Tony Mokbel

Antonios Sajih Mokbel (Arabic: طوني مقبل; born 11 August 1965) is an Australian criminal who has been convicted of a number of offences, most prominently commercial drug trafficking.

[6] Mokbel had no criminal record prior to his father's death; a psychological profile completed following his incarceration concluded that this was a defining moment in his life.

[12] It was after this imprisonment that Mokbel became increasingly involved in the trafficking of drugs in Melbourne,[6] in part to fund his accelerating gambling habit.

[10] Mokbel found success in this trade, and rapidly gained wealth and notoriety throughout the next decade,[6] forming an enterprise known as The Company.

[6] Indicating the scale of his operations at this time, it is known that Mokbel organised and received a shipment of ephedrine great enough to make two billion dollars of street drugs in late 2000.

At that meeting, it is said that Mokbel was beaten, nearly to death, by Nik Radev's bodyguard, Western Australian Troy Mercanti, who was a member of the Coffin Cheaters motorcycle gang.

Mokbel was alleged to have laundered over $2 million through At the Top of the Town, a high-profile Melbourne CBD brothel which he purchased through a business associate.

A prominent drug dealer turned police informant was used to gather evidence on Mokbel's importations between October 2000 and August 2001.

[18] While still awaiting trial in early 2006, Mokbel received intelligence that Operation Purana officers intended to charge him with murder for his alleged role in two of the Melbourne gangland killings.

[18] Mokbel first hid himself at a friend's house in Bonnie Doon, Victoria, while an associate made preparations for a maritime escape to Greece.

[19] A team of Greek sailors were recruited, and a yacht was purchased and transported to Fremantle, Western Australia, where Mokbel was then driven in two hired vehicles.

[20] Police alleged that he and Carl Williams paid Keith Faure and Evangelos Goussis $150,000 for the March 2004 murder of Lewis Moran.

[33] Upon his return to Australia, Mokbel immediately began serving a twelve year prison sentence, having been convicted in absentia for a 2000 importation of Mexican cocaine.

[37] Mokbel has appealed his convictions on the basis that his barrister, Nicola Gobbo, was simultaneously acting as a police informant (see Lawyer X scandal).