Rami Margus jailed for role in major heroin syndicate
A feared gunman who has been compared to Gangland War triggerman Andrew Veniamin, has been jailed following an undercover sting, as sordid details on his links to the Middle-Eastern organised crime world and bikies emerge.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A feared northern suburbs gunman has been jailed over his role in a heroin syndicate.
Rami Margus, once a prominent figure in Melbourne’s Middle-Eastern organised crime world, has been convicted of one shooting and is a suspect in others.
But he was on Thursday sentenced to serve a maximum 13 years and three months after a Victoria Police undercover investigation which linked him to heroin sales totalling 3kg.
Margus, 28, has been referred to as “the Veniamin of the north”, a comparison with western suburbs gangland war triggerman Andrew Veniamin.
Investigators probing the heroin ring found Margus shot a man at Glenroy because he thought the victim was linked to a police informer.
Margus is also a suspect in the drive-by shooting murder of Saleh Dheibech outside his Campbellfield workshop in 2010.
The Herald Sun understands Margus was investigated over the shooting of a Hells Angels associate in the northeastern suburbs.
Margus was well connected to high-level northern suburbs organised crime figures, including outlaw motorcycle gang members.
He and a close associate were suspected of running young crews of armed bandits, organising targets and providing weapons, then grabbing a share of the proceeds.
The other side of their business was drug trafficking.
Margus, who said his crimes were motivated by ice addiction, was arrested in 2014 after a covert Victoria Police operation, which also involved the Australian Federal Police and other agencies.
MORE NEWS:
PROSECUTORS DROP MORE PELL CONTEMPT CHARGES
He trafficked heroin in Campbellfield and Epping between October and December 2014, selling and packing about 3kg of the drug.
Margus acted at the direction of others higher up the chain of command and his intellectual disability made him “easy prey” for syndicate members, Judge Douglas Trapnell said.
He was sentenced to a minimum of seven years in jail for the trafficking shooting but has already served five years.