Mongol Mark Balsillie has $500k Lamborghini towed
A luxury car worth close to $500,000 was loaded onto a tow truck and hauled from an inner-Melbourne apartment last week. It belonged to an influential Mongol bikie who recently switched sides from a bitter rival.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A senior Mongols bikie figure lost his Lamborghini in a major series of police raids against the gang.
Former Comanchero Mark Balsillie’s 2015 grey Lamborghini Huracan coupe — which retails for close to $500,000 — was towed away under police order last Friday amid a citywide organised crime sweep.
It was impounded when investigators visited an inner-Melbourne apartment tower as part of an operation in which 10 people were arrested.
The Lamborghini, a Mercedes-Benz and a Land Rover were confiscated as 14 homes and businesses were raided.
Balsillie, who is believed to be an influential figure within the Mongols, is one of the biggest names to leave the Comancheros in recent years.
The Herald Sun revealed last year that the Mongols wanted to “patch-over” Comanchero members in Australia.
They have already done so in Russia.
Balsillie was once described in court as the right-hand man of an alleged bikie debt collection syndicate boss.
A Melbourne Magistrates’ Court bail hearing in 2013 was told he had access to contacts within VicRoads and Optus who could get him the personal details of millions of people.
The court was told Balsillie, who was a Comanchero at the time, had renounced his association with the gang.
He later pleaded guilty to extortion and possessing counterfeit money and was given a nine-month prison term.
Balsillie had visited the home of a man being chased for $852,000 and taped a bullet to his front door.
He has been photographed rubbing shoulders with high profile bikie Toby Mitchell and former Richmond footy player Jake King.
His social media account boasts pictures of the luxury car as well as a gold plated motorbike with ‘Cosa Nostra’ emblazoned on it — a reference to the Sicilian Mafia.
The Mongols have regularly made headlines in the past year as they emerged as a significant force in Victoria’s bikie scene.
Two of their members were in January charged over the November, 2019, EastLink Freeway murder of fruiterer Paul Virgona and Mongol member Rocco Curra was shot in an ambush in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs a year ago.
Tit-for-tat shootings and firebombings over the past year have been blamed on tensions with the Finks gang.
Shane Bowden, once a major player in the Mongols, was shot last month in a drive-by ambush just 15 days after being released from jail.
He is believed to have been since been kicked out of the gang.
READ MORE:
MONGOLS EMERGE AS DANGEROUS BIKIE GANG