Inside story of the conviction of an underworld heavyweight
One of Melbourne’s most dangerous men was convicted of a brutal execution thanks to a scrap of evidence.
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Feared underworld heavyweight George Marrogi was undone by a scrap of evidence and convicted of murder at his third trial over a bus-stop ambush.
A Supreme Court jury last year found the Middle-Eastern organised crime figure, 32, guilty of shooting drug dealer Kadir Ors dead at Campbellfield in September, 2016.
Prosecutors argued Ors had been lured to a meeting in a shopping centre car park off Sydney Rd.
They said CCTV showed it was Marrogi stalking the carpark in a red Holden Commodore before sighting his target, who was standing at a bus stop with kickboxer Sam “The Punisher” Abdulrahim and another man, Alex Harouk.
It was alleged Marrogi, wearing gloves and a hoodie, chased only Ors, pumping bullets into him until he fell outside an Officeworks store.
Marrogi then ran back to the Commodore, got in and drove back to Ors.
He then fired more shots at the stricken 24-year-old, who later died at hospital.
A crime scene expert said a total of 11 shots were fired before Marrogi drove away with two of Ors’ friends chasing him in a white Jeep.
Marrogi was travelling on the wrong side of the road as he left the carpark and ran a red light on Camp Rd as he tried to shake off his pursuers.
Witnesses saw one of the Commodore’s rear tyres was blown out before it stopped at a roundabout on Riggal St, Broadmeadows.
It was alleged Marrogi climbed from the car and fired four shots at the Jeep before travelling to Katandra Crescent where he abandoned the vehicle.
But, prosecutors said, he had left behind a crucial piece of evidence.
A search of the Commodore later uncovered a piece of cardboard from a Selier and Bellott bullet box, which they said might be the kind of scrap left behind by someone hurriedly opening it when unexpectedly pursued by the Jeep.
The bullet box would once have contained the same kind of 9mm ammunition used to kill Ors.
More damaging for Marrogi was that his DNA was on the cardboard scrap.
The Crown said the probability of that material coming from anyone else was somewhere in the billions to one.
The Commodore had been stolen a day earlier from Craigieburn and was then sold to a receiver, who had known Marrogi since school days.
Phone records showed that the receiver had been in touch with Marrogi on the eve of the Campbellfield shooting.
Marrogi’s legal team said the DNA of many people was in the Commodore, but not that of the accused.
The jury was asked to consider whether the DNA on the bullet box had got there by indirect transfer contact with someone else.
It was also submitted that there were discrepancies between Marrogi’s facial hair on the day and that of the gunman.
Marrogi is a suspect in the shooting of gangland identity and Comanchero bikie associate Nabil Maghnie in the same year.
Originally published as Inside story of the conviction of an underworld heavyweight
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