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One of Australia’s most notorious crime figures has had his final drug conviction charge withdrawn after a lengthy court battle, as he reveals his next moves.
Tony Mokbel, 60, walked from Melbourne‘s Supreme Court on Friday a free man after a lengthy battle to overturn his drug convictions in the aftermath of the Lawyer X scandal.
He won his appeal last year, with judges ordering he face a re-trial over alleged offending in 2005, dubbed the Orbital charge and relating to alleged MDMA trafficking.
Mokbel argued his drug convictions were tainted as he was represented by barrister-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo, known as Lawyer X.
A judicial registrar urged prosecutors to progress their case at a directions hearing in December, and decide whether to order a re-trial for the charge or dismiss it all together.
Mokbel beamed as he left court, telling the waiting media scrum his freedom had been ‘a long time coming’ and ‘feels great’.
‘It’s beautiful, it feels really nice, and life goes on,’ he said.
The gangster said missing family events, especially the death of his beloved mother Lora, was the ‘biggest mistake of my life’, adding: ‘I don’t recommend it for anyone’.
Mokbel walked from Melbourne’s Supreme Court on Friday a free man
Mokbel walked out of court beaming ear to ear to an eager press pack
Daily Mail previously revealed that Mokbel’s first act after being released from jail was to visit his mother’s grave (pictured, the kingpin leaves Fawkner Cemetery where his mother is buried)
But when asked if he regretted drug trafficking, the notorious gangster hit back: ‘I don’t regret anything’.
Daily Mail previously revealed that Mokbel’s first act after being released from jail was to visit the grave of his mother.
Lora Mokbel, 83, was farewelled at a service at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church in Thornbury in 2013, where mourners mixed with some of Melbourne’s criminal elite.
Mokbel had been unable to attend the funeral, nor had his brother Milad, who was also serving time for drug offences.
The kingpin made his way straight to Fawkner Memorial Park with an entourage of supporters where he finally got to pay his respects to his mother.
When asked what he had missed most while behind bars, Mokbel replied: ‘Going overseas of course’.
‘That’d be great to get on a nice plane, I used to always dream of getting on a plane when I was in jail, so yeah,’ he said.
In the 10 months since his release in April, Mokbel has been required to report to police every day and barred from leaving the country.
The notorious gangster was swarmed by a sea of reporters as he left the court
Tony Mokbel and his girlfriend are pictured following his release in April
He was also previously ordered to wear a tracking device, follow a nightly curfew and live with relatives in north Melbourne.
Mokbel’s release comes after his defence barrister, Julie Condon KC, called for the ‘sorry saga’ to be brought to an end at a hearing in December.
The gangster spent his first day of freedom shopping in the perfume section of Myer at the Northland Shopping Centre in a northern suburb of Melbourne.
He left the shops with multiple bags in hand including one from Coles and one from nutritional store Elite Supplements.
The life and times of Tony Mokbel
TONY MOKBEL’S EARLY LIFE
* Born Antonios Sajih Mokbel in Kuwait to Lebanese parents in 1965, his family migrated to Australia when he was eight
* Grew up in poverty in Melbourne’s northern suburbs
* Started out working at his brother’s pizza shop as a teenager but within six years became the head of a multimillion-dollar drug empire
EARLY CONVICTIONS
* Early 1980s: Mokbel is convicted of a variety of offences including assaults, threats to kill, resisting arrest, possessing a gun
* 1992: Sentenced to 12 months in jail for trying to bribe a County Court judge
* 1998: Convicted for amphetamine manufacturing
ESCAPE TO GREECE, DRUG TRAFFICKING AND MURDER CHARGES
* March 2006: Mokbel disappears while on bail during a trial over the importation of 2kg of cocaine and is sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison, with a minimum of nine
* December 24, 2006: Mokbel arrives in Greece after fleeing Australia on a yacht – he hid in rural in Victoria for eight months before driving to WA to make his escape
* February 2007: Mokbel is charged over the 2004 murder of gangland patriarch Lewis Moran
* June 2007: He is arrested at a cafe in Athens and police apply to extradite him to Australia, later that month charged with a second murder – of kickboxer Michael Marshall in 2003
* 2009: The Marshall murder charge against Mokbel is dropped by prosecutors and a trial over the Lewis Moran murder begins, however a jury finds him not guilty
* 2011: Mokbel pleads guilty to two counts of trafficking a large commercial quantity of drugs, and incitement to import a prohibited import – known as Quills, Magnum and Orbital charges, relating to MDMA and methamphetamine trafficking – with details of his former murder charges revealed after a suppression order is lifted
* 2012: He is jailed for drug trafficking for 30 years with a minimum non-parole period of 22 years
MOKBEL’S APPEALS
* 2017: Mokbel files his first application to appeal his drug convictions
* 2019: He is stabbed in Barwon Prison and taken to hospital suffering a brain injury, the same year his former barrister Nicola Gobbo is publicly outed as a Victoria Police informer
* 2020: Appeal court quashes Mokbel’s cocaine conviction, known as the Plutonium charge, after prosecutors concede there had been a miscarriage of justice due to him being represented by Ms Gobbo, his sentence and conviction are set aside and a retrial is ordered
* 2021: Prosecutors file a notice of discontinuance for the cocaine trafficking retrial
* 2023: Mokbel’s total sentence is revised by the appeal court from 30 years, minimum of 22, to 26 years with a non-parole of 20, for the three remaining drug trafficking charges
* 2024: NSW Judge Elizabeth Fullerton issues judgment ahead of his appeal of remaining drug trafficking charges, saying police and Ms Gobbo perverted the course of justice in a joint criminal enterprise to take Mokbel down
* April 1, 2025: Mokbel applies for appeal bail due to delays in his long-awaited Lawyer X legal challenge being heard, the strength of his case and his poor physical health in custody
* April 4, 2025: Three judges grant Mokbel bail, his first taste of freedom since his arrest in Greece 18 years before, which is secured by a $1 million surety put up by his sister and that he must abide by 30 conditions
* September 2, 2025: Mokbel’s appeal on his remaining drug trafficking charges begins in Melbourne
* October 3, 2025: Victoria’s Court of Appeal delivers a split decision on his three remaining charges. He was acquitted over the Quills charges, ordered to face retrial on Orbital and lost his appeal of the Magnum brief. His bail was extended
* December 19, 2025: Prosecutors slammed by Mokbel’s lawyer after asking for more time to decide whether Mokbel will face a re-trial on his remaining drug trafficking charge
* February 6, 2026: Mokbel walks from Victoria’s Supreme Court a free man after the Director of Public Prosecutions announces the last charges hanging over him have been withdrawn and he will not face another trial over the Lawyer X offending
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