Crime boss used prison phones to import $55m in drugs

A crime family boss orchestrated a $55 million drug importation from behind bars with the help of his lovesick girlfriend, a court has heard.

Notorious Crime Family boss George Marrogi found out the huge shipment of heroin and methamphetamine had been seized by police when fellow inmate and drug baron Tony Mokbel broke the news.

George Marrogi.

The County Court heard Marrogi, 33, and girlfriend Antonietta Mannella, 29, circumvented high-security Barwon Prison’s phone system to make up to 20 calls a day in which they plotted their criminal activities. The pair pleaded guilty on Tuesday to importing a commercial quantity of drugs and attempting to traffic 1,4-Butanediol.

Marrogi, who is serving 32 years in jail for the 2016 shooting murder of Kadir Ors, used the court hearing to apologise – via his barrister – to Mannella for “ruining her life”. He told the judge he assumed primary responsibility for this offending.

Peter Morrissey, for Marrogi, said the pair started a romantic relationship while Marrogi was in prison, after meeting through a family member.

“He wanted Ms Mannella to come on the journey with him,” Morrissey said.

The court heard that throughout the offending, between December 2021 and February 2022, the pair diverted prison calls to and from Marrogi’s legal firm to a phone Mannella had.

In an attempt to avoid detection, they would pretend to have legal conversations for 30 seconds – ensuring prison staff were unable to listen in – before starting their real conversations. The calls numbered up to 20 a day.

Marrogi was heard giving coded instructions to Mannella, nicknamed “Toutts”, to carry out activities.

Using these calls, the pair began attempting to recoup a $1.5 million debt owed to Marrogi in December 2021.

They arranged for a man to transport what they expected to be 800 litres of 1,4-Butanediol, with a street value of $1.6 million, from NSW to Victoria.

Antonietta Mannella (left) and George Marrogi’s late sister Meshilin Marrogi.Credit:

Their plan came undone when police intercepted the truck as it travelled through Horsham, in Victoria’s west, the following month. Inside were four drums, two of which contained 1,4-Butanediol, a cleaning agent often sold as the drug GHB.

At the same time, beginning in late October 2021, the Australian Federal Police ran an operation examining the pair’s involvement in importing illicit drugs.

On February 18, 2022, 69 kilograms of methamphetamine and heroin the pair had arranged to import arrived in Australia on a Qantas flight from Bangkok.

But delays led border force officers to investigate the arrival and it was seized by the federal police. Officers discovered 27 boxes stacked three rows high, with the heroin and methamphetamine concealed among packets of green tea and magnets.

The imported drugs seized by police.

The court heard that after a string of sleepless night, Marrogi learnt the shipment had been seized after receiving a tip-off from Mannella via Mokbel, who is serving a 30-year jail term for drug trafficking and is housed in the same area at Barwon Prison.

“Tell him no good,” Mannella said. “OK,” Mokbel replied on the intercepted phone call.

Mannella, from Mickleham, was arrested in April 2022.

Her barrister, Colin Mandy, SC, said it was his client’s first time in custody, where she spent much of her days in bible studies, performing sit-ups and star jumps in her small cell, and watching The Bachelor on free-to-air television.

The packets in which the drugs were hidden.Credit:Suplied

Mandy said his client entered into a relationship with Marrogi about four years ago after meeting his sister, who was a client of the bank where Mannella worked as a financial adviser.

Mandy said Mannella committed crimes under a “fog” of love. This included pretending to be Marrogi’s late sister Meshilin Marrogi when communicating with criminal associates after the young woman died from COVID-19 in September 2021.

“There must be a reason for that expression ‘love is blind’, and she was blinded, your honour. Mr Marrogi, she says, is a charismatic, powerful person,” Mandy said. “She fell in love with George Marrogi. The fog has now lifted.”

Morrissey said that due to prior criminal offending, Marrogi had spent his entire adult life behind bars other than one year in the community in his early 20s. He is currently housed as a high-risk inmate.

“He’s a turbulent fellow with a turbulent past,” Morrissey said. “He just wanted to be relevant and to matter, that’s what he always strove for. He found a dysfunctional way to do that.”

The pair will be sentenced in February.

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