Lawyer X inquiry: Why Nicola Gobbo wanted to ‘belong’ in Melbourne’s underworld but turned informer

She wanted to ‘belong’ to the underworld. But Nicola Gobbo turned police informer to try to free herself from the Tony Mokbel gangland family.

Barrister turned informant Nicola Gobbo. Picture: Ian Currie

• Why Gobbo turned police informer
• Gobbo ‘wanted to belong’ in underworld
• ‘Not being killed was my priority’

Hello and welcome to our blog. As Lawyer X Nicola Gobbo gave evidence for the third day at the royal commission into the management of police informants. she told the court she had a chance to escape the clutches of the underworld, but

did not take it because she wanted to “belong”.

Remy Varga 5.15pm: ‘Complete lack of ethics’: Wrap for the day

Nicola Gobbo has finished giving evidence to the royal commission into the management police informants for the third day.

She admitted she “potentially” perverted the course of justice and at times was “acting an agent of Victoria Police” instead of as a lawyer.

For her gangbusting efforts, Ms Gobbo was given a silver pen and got to watch detectives get drunk.

Not that she’s ungrateful.

“I didn’t need the pen, it was never about the item or the monetary value,” she told the commission.

“It was symbolic, it was a nice gesture.”

Admitting that at times she behaved with a “complete lack of ethics”, Ms Gobbo revealed she made “vitriolic comments” to her source handlers about another female lawyer, dubbed Solicitor Two.

This fellow lawyer to Melbourne’s underworld was telling Ms Gobbo’s clients they were being represented by a “dog” as well as knocking boots with Tony Mokbel.

Ms Gobbo said while she wasn’t jealous of the sex part, it was more she felt her place in the ganglands was under threat.

“My level of emotional maturity was hopeless in retrospect … and as pathetic as it is, looking back I did derive some self importance and some feeling of relevance and [feeling] validated by [being] wanted by Tony,” she said under cross examination by counsel assisting Chris Winneke QC.

Gobbo had a chance to escape the clutches of the underworld when she helped a gangland crook roll on his associates, but told the court she did not take it because she wanted to “belong” to the underworld.

Remy Varga 4.25pm: Gobbo can’t recall murder diary note

Mr Winneke’s questioning jumps back in time, to when Ms Gobbo represented two men charged in relation to the infamous Auskick murders of Jason Moran and Pasquale Barbaro.

Mr Winneke said diary notes indicated Ms Gobbo told detectives her client could tell them about “murders and shootings” but the former lawyer couldn’t recall the conversation.

Remy Varga 4pm: Search for vulnerabilities

Ms Gobbo said her handler Sandy White often asked her for insight into the vulnerabilities of her clients, including one who had business aspirations.

Remy Varga 3.35pm: A silver pen for a sting

Ms Gobbo has told the commission after she helped detectives in a major operation she wanted “to be appreciated”.

She was given a silver pen and went out for drinks with detectives but said she was too unwell to enjoy herself. She denied she was unsatisfied with the pen.

“I didn’t need the pen, it was never about the item or the monetary value,” she said.

“It was symbolic, it was a nice gesture.”

In regards to the client we have previously mentioned, but have not named, Ms Gobbo told the commission she would often reassure him on the phone when he started to freak out about his involvement with police. When asked if this was “unacceptable”, she replied: “Yes.”

Remy Varga 3.20pm: Fear when client arrested

Ms Gobbo says she felt threatened by police officers when her client, who cannot be named, was arrested.

“[They said] Words to the effect of police officers lives are in danger, you’re putting them in jeopardy if you say anything,” she said.

Quick explainer: It is alleged Ms Gobbo helped flip her client under the guise of offering him legal advice.

Ms Gobbo says its “absolute rubbish” she told her client, who cannot be named, his property was going to be confiscated before he flipped.

Remy Varga 3pm: Gobbo was ‘an agent of police’

Ms Gobbo has accepted she was acting as “an agent of police” in the case of one of her clients, who cannot be identified, when she was meant to be providing independent legal advice.

Remy Varga 2.35pm: Getting information: Gobbo just let them talk

Ms Gobbo says her attitude towards gleaning information from her clients was “more about being in their presence and letting them talk in front of you.”

Remy Varga 1.55pm: Gobbo ‘intimidated’ by police handler

After the lunch break, Ms Gobbo says she was intimidated by her handler Sandy White.

“He was a very old school hard detective[and] came across as a very hardcore police officer,” she said. Ms Gobbo said she was paranoid during this period.

Remy Varga 1.05pm: Gobbo told to fear for life

Ms Gobbo has denied she became an informant because she wanted to be part of Victoria Police.

“People like Bateson had told me … [that] the people I was dealing with were very dangerous and I should be concerned about being killed by them,” she said under cross examination by Victoria Police.

Remy Varga 12.55pm: Why Gobbo turned police informer

Ms Gobbo said she became a registered informer in 2005 to rid herself from the thrall of Mokbel syndicate.

“Looking back now it was just an insane, idiotic thing to do,” she said.

