Police suspected Nicola Gobbo was giving Tony Mokbel information about murder targets
In a shock new revelation from the Lawyer X royal commission, it can be revealed police feared barrister-turned-snitch Nicola Gobbo was giving Tony Mokbel information about murder targets at the height of Melbourne’s underworld war.
Police & Courts
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Lawyer Nicola Gobbo was suspected by police of giving Tony Mokbel information about murder targets at the height of Melbourne’s underworld war and helping with his drug trafficking operations.
A police surveillance request to monitor Gobbo — unearthed by the Lawyer X royal commission — exposes the Purana anti-gangland task force investigators’ suspicions in the early 2000s.
The application to surveil Gobbo, is subtitled “Type of Offence: MURDER.’’
The “highly protected” July 2, 2004 document requests permission to take “photos/videos of target meeting with MOKBEL”.
“Target is suspected of assisting MOKBEL and (name redacted) in their drug trafficking activities and of providing those persons with information about the activities of other criminals in relation to the murders of Michael MARSHALL, Jason MORAN and Nick RADEV,’’ it states.
Radev, a major drug trafficker, was gunned down in Coburg in April 2003.
Mokbel and Carl Williams were suspected of contracting Andrew “Benji’’ Veniamin to carry out the hit on Radev with another hit man who cannot be named.
Moran’s public execution at an Auskick clinic in June 2003 soon followed, shot in front of his children as he sat in his mini-van in Essendon North.
His bodyguard, Pasquale “Little Pat’’ Barbaro, was killed alongside him.
Williams, another associate of Gobbo’s, pleaded guilty to ordering the Moran hit.
Marshall, a hot-dog vendor and drug trafficker, was be killed on the orders of Williams in October 2003, although Mokbel was charged over commissioning his murder.
While Williams was convicted of the Marshall hit, Mokbel was never convicted of any gangland killings.
The confidential document also reveals police distrust of Gobbo.
“The target is a Barrister who acts for Tony MOKBEL and many other high profile criminals including recently, Lewis MORAN, which resulted in (a) threat to her welfare from Andrew VENIAMIN on behalf of Carl WILLIAMS,’’ it states.
“GOBBO’s relationship with Tony MOKBEL and (name redacted) is much more than just professional. She regularly spends her leisure time with both or either of them (gym and cafes etc) and arranges to meet at times of developments in homicide / drug squad investigations.’’
And it reveals police believed she was a major dealer of drugs at Melbourne University.
“Her last offence was use/possess amphetamines in 1993 and was considered to be a significant supplier of the drug at Melbourne University,’’ it says.
Describing her “distinguishing features”, it states: “Long bleached blonde hair. Predominantly wears short skirts.”
The Herald Sun last year obtained phone records which revealed a series of phone calls between Gobbo and a Williams crew member involved in Moran’s murder.
The man, whom she would later help police “roll’’ as an informer, was especially close to Gobbo.
Gobbo spoke to him at about midnight in the hours before the murders.
He and Williams used a phone call with Gobbo as an alibi to prove they had not been at the scene of the killings. Two other associates were the hit men.
It is not known whether this surveillance application was successful and Gobbo has never been convicted over any drug trafficking or accessory to murder allegations.
LAWYER X: INSIDE AUSTRALIA’S BIGGEST GANGLAND SCANDAL
* Explosive new revelations and exclusive extracts from gripping new book Lawyer X, by Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon, only in the Herald Sun and heraldsun.com.au this weekend
* Lawyer X, the story of how one woman played off police and criminals, is published by HarperCollins Australia on September 7. Pre-order your copy now at Booktopia
* Live online Q&A with Dowsley and Carlyon, hosted by Sky News’ Peter Stefanovic, on their battle to expose the truth. Send questions to ask.lawyerx@news.com.au and watch at facebook.com/heraldsun or facebook.com/TrueCrimeAustralia at 6.30pm AEST, September 9
* Watch Peter Stefanovic’s compelling two-part documentary Lawyer X: The Untold Story on Sky News at 8pm AEST, September 12 and 19