Bad blood, shootings and bikie exodus: Inside Mongols mayhem

The feared Mongols bikie gang is in turmoil with an exodus of high-profile members, a swag on murder and drug trafficking charges and others winding up shot and bashed. WATCH THE INSIDE STORY

It’s been a tumultuous 18 months for the feared Mongols bikie gang with an exodus of high-profile members, a swag on murder and drug trafficking charges and others winding up shot and bashed.

Ten Mongols were charged with murdering notorious bikie Shane Bowden, their Gold Coast-based national president Nick ‘The Knife’ Forbes and his son Haydn were hit with drug trafficking charges while several high-profile members including Instafamous Toby Mitchell left the club amid a bitter power struggle.

The Courier-Mail has lifted the lid on the Mongols mayhem in a new two-part short documentary series launched today.

WATCH EPISODE ONE IN THE PLAYER ABOVE

Nick the Knife is ruling with an ironfist since being released from jail and it’s led to an exodus of gang members.

Episode 1 takes an in-depth look at what happened within the gang after Forbes was released from jail on parole after serving time for his part in a wild brawl in an Adelaide nightclub with Hells Angels rivals.

While in custody, the former Finks bikie gang ‘Terror Team’ enforcer had temporarily handed over the reins of the Mongols to lieutenant Tyrone ‘Little Ty’ Bell.

But once free, it didn’t take long for Forbes to reassert authority and - with allies including Mongols sergeant-at-arms Phil Main - resume ruling with an iron fist.

Mongols national president Nick 'The Knife' Forbes walks with his defence barrister Michael Gatenby outside of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. Picture: Floss Adams.

A succession of Melbourne-based gang heavyweights including Mitchell, Mark Balsillie, Jason Addison and kickboxer Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim left the gang voluntarily or were booted in what’s known in the bikie world as “bad standing”.

Mitchell, who has survived multiple assassination attempts and has commanded more than 400,000 Instagram followers, had angered Forbes and Main for allegedly rubbing shoulders with underworld enemies.

Toby Mitchell is among several high-profile members to have left the Mongols. Picture: Rob Leeson.

Mongols bosses were also sick and tired of Mitchell’s flashy social media ways and the chaos that followed him.

This included boasting that he was national president, getting beaten up after picking a fight with a homeless man in Melbourne and claiming on Instagram that a gang charity ride to a country pub was a birthday celebration for him.

Former Mongols bikie gangster turned Instagram influencer Toby Mitchell shows off his tattoos in a racy post.

Toby Mitchell’s active social media profile is said to have infuriated Mongols bosses.

Mitchell further alienated himself in gangland circles by getting offside with the infamous Mokbel clan.

Underworld sources say Mitchell was also associating with a man who had testified in a court case against Horty Mokbel, a convicted drug trafficker and brother of jailed drug lord Tony Mokbel.

Mitchell stoked more tensions earlier this year with an inflammatory social media post of himself posing alongside members of the Notorious Crime Family in Melbourne.

Bikie Toby Mitchell posted a photo of him and other underworld figures at Melbourne’s Southbank after the Paul Gallen fight. The provocative post was headlined ‘What the f…k did you think would happen?’ and was accompanied by the song Many Men (Wish Death) by rapper 50 Cent.

While Mitchell was reported to have been kicked out of the Mongols by phone, Abdulrahim and Balsillie were allegedly summoned to Queensland to face Forbes before also being ejected, according to sources close to the bikie boss.

Balsillie was booted despite having been sent to Russia by the Mongols to recruit ex-Comanchero bikies.

The Courier-Mail later revealed that Balsillie was the son of a serving Victorian cop who once nabbed underworld identity Carl Williams in a $20 million drug bust.

Ex Mongols bikie boss Mark Balsillie. Picture: David Crosling

In June, Abdulrahim was dramatically gunned down while attending his cousin’s funeral in Melbourne.

The shooters pulled out of a funeral procession at Fawkner Cemetery in a stolen Mazda, drew up alongside his Mercedes and pumped him full of bullets before a chaotic getaway in which they crashed into a fire hydrant and carjacked another vehicle.

CCTV footage shows alleged offenders running from the scene of a car accident after shooting Sam Abdulrahim in Fawkner.

A badly-wounded Abdulrahim, who was shot eight times including in the chest, miraculously survived and somehow managed to drive himself to Fawkner police station to get help.

After he was shot, Abdulrahim taunted his attackers from his hospital bed and vowed revenge.

“Allah is bigger than all these flops, they will get their day,” he warned.

Sam "The Punisher" Abdulrahim was shot while attending a funeral.

Sources say Abdulrahim’s shooting was not bikie-related but rather the result of tensions between Middle Eastern organised crime groups.

Seven people with Middle Eastern links were arrested in relation to the shooting.

Ex-Mongols bikie Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim posted from his hospital bed.

Former Sunshine Coast bikie heavyweight Jason Addison, who has served as national president of the Bandidos outlaw motorcycle gang before patching over to the Mongols, was badly bashed at a motorbike show in regional Victoria earlier this year.

The assault came just weeks after he was booted from the Mongols along with fellow high-profile gang members.

Former Bandidos National President Jason Addison. Photo: Glenn Barnes

Dramatic photos later emerged of a battered and bloodied Addison after the attack at the Knowsley-Barnadown Rd raceway, where his motorcycles were also stolen.

Police believe the attack was linked to his time in the Bandidos rather than the Mongols.

They have charged three men with drug and weapons offences as part of the investigation.

Addison, a 57-year-old grandfather, self-presented to hospital with serious injuries.

Police investigating the assault charged a number of people with drug offences but there’s no suggestion the Mongols were behind the attack.

Former Bandidos National President Jason Addison, image of him after being bashed Picture Supplied

Forbes, meanwhile, has problems of his own.

He’s been arrested twice in recent weeks over serious criminal charges.

The bikie strongman was nabbed at Darwin Airport in October after flying to the Top End ahead of the Mongols’ national run from Alice Springs to Darwin.

Forbes was arrested on an outstanding warrant relating to the alleged bashing of a Hells Angels rival at a Darwin nightspot in 2014.

He intends to contest the charge.

He was freed on bail only to be arrested less than a week later at his Gold Coast home in the latest bust linked to Operation Ironside - in which the FBI and Australian Federal Police used the encrypted AN0M platform as a “trojan horse” to snare hundreds of alleged organised crime kingpins.

Nick ‘The Knife’ Forbes arrested in Darwin. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Forbes and his 26-year-old son Haydn - the alleged vice-president of the Mongols West City chapter - were both charged with ice trafficking.

While Forbes Sr again made bail - with conditions including that he wear a tracking device - his son did not appear at a recent court hearing for the trafficking charges as the court was told he remains behind bars as one of 10 Mongols charged with the murder of former gang member Shane Bowden in October 2020.

Haydn Forbes - the son of Nick "The Knife" Forbes has been charged with murder in relation to the death of Shane Bowden.

Bowden was shot 21 times by hooded gunmen as he arrived at his northern Gold Coast home in his black BMW after a late night gym session.

All of the charges are being vigorously contested.

Forbes is also fighting a police consorting notice banning him from associating with almost 70 of Queensland’s most notorious criminals, including fellow bikies and killers.

The list includes the likes of Toby Mitchell and convicted DV killer Lionel Patea.

Forbes recently won the first round of the legal stoush when a Supreme Court ordered police to provide him with a statement of reasons for the banning notice.

The bikie boss is also awaiting trial in the District Court for two counts of money laundering related to an alleged multimillion dollar boiler room scam a decade ago.

Originally published as Bad blood, shootings and bikie exodus: Inside Mongols mayhem