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An audacious plot to apparently steal the body of Meshilin Marrogi, deceased sister of gangland boss George Marrogi, failed in late July.
Underworld sources suspect the aborted plan was part of a scheme to punish or potentially extort money from the founder of a drug trafficking gang called the Notorious Crime Family (NCF).
Crime boss George Marrogi.Credit:
Who is George Marrogi?
George Marrogi was born in Iraq in 1989 and came to Australia when he was six or seven.
He grew up in Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs, but found school difficult and drifted into a life of crime.
The now 34-year-old has spent as little as 12 months outside jail since he turned 16.
He is known as a domineering figure who insisted on exerting uncompromising control, even from his Barwon Prison cell.
What is the Notorious Crime Family?
Marrogi founded the Notorious Crime Family gang from prison in 2019.
The group ran significant drug importation and trafficking networks, money-laundering operations and a fraud syndicate.
From his maximum security jail cell at Barwon Prison, Marrogi wrote a “constitution” that members of the Notorious Crime Family were expected to live by.
The 19 commandments included instructions for what to do if a member was arrested, and a ban on illicit drug use.
The gang was run by an executive “commission” which planned crimes, ran operations, enforced discipline and meted out punishments to wayward members and enemies.
Other gang accoutrements included a custom-designed NCF logo that was tattooed on members’ body parts and used to create a line of branded clothing.
The scene of the fatal shooting in Campbellfield.Credit: Nine
Why is Marrogi in jail?
In 2016, Marrogi was arrested for murdering rival Kadir Ors in the car park of an Officeworks store.
That shooting came after Marrogi was suspected of firing at underworld figure Nabil Maghnie only days before.
Maghnie survived that attack, but was killed in 2020 in an apparently unrelated dispute.
George Marrogi’s partner Antonietta Mannella (left) and late sister, Meshilin.Credit: Instagram
While behind bars for the Ors murder, Marrogi orchestrated a $55 million drug importation with the help of his girlfriend Antonietta Mannella.
Circumventing the prison’s phone system, Marrogi and Mannella made up to 20 calls a day to plot their criminal activities.
One of those drug imports was 69 kilograms of methamphetamine and heroin that arrived in Australia on a Qantas flight from Bangkok on February 18, 2022.
Inside the plane, federal police 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.
Marrogi later found out the shipment had been seized after receiving a message sent by fellow inmate and drug baron Tony Mokbel.
Marrogi received a 32-year sentence in 2022 for the murder of Ors. Another 16 years were added to his jail term after he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking earlier this year.
How does George Marrogi spend his time in jail?
Marrogi has spent virtually all his time in prison in a high-security unit, where he is in nearly 24-hour-a-day lockdown.
Marrogi is jailed in Barwon Prison.Credit: Jason South
He has been infamously difficult for prison authorities to manage, including allegedly smuggling in a mobile phone, threatening guards, going on hunger strike and building a crossbow from materials cobbled together inside the prison walls.
Who is Meshilin Marrogi?
Meshilin is George Marrogi’s younger sister, who the family revealed died in 2021 after she contracted COVID-19.
Meshilin, 30, was laid to rest in a mausoleum at Preston General Cemetery.
On July 30, thieves targeted her grave. They apparently attempted to steal her body, but the plot was foiled when an internal lift failed to work.
Meshilin Marrogi’s resting place.Credit: Facebook
Instead, they are believed to have broken into Meshilin’s coffin and taken items buried with her.
It’s believed the attack was a direct strike at George Marrogi by gangland rivals.
Why are rivals still fighting with George Marrogi?
Marrogi is a former bikie who had become a central player in a shooting war between rival Middle Eastern organised crime groups, which culminated in his arrest for the Ors murder.
The groups have long-held grudges over drug trafficking, standover tactics and crime territory.
When Marrogi decided to form his own gang, this only intensified long-standing rivalries.
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