Notorious Crime Family boss George Marrogi suspect in jailhouse drug importation

Notorious Crime Family boss George Marrogi is suspected of spending up to six hours a day on the phone as he plotted $1bn in drug shipments from a maximum security jail.

Jailed crime boss George Marrogi could have masterminded drug shipments with a street value of over $1 billion as he built his empire behind bars, police believe.

Marrogi is suspected of spending up to six hours a day on the telephone from maximum security Barwon Prison co-ordinating the activities of his Notorious Crime Family gang.

They say the feared gangster and convicted murderer may be involved in colossal heroin and ice consignments out of Asia.

Consignments sent from November 2019 to August 2021 are believed to have contained hundreds of kilograms of heroin and methamphetamine.

Malaysian customs officers seized the last of them – containing 400kg of methamphetamine – at Kuala Lumpur Airport on August 31 last year.

George Marrogi is suspected of being behind colossal imports of heroin and ice from Asia.

That intervention came after the Australian Federal Police-led Operation Fuji and Victoria Police-led Operation Steelers came to a climax amid fears of gangland killings allegedly ordered by Marrogi from inside maximum security Barwon Prison, the state’s most ­secure jail.

Victoria Police subsequently intervened to thwart what it said was a double-murder plot.

Months earlier heroin and ice had been seized in a consignment of magnets and green tea that also contained meth­am­phetamine at Melbourne Airport.

The consignments – weighing two to four tonnes – were brought into the country with legitimate imports using a “piggyback” arrangement.

Police suspect Marrogi and his partner Antonietta Mannella were supplying other major syndicates.

“They were servicing the absolute upper echelon of ­organised crime in Australia,” a senior AFP investigator said.

The investigation started in September 2021 under the code name Eagle’s Peak, but expanded enormously as ­investigators uncovered more intelligence.

It was later revealed that the AFP tapped Mannella’s phone, reaping a bonanza of evidence against the Marrogi crew and other syndicates.

Police tapped the phone of Marrogi’s partner Antonietta Mannella (centre) to amass intelligence on the crime crew. Picture: Australian Federal Police

Among the hundreds of calls police monitored were alleged plots for Marrogi’s prison escape, one involving a helicopter and another revolving around breaking him free from an escort to court.

There was also talk about torching a timber company ­operating in competition with one controlled by Marrogi.

“He was very comfortable (talking on the phone),” the senior officer said.

Most of that was time talking to Mannella under the guise of using the phone to speak to his lawyers.

The senior officer said 60 per cent of those conversations were devoted to directing criminal activities, with Mannella as the conduit.

“He is absolutely obsessive about running his businesses and his control over them,” the investigator said.

“And he has nothing but time, nothing else to think about, sitting in his cell.”

Police believe Marrogi was servicing the upper echelon of organised crime in Australia.

As Operation Fuji has rolled on, police have continued to attack the wealth of Marrogi and his associates.

In excess of $20m in assets including houses, artwork and luxury vehicles have so far been seized under laws pertaining to unexplained wealth.

Investigators also uncovered crucial details about Marrogi’s connections.

One of the 400kg shipments allegedly ended up with crime figures entangled in the AFP’s Operation Ironside probe. Ironside led to a wave of arrests in June last year, ­including of senior Comanchero bikies and mafia identities.

Links have emerged ­between the Marrogi gang and a major syndicate hit last month by the Victoria joint organised crime task force’s Operation Longhill.

It seized almost 500kg of drugs, 120kg of which was found among frozen chickens in a truck being driven from Melbourne to Sydney.

That investigation resulted in police uncovering a network of safe houses and “dead drops” – places where drugs could be secretly exchanged.

Marrogi and Mannella are also suspected of previously servicing that syndicate.

“The origin of this goes all the way back to Eagle’s Peak,” the senior investigator said.

Assistant Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the investigation’s genesis could be found in the AFP’s target development team’s work, which was to identify significant players and targets deserving of the force’s resources.

Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Bob Hill said co-operation between state and federal forces was critical.

“Working in partnership we were able to prevent loss of life and other serious and violent crimes. We are confident we successfully prevented several homicide attempts while still in their planning stages,” Mr Hill said.

“To date, Victoria Police has processed more than 30 people for state-based offending in this investigation – for offences relating to fraud, dealing with proceeds of crime into the millions of dollars, drug trafficking and the most serious of firearm offending.”