tony Mokbel’s empire may also be linked to environmental offending in the distant past?

OMCG is NQR

There are no formal educational qualifications for joining a bikie gang.

Some intelligent and resourceful chaps are members of the outlaw motorcycle gang community.

Then there are the others for whom the famous one percent patch might apply to their marks before they left school prematurely.

One such individual is facing some drama after a police pursuit which resulted in his arrest.

Word reaches us that the evidence-gathering process was made a lot easier by the accused filming the chase and posting the footage on social media.

Deadline has been told a man maintained a poker face under difficult circumstances.

Coming up trumps

It’s a while since the Herald Sun reported on the unusual phenomenon of Melbourne drivers involved in lewd acts at the wheel.

New generation cameras used to snap pics of motorists on their phones or without seatbelts have caught more than a few being “entertained” by liberal-minded passengers or occupying themselves one-up.

This may be a spreading trend.

Deadline has been told there was some consternation at a recent illegal card game in suburban Melbourne about the conduct of one player.

That individual availed himself of the services of a paid female guest who joined him as hands were being played.

He is said to have maintained a poker face under difficult circumstances.

Melbourne gangland figure Kevin Farrugia was the latest crime identity spared deportation. Picture: Jay Town

Not so fast, Kev

It was revealed this week that veteran Melbourne gangland figure Kevin Farrugia was the latest crime identity spared deportation in an ever-worsening episode saga for our federal government.

One of the matters from Farrugia’s past was a robust 2008 special operations group arrest in which he and mate Hizir Ferman were arrested as they drove through Glenroy with a loaded gun on board.

Both were tasered when they refused to come quietly for the SOG.

Why such a dramatic intercept?

Deadline is assured it happened because the pair were about to put the gun to use on an unknowing victim.

Judy Moran is largely bedridden but retains a sharp mind.

What’s in a name?

The Herald Sun revealed this week that Judy Moran will seek to be freed from prison because of her ailing health.

Moran is largely bedridden these days and last year spent a considerable amount of time under treatment in a secure wing of a Melbourne hospital.

It’s our information that despite the toll from an extended illness, Moran retains a sharp mind.

It is unclear what she might make of someone using her name and that of other prominent gangland figures for some kind of advantage.