Inside the fall of George Marrogi: Enemies loot millions as jailed gang boss cracks

When the news began to spread inside Barwon Prison that someone had tried to steal the body of George Marrogi’s sister, the gangland boss was allowed no peace.

Laughter and catcalls rang throughout the high-security unit day and night, mocking the once feared leader of the Notorious Crime Family (NCF). When Marrogi was frogmarched in shackles to the prison phones, he found newspapers left open to headlines about the gruesome plot to desecrate her corpse.

To his many enemies, it was just the start.

The objective? To torment him if they couldn’t kill him.

Marrogi, a convicted killer and the former boss of a $100 million-plus criminal empire, is only eight years into a nearly 50-year sentence for murder and drug trafficking.

Clockwise from left: Siblings Meshilin and George Marrogi, thieves captured on security cameras and Meshilin’s crypt and memorial at Preston cemetery.

Inside, he spends 24 hours a day in a box smaller than a car park space, isolated from almost any human contact because nearly every other prisoner is considered a potential threat to his life.

There is a standing $2 million bounty on offer for his murder, allegedly put on his head by one of the most powerful new kingpins in Melbourne’s underworld, Kazem “Kaz” Hamad.

On the street, Marrogi’s once-feared gang has disintegrated, and family members, some of whom have turned partners in crime, live in constant fear of retaliation.

The NCF’s wealth has been seized by authorities or looted by his rivals – with at least $10 million taken as a kind of victory “tax” by his enemies, according to underworld sources.

Not surprisingly, Marrogi is beginning to crack under pressure.

Since federal and state law enforcement took down the NCF in early 2022, and Marrogi received his 50-year sentence, his behaviour has become increasingly bizarre – setting cell fires that almost killed him, spraying guards with faeces and proclaiming a sudden religious conversion.

Tormenting the fallen George Marrogi has become an underworld sport.

“They want him going to bed every night and waking up every morning asking: ‘What’s next? Who’s next?’” an underworld source said.

A family affair

When the Notorious Crime Family began its meteoric rise to wealth and power in Melbourne’s underworld, Marrogi gave the gang a motto: “God forgives – the family won’t”.

It wasn’t hyperbole at the time.

Marrogi, from inside a maximum-security jail cell, had formed a powerful new gang centred on his family connections – mother, siblings, cousins, girlfriends – and criminal associates from Assyrian and Christian Middle Eastern backgrounds.

One of the other founding mottos of the NCF was: “Guard your mouth – preserve your life” – not something that Marrogi would take to heart when he was at the peak of his power.

His arrogance as the head of the gang knew no bounds.

“We all argue, that’s not a problem. But George’s first thing: ‘I’m gonna f--- your wife, you f---ing dog. I’m gonna f--- your mum, you f---ing dog. I’m gonna get my boys to f----ing f--- your mum on video’,” a prison source said.

There’s no shortage of stories about Marrogi’s temper and his ability to make enemies.

One was during a stint in a “runout” with other prisoners – a wire mesh cage that lets him be in the open air – in a yard divided into other cages for prisoners to exercise.

Some of the drugs police seized.

Marrogi thought he had seen another prisoner, a known member of one of the most powerful bikie clubs in the country, looking at him. Marrogi began screaming at the man and calling him and his club bosses “dogs”.

“What the f--- do you think is gonna happen to you when you do that? Their bosses have got dozens of members in jail,” a source said. “You’re never gonna be safe.

“There’s not one crew in there that he hasn’t fallen out with.”

The tens of millions of illicit dollars being pumped into the NCF when its drug-smuggling operations were in full swing meant Marrogi could fund crews both inside and outside prison. Those on the street lived luxe lifestyles, while inmates’ families were given cars, computers and allowances.

But the protection started to end when Marrogi and his then girlfriend and business partner Antonietta Mannella were busted in 2022 importing $55 million worth of drugs. The gangland kingpin had organised the scheme from jail, while on remand for murder.

The takedown of the NCF by the Australian Federal Police and Victoria Police included seizing about $47 million worth of ill-gotten assets, including property, cars, jewellery, art and a yacht.

About $2.2 million in cash was recovered and an unknown amount found in various bank accounts.

But this was only some of what Marrogi had squirrelled away with various associates when the cops moved in, police and underworld sources say.

That money, however, began to “disappear” as it became apparent Marrogi wasn’t coming back.

With the money gone, so did the power it brought to keep the gang together and Marrogi’s family safe.

In the underworld, family members are normally off limits – unless they’re involved in the criminal life.

In July 2023, masked offenders tried to steal the body of Marrogi’s beloved sister, Meshilin, in a raid on Preston General Cemetery.

Only a broken elevator in the mausoleum prevented what was to be one of the most gruesome revenge plots ever conceived in the underworld – her body torn apart by dogs and dumped; the macabre episode supposed to be captured on video and sent to Marrogi inside prison.

The architect of this plot was allegedly Kazem Hamad, a long-time enemy, who was supposedly seeking revenge on Marrogi for his murder of his best mate Kadir “KD” Ors in 2016 and Meshilin’s involvement in attempting to falsely smear Hamad as an informer. Meshilin was also the brains of the Marrogi drug network and the NCF on the outside before she died of COVID-19 in 2021.

