Crime boss charged with directing huge drug smuggling operation from inside prison after phones tapped
Two men linked to the Notorious Crime Family have been arrested after crime boss George Marrogi was charged with running a drug smuggling operation behind bars.
Victoria
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Two men linked to the Notorious Crime Family have been arrested over drug trafficking allegations.
Police raided properties in Point Cook, Greenvale and Gladstone Park in Melbourne’s north and western suburbs on Tuesday.
The raids follow a series of Australian Federal Police arrests on Saturday during which NCF gang boss George Marrogi and his girlfriend, Antonietta Mannella, were charged with major drug importation offences.
Victoria Police’s Echo Taskforce on Tuesday arrested a 32-year-old Point Cook man and 43-year-old Gladstone Park man.
The Point Cook man is expected to be charged with trafficking a large commercial quantity of drugs.
His co-accused will be charged with possess a drug of dependence.
A high-end car allegedly used to traffick drugs, luxury designer clothing and bags believed to be the proceeds of crime and cash were seized during the raids.
The arrests follow information police received from phone taps involving gangland boss Marrogi and his girlfriend.
Girlfriend’s phone bugged in audacious sting
Marrogi faces a range of charges after allegedly masterminding major drug smuggling operations, kidnappings and attacks on rivals from inside his maximum-security jail.
It is alleged he was even plotting to break out of Barwon Prison.
The Herald Sun can reveal police have charged Marrogi, 33, after officers bugged his girlfriend’s mobile phone in an audacious sting.
Marrogi directed criminal operations from inside prison through daily calls the gang boss pretended he was making to his lawyer, it is alleged.
They were actually going through to Ms Mannella.
As a result of the Australian Federal Police’s taps on Ms Mannella’s phone, officers seized $55m of ice and heroin in February, and a Harley-Davidson, Mercedes-Benz, jet ski, computers, storage devices, jewellery and watches in a wave of raids in Mickleham, Taylors Hill, Greenvale and Essendon on Saturday.
Two men were also arrested on the weekend over what police said was a conspiracy to murder “a number of people”.
Marrogi is awaiting sentencing for the 2016 execution-style killing of Kadir Ors at Campbellfield. He has become one of just a handful of Australian criminals charged with the offence of directing the activities of a criminal organisation from jail.
The AFP alleges Marrogi pretended to talk to a lawyer on a prison phone while actually dishing out drug importation orders to members of his crime syndicate. His girlfriend, Ms Mannella, 28, faced Melbourne Magistrates’ Court at the weekend charged with trying to import a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs.
Those charges relate to the seizure by the AFP and Australian Border Force in February of 56kg of methamphetamine concealed in green “Guanyinwang’’ tea packets and 13kg of heroin, worth a total of $55m.
Bugged calls between Marrogi and Ms Mannella allegedly also uncovered them discussing:
PLANS to break the crime boss out of prison;
DAILY co-ordination of NCF activities;
BASHINGS, kidnappings and threats against their enemies;
MANAGING the proceeds of crimes; and
ATTEMPTS to pervert the course of justice.
While sitting in a prison cell on remand on Monday, Ms Mannella was slapped with an extra charge of trying to import 400kg of methamphetamine, destined for Melbourne, but seized in November by Royal Malaysia customs officers at Kuala Lumpur airport. It is believed the Kuala Lumpur seizure led the AFP to instigate the phone-tapping sting, dubbed Operation Fuji.
Law enforcement regards Marrogi as the head of NCF, described as a “patriotically Assyrian” criminal network whose members are tattooed with the letters NCF and AK47 machine gun motifs.
Marrogi, who during his prison stint has been in Barwon Prison’s highly restricted Acacia Unit, faces 15 years in jail for directing the activities of a criminal organisation, and a life sentence if convicted of the importation scheme.
Ms Mannella also faces a maximum life term if convicted of the drug crimes.
AFP assistant commissioner Krissy Barrett said: “The AFP continues to unleash maximum damage on the criminal environment and we never give up when it comes to identifying the heads of criminal gangs and bringing them to justice”.
Ms Barrett said Victoria Police, Corrections Victoria, and Australian Border Force had played roles in the investigation, which included Saturday’s execution of warrants at Ms Mannella’s home.
