Australian drug kingpin Tony Mokbel walks free after police informant scandal | Lawyer X

One of Australia’s most notorious gangsters will walk free after prosecutors said on Friday they would cancel a planned retrial on drug trafficking charges.

Tony Mokbel, a key figure in Melbourne’s decades-long gang war, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2012 after pleading guilty to masterminding a sophisticated drugs syndicate.

His lawyers argued his drugs conviction was tainted by his then high-profile lawyer Nicola Gobbo giving information to police while supposedly defending her clients.

Mokbel, 60, spent nearly 18 years behind bars but was released on bail last April after the court ruled he had a good chance of overturning his criminal convictions.

A court later acquitted him of one charge and ordered a possible retrial over allegations that he tried to import commercial quantities of MDMA in 2005.

On Friday, prosecutors in Victoria state announced they had decided not to pursue a retrial.

“This decision has been taken after careful consideration of all aspects of the matter in terms of the likelihood of conviction and the public interest in a retrial,” a statement from the Victorian Prosecutor’s Office said. The statement was included.

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Prosecutors said they took into account Mokbel’s age and health, as well as the time he had spent behind bars.

“It’s a really good feeling and life goes on,” the aging gangster told local media outside the Melbourne courthouse.

He said that he wanted to go abroad, which was his dream while he was in prison.

“It would be great to get on a nice plane,” he said.

Violence linked to Mokbel’s group, known as the Company, left dozens dead and was later immortalized in Australia’s hugely popular TV series Underbelly.

Gobbo, also referred to as Lawyer X and Informant 3838, claims that more than 300 people were arrested and charged based on the information he provided.

A royal commission in 2020 found Gobbo’s double life during a period of gang bloodshed in Australia’s second-largest city amounted to “fundamental and egregious breaches” of his obligations to advise his clients.