Next was Marrogi’s brother Jesse, who has had to alternate between hiding overseas and living as a virtual shut-in in his own home. During a court appearance in December 2023, where he was sentenced for his part in a money laundering scheme, he had to be given a police guard outside court during an impromptu fire alarm evacuation.

“Jesse Marrogi has been advised by Victoria Police on a number of occasions, both privately and publicly through the media, that he himself is a potential target for reprisal attacks against his brother,” a lawyer told the court during his appeal.

Then there’s Antonietta Mannella, Marrogi’s girlfriend. The former beautician, who took over running the “outside” drug operations following Meshilin’s death, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison – the entire time in lockdown “because she is the notorious George Marrogi’s girlfriend; his enemies can get to him by assaulting her,” a court was told.

The hardest of hard time

“You have been a less than satisfactory prisoner.”

This was something of an understatement from Justice Paul Coghlan when he sentenced Marrogi to 32 years for murder in 2022.

Marrogi was already one of the most notorious inmates in Victoria’s prison system.

At 35, Marrogi has spent less than 12 months of his adult life outside prison, and those short periods were punctuated with acts of extreme violence.

In 2016, he gunned down a rival, Kadir Ors, in broad daylight in the car park of busy Officeworks store. Marrogi ran after Ors and shot him several times. Not content to leave it at that, he went back to pick up his car, drove back to the scene and shot Ors again, hitting him seven times altogether.

Since he became an adult, Marrogi’s stints inside have been in the most secure units in Victoria’s maximum-security prisons.

It hasn’t stopped him fighting with everyone he comes in contact with – inmates, guards and the system itself – by launching threats, assaults, “shitbombings” (throwing faeces), starting fires, going on hunger strikes, and filing lawsuits.

Rival inmates have targeted the fallen crime kingpin, too. Two prison sources have confirmed a “shitbombing” incident years ago orchestrated by now-dead Sam Liszczak​, an associate of jail gang boss Matthew Johnson.

Liszczak was in the kitchen, and when Marrogi put up his face to an open portal separating the kitchen from the rest of the maximum-security unit he was sprayed in the face with faeces packed into a plastic tomato sauce bottle.

With the slime matted inside Marrogi’s signature bushy facial hair, the other inmates taunted him as “shitbeard”.

Marrogi’s success in running a major drug operation under the noses of prison authorities and his habit of obtaining contraband like internet dongles has also led to a major crackdown. Plenty of inmates have become his enemies, after they, too, were subjected to increased surveillance.

But Marrogi’s unceasing war on the system itself has caused the greatest deterioration in his conditions.

One of the cardinal rules inside, if you want to get along with the least bit of hassle, is you “don’t fight Corrections”, a source said.

Marrogi has repeatedly attacked prison guards, sprayed them with faeces and set fire to his cell.

He is considered so dangerous to prison staff that he’s now on special security regime, which means he cannot be outside his cell without wearing handcuffs, a special restraint belt and ankle shackles. He is almost always escorted by two guards, one each holding onto an arm.

When he is brought into a “public” space inside the prison – such as a video conference room for a court hearing – Marrogi is forced into a kneeling position to prevent him from lashing out.

In April, Marrogi filed a lawsuit against the prison system, which gives some idea of the conditions in which he is now held because of the kind of problem he has become.

Marrogi is jailed in Barwon Prison.Credit: Jason South

“Since 11 December 2023 the [prison has] failed to provide [Marrogi] with an hour in the open air each day, on any day ... held [Marrogi] in solitary confinement conditions, which means he has no opportunity to meaningfully interact with other humans … [and] failed to provide [Marrogi] with an opportunity to engage in exercise,” the lawsuit said.

His relationship with his jailers has only become worse since this time, which is when Marrogi learnt the High Court of Australia had rejected his last-ditch bid for a retrial.

“Corrections have got the key to your f---ing house. You don’t fight them because they’ll f--- with your house,” a prison source said.

Feeling the pressure

One of the founding “values” of the NCF was its members’ adherence to Christianity.

As a cover story, the Marrogi family claimed the gang initials actually stood for “Nurturing Christian Families”.

They purportedly did charity work that raised funds for Christian refugees in the Middle East.

A Catholic priest even tendered a letter of support for Marrogi before his murder plea in 2022.

Which makes the gang boss’ latest action seem all the more inexplicable.

In May, Marrogi turned up for a court hearing wearing a kippah, the traditional cap worn by Jewish men.

He has also sued the Victorian prison system for refusing him access to Tefillin, or traditional prayer boxes with straps.

Opinion is divided over the state of Marrogi’s mind as isolation behind bars continues to grind on him.

“He’s been eight years in the slot,” said one prison source. “It could be genuine, it could be because he’s bored, it could be just a sign of how bad things are getting inside his head.”

“No,” says another. “He’s losing it.”

John Silvester lifts the lid on Australia’s criminal underworld. Subscribers can sign up to receive his Naked City newsletter every Thursday