Remy Varga 12.50pm: ‘Running joke’ Gobbo was best informant

Ms Gobbo said it became “a running joke” in the covert Source Development Unit that she was best informant they had.

Ms Gobbo said her handlers told her she was “top of the ladder” and that “no one will ever beat you”.

“It was obviously to boost my self esteem … My type A-personality was making me do more and more,” she said.

Remy Varga 12.45pm: ‘Gobbo represented lawyer rival, despite conflict

The commission heard Ms Gobbo represented Solicitor Two after she was arrested by the gangbusting Purana Taskforce for weapon possession and giving false evidence to an Australian Crime Commission inquiry.

Ms Gobbo said she did not go to an ethics committee to seek advice on the potential conflict.

Remy Varga 12.15pm: ‘Jealous’ of rival’s sex with Mokbel

Nicola Gobbo has admitted she was “jealous” of another female lawyer, telling the royal commission her competitor was having sex with Tony Mokbel and telling her gangland clients she was a “dog”.

Ms Gobbo said she made “vitriolic comments” about the woman, known as Solicitor Two, to detective Stuart Bateson during source meetings.

“My level of emotional maturity was hopeless in retrospect … and as pathetic as it is, looking back I did derive some self importance and some feeling of relevance and [feeling] validated by [being] wanted by Tony,” she said under cross examination by counsel assisting Chris Winneke QC.

Ms Gobbo said Mokbel became increasingly “insane” after he started hooking up with Solicitor Two, which coupled with the woman badmouthing her made her angry.

“Not angry in the sense that I wanted to be in her position [but] angry in the sense couldn’t get commonsense out of him [Mokbel] anymore,” she said.

Solicitor Two was later arrested by the gangbusting Purana Taskforce.

Nicola Gobbo says she felt ‘validated’ by being ‘wanted’ by Tony Mokbel (pictured). Picture: News Corp

Remy Varga 11.35am: ‘I wanted to belong’

Ms Gobbo has admitted she wanted “to belong” in Melbourne’s underworld, which in part was why she failed to disclose her conflicts of interest to prospective gangland clients.

“I wanted to belong. I wanted to be the holder of information about every drug trafficker up and down the supply chain,” she said.

“Income wise those were the worth people because paid they paid the QC and everyone else left waiting … (It was) more my inability to say no and my need to be wanted and be valued, or feel valued.”

Remy Varga 11.30am: Cop coffee catch-ups from 2005

Ms Gobbo said she started sharing information with Victoria Police detective Stuart Bateson in early 2005. She said she would meet up for coffee with Mr Bateson and he would record their conversations.

Remy Varga 11.05am: Gobbo feared for life over murder case conflict

Ms Gobbo says she felt so “scared and stuck” over her conflict in the murder case of Jason Moran and Pasquale Barbaro she had a breakdown outside Melbourne County Court.

“I had a breakdown and was in tears outside the County Court … I was very emotional.”

Ms Gobbo said she told Detective Bateson of her concerns, which arose because she helped one of the men charged in relation to the murders draft a witness statement against another man also charged in relation to the murders. She was providing legal counsel to both men, who cannot be named.

Ms Gobbo said she didn’t disclose her conflict because she was scared it would expose her and she would be killed.

While she accepted she put her self interest before her client but denied she was acting as an agent of Victoria Police.

“I’m assuming not being killed would have been my priority, not the police,” she said.

Moran and Pasquale were killed execution-style in front of a van full of children outside an Auskick footy clinic in North Essendon in 2003.

Remy Varga 10.25am: Mokbel led list of crims at bedside

Ms Gobbo says “every criminal in Melbourne including Tony [Mokbel]” came to visit her in hospital after she had a stroke in 2004.

Ms Gobbo says she had so many guests over her five-day stint in hospital that at one point they had to move out of her ward into a larger space.

Ms Gobbo says she’s unsure if she was visited by Victoria Police detective Stuart Bateson.

“I know I spoke to Mr Bateson … because there were things on that week I couldn’t do,” she said.

Remy Varga 10.25am: Gobbo’s ‘top ten’ compo claim

Back giving evidence this morning, Nicola Gobbo says a Victoria Police liaison officer led her to write a “beefed up” letter of the information she sent in order to be considered for compensation, including claiming she played a “pivotal role” in flipping one of her clients.

“You need to write a letter … [and] include what you could say was your top ten things or people,” she said.

Remy Varga 9.30am: What we’ve heard from Gobbo so far

Ahead of her third day of evidence, former barrister turned supergrass Nicola Gobbo has so far shed light on her “drunken interludes” with detectives, predatory Victoria Police investigators and the demands of working for Melbourne’s most notorious gangsters.

The most significant claim to come out of Ms Gobbo’s evidence was the claim an alleged confession to the murder of self-proclaimed vampire gigolo Shane Chartres-Abbott was inserted into a draft statement she made without her knowledge.

The former supergrass suggested on Tuesday the confession was added by a then Victoria Police detective, saying “it must have been added by DI Waddell, but that is a matter for him to answer”.