The methamphetamine and heroin already seized has led to an international operation dubbed Taskforce Storm between the AFP and Thai law-enforcement agencies.
Marrogi and Ms Mannella will next face court in August.
The investigation came after the Herald Sun this month revealed Border Force was increasing its work in closing “door” drug importations, which traditionally rely on trusted insiders with legitimate supply chain jobs.
Operation Fuji investigators suspect Marrogi and Ms Mannella of operating a “door” service to organise the clearing of cargo containing contraband, such as drugs.
New charges add to Marrogi’s woes
A jailbreak was allegedly planned to free one of Victoria’s most dangerous criminals, George Marrogi.
The plot to free the convicted murderer and leader of the Notorious Crime Family gang is alleged to have been discussed during phone conversations bugged by the Australian Federal Police.
Marrogi, 33, is a highly connected triggerman who terrorised Melbourne’s northern suburbs before his arrest and conviction over the September 2016 murder of Kadir Ors.
He is awaiting sentence for gunning down Ors outside Campbellfield Plaza.
But his court dramas were amplified over the weekend after he and his girlfriend, Antonietta Mannella, 28, were charged with major drug importations carrying potential life sentences.
An operation led by the Australian Federal Police focused on Marrogi’s influence over a loyal band of NCF criminals and a global drug network.
The syndicate’s access to guns, large-scale drug importations and unexplained wealth has been under investigation for several years.
In the latest probe into Marrogi and his gang, launched in 2021, Marrogi and Ms Mannella are the chief suspects in the organisation of an international drug smuggling operation by performing a “door’’ service on behalf of other drug trafficking groups in Australia.
A “door’’ service refers to their alleged ability to clear cargo containing illicit goods, such as drugs, across borders.
The alleged activities of NCF have for years been under scrutiny despite Marrogi’s arrest more than five years ago.
Gang members are known to abide by a strict set of rules that if flouted will result in expulsion.
The AFP alleges that while in prison Marrogi has been speaking in code to Ms Mannella, of Mickleham, who has been carrying out his orders with other members of the NCF to organise their illicit activities.
Phone intercepts also allegedly involve plans to bash, kidnap and even kill rivals. A plan to break Marrogi out of prison was also allegedly hatched over the phone.
Much of this was done, allegedly, under the guise of Marrogi pretending to speak with a lawyer from a prison phone. The AFP says no lawyer was on the line.
Marrogi’s alleged control of NCF came to a sudden end on Saturday when Victoria Police’s Special Operations Group raided the home of Ms Mannella, and AFP investigators visited him at Barwon Prison.
Both were charged with drug crimes involving the importation of ice and heroin.
Marrogi was also hit with the rare charge of directing activities of a criminal organisation while in prison. In itself, Marrogi’s alleged ability to run a crime network is astounding given he is in Victoria’s most secure prison (Barwon Prison) where phone calls are recorded.
The Herald Sun understands Marrogi has been housed in the restrictive Acacia Management Unit.
After facing Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Saturday night, Ms Mannella, too, was in a prison cell.
Things got worse for her on Monday when the AFP charged her with attempting to import 400kg of methamphetamine into Australia, an offence which carries another life sentence on top of the drug charges she was already facing.
It can also be revealed that while Ms Mannella was being raided at a security-conscious home in Mickleham, Victoria Police’s Echo taskforce detectives arrested two men linked to NCF.
The arrests, of a 31-year-old Ringwood North man and a 28-year-old man from Mickleham, came after police say they received information that members of the syndicate, including people now in prison, were actively planning to kill several people.
The two men were questioned over a conspiracy to murder, resulting in the 31-year-old being remanded. The 27-year-old was released pending further inquiries.
The Echo investigations linked to NCF have led to 27 arrests and the execution of 30 search warrants since it began probing the syndicate in October 2020.
Victoria Police acting deputy commissioner Bob Hill said its investigation into the gang was continuing.
“A threat against someone’s life is the most serious and significant threat that can be made,’’ he said.
“Once police received this information, we took a number of steps to disrupt this threat, which included the arrest of two men on Saturday.
“I also want to make it very clear that the investigation into the threats to kill linked to this organised crime syndicate is far from over.
“It is critical that those linked to this syndicate understand this.’’
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