Gyms linked to Comanchero boss Mick Murray all owned by close mates, company records show
Three close mates of feared Comanchero boss Mick Murray have taken over running the notorious suburban gym chain he founded.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The chain of suburban gyms linked to Comanchero bikie boss Mick Murray is being run by three of his close friends, including a man facing charges over an alleged bikie-linked extortion.
Three men with links to either the Comanchero, or to Murray, are officeholders in the corporate entities behind the Nitro Gym and Iron Kingdom Gyms in Melbourne.
Murray, 44, of Lysterfield, has been on remand since being charged with the 2019 murder of Mitat Rasimi in April.
His arrest came alongside an early morning raid at the Nitro Gym’s Hallam franchise, which he previously owned.
The gym has a long history of police raids, has been the target of drive-by shootings and has been used as a meeting point on Comanchero runs.
Murray’s current business interests are largely a mystery, but filings with the corporate regulator, ASIC, show the company that runs the Hallam and Bayside gyms is now directed by Nawid Rashidi, 26, of Cranbourne East.
Mr Rashidi was arrested in November following an investigation into an alleged extortion by Victoria’s anti-bike squad, Taskforce Echo.
He is fighting a string of charges stemming from the investigation, and is next due to Frankston Magistrates’ Court in July.
He declined to comment whether he was a Comanchero member, or why his gym was used as a meeting point for gang runs.
Mr Rashidi said he would not “say anything out of school” to the media.
The listed owner of the gym’s Carrum Downs Franchise is Krstomir “Kris” Bjelogrlic, 38, of Edithvale.
Mr Bjelogrlic, who also runs a successful building business, Nu-Edge Building, is so close to Murray he was invited to a Comanchero Christmas function.
“I know the guy, yeah,” Mr Bjelogrlic said.
Mr Bjelogrlic said he was not involved in outlaw bikie gangs.
“I’m not (a bikie), I’m a builder,” he said.
In the northern suburbs, Murray’s close mate, Peter Sampson, 45, of Ivanhoe, was the director of Nitro Gym’s short-lived Heidelberg West franchise, which alone had an annual revenue of as much as $500,000.
Mr Sampson faced Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court last year, where he and the company were fined a combined $20,000, without conviction and ordered to pay $13,000 in costs, for repeatedly council planning laws.
Mr Sampson’s links to Murray were publicly aired in 2019, when the bikie boss had his bail varied in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, and tried to fly to Thailand and Dubai for a much-needed holiday with Mr Sampson, only for Thai authorities to turn Murray around as soon as he landed.
Mr Sampson, a former supplement salesman, also had a significant interest in two Iron Kingdom gyms at Preston and Reservoir.
Mr Sampson did not return calls from the Herald Sun.
Terrified prison guards ‘buying’ safety by bribing young inmates
Traumatised prison guards have lifted the lid on the desperate lengths some staff are going to protect themselves from violent young inmates, including bribing them with drugs and porn.
Victoria Police facing IBAC probe for ‘failing’ to tackle anti-Semitism crisis
Victoria Police may be probed by the anti-corruption watchdog over allegations it failed to crack down on the dangerous rise of anti-Semitism in the state.