Mongols shake-up continues as two heavyweights booted from club

Two more heavyweight Mongols have been booted, with the hostile takeover by a brutal new leadership team triggering international strife within the gang.

Toby Mitchell and Mark Balsillie have now both been expelled from the Mongols.

Fractures within the Mongols outlaw motorcycle gang are believed to have led to major overseas fallout.

Two of the gang’s most influential Melbourne members, Mark Balsillie and Sam Abdulrahim, have now been turfed from the gang – less than a fortnight after ex-president Toby Mitchell was expelled.

It’s believed the pair was ordered to fly from Melbourne to the Gold Coast to face gang bosses, where they were told to hand in their colours before immediately returning.

A source close to the gang told the Saturday Herald Sun the recent internal upheaval had had enormous international consequences.

It’s understood members from chapters in both Russia and Ukraine have walked away from the gang because of the rancour.

Some Melbourne-based gang members are also believed to have handed in their colours in defiance of the leadership takeover.

The Mongols, as they were, including Toby Mitchell, Josh Rider, Tyrone Bell, Mark Balsillie, Aaron Ong and Phil Main. X = ousted, P = prison, B = new club leadership.

Mitchell, Balsillie and Abdulrahim have been three of the gang’s most powerful members in recent years.

Balsillie was respected enough to be sent to Russia several years ago to patch over that country’s Comanchero members to the Mongols.

Russia is viewed as a key country on the OMCG atlas.

Balsillie is also a former Comanchero who is regarded as smart and formidable enough to have been given a sergeant-at-arms role.

In 2017, he survived an attempted hit in which he was shot multiple times by his former friend, the underworld triggerman Hasan Topal.

Topal has since fled the country and what happened to Balsillie is one of the factors which makes his return unlikely.

Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim after a bout at Melbourne Pavilion.

Among the Russian Comancheros patched over to the Mongols by Balsillie were members signed up by powerful crime boss Amad “Jay” Malkoun in 2015.

There have been rumours since he returned to Australia in 2020 that Malkoun has some kind of role with the Mongols.

Some view it as unlikely that the Russian Mongol takeover would have gone ahead without his say-so.

Abdulrahim, who fights under the name “The Punisher”, is well-connected in Middle-Eastern organised crime circles in the northern suburbs.

In 2019, authorities took the extraordinary step of revoking his parole because of attempts on his life.

Abdulrahim was at Campbellfield Plaza with Kadir Ors in September, 2016, when Ors was shot dead by feared Middle Eastern organised crime enforcer George Marrogi.

Also gone from the Mongols in recent times is Dylan Goddard, a good mate of Mitchell’s.

Nick ‘The Knife’ Forbes has taken over the Mongols. Picture: AAP

The new regime is being led by Queenslanders Nick “The Knife” Forbes as national president and Phillip Main as his sergeant-at-arms.

Tyrone Bell – one of Melbourne’s longest serving gang members – is believed to have played a significant role in the power shift.

It’s understood he’s become the gang’s national vice-president.

Mitchell was booted from the gang on April 1.

It has been said his continued association with one Melbourne crime figure was at the root of his expulsion.

But others believe the call was tainted by resentment about his high profile.

Following his ousting, Mitchell posted to his 330,000 Instagram followers: “Normalise not feeling guilty for walking away when you feel bad energy, bullshit, weird vibes and sneaky shit”.