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Speaker 1: He was accused of bashing two prison guards years earlier

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Speaker 1: because he spent too much time on the phone and

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Speaker 1: they tried to tell him to your times up on

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Speaker 1: the phone and he dealt with them. So you'd be

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Speaker 1: a brave prison guard to tap him on the shoulder.

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Speaker 2: Are they shy? They like members of the Melbourne Club.

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Speaker 2: They don't like publicity.

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Speaker 1: Some of them enjoy it, some of them try to

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Speaker 1: keep a low profile. Yeah, they started off making their

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Speaker 1: own hoodies and merchandise, but they really that maybe that

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Speaker 1: wasn't such a good idea.

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Speaker 2: I'm Andrew Rules Life and Crimes. Today in the Life

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Speaker 2: and Crimes headquarters, we're talking to Reagan Hodge, who is

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Speaker 2: one of our brightest young crime reporters. Reagan, what brings

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Speaker 2: you here? You've been looking into the story of George Morogi?

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Speaker 2: Is that right? And he said, how you pronounce it?

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Speaker 2: It is.

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Speaker 1: It's great to be here too, Thank you. So the

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Speaker 1: AFP have talked about with us the master class in

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Speaker 1: convicting George Morogi from inside bar And Prison, the state's

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Speaker 1: toughest prison, and it was a massive investigation. They've done

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Speaker 1: an extremely good job and they've landed him in prison

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Speaker 1: for a lot longer.

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Speaker 2: We'll look at the history of George Morogi a little

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Speaker 2: later in the episode, but just tell us what the

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Speaker 2: AFP have found out, How did they pull that off?

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Speaker 2: What gave them their start in this fiendish plan to

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Speaker 2: nail a bad guy? A little bit more.

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Speaker 1: So, this was a state and federal investigation and they've

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Speaker 1: done it really well. It started off with a tip

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Speaker 1: off about a drug shipment coming in from overseas, and

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Speaker 1: then that sort of encouraged them to start what was

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Speaker 1: known as Operation eagles Peak from the AFP.

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Speaker 2: Eagles Peak interesting combination of words, and how did eagles

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Speaker 2: Peak unfold?

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Speaker 1: So they started, I guess, seeing these repeat shipments of

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Speaker 1: up to four hundred kilograms being imported into the country,

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Speaker 1: and they believe it was methamphetamine and heroin being sent

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Speaker 1: from Malaysia into a company in George Moroghi's girlfriend's name.

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Speaker 2: So George Morogi had orchestrated these deliveries from inside prison,

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Speaker 2: using his crooked network outside, using codd telephone calls all

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Speaker 2: the rest of it, and the authorities had realized that

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Speaker 2: there were certain shipments coming in that were suspicious. What

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Speaker 2: had the bad guys disguised those shipments. As you know

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Speaker 2: clearly they were drugs, but what were some of the

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Speaker 2: cover stories for those shipments.

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Speaker 1: Well, the one that broad him unstuck was a big

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Speaker 1: shipment of methamphetamine and heroin disguised as green tea bags,

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Speaker 1: green tea bags and magnets that were brought in from overseas.

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Speaker 1: Sixty nine kilograms worth of that gear. And that was

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Speaker 1: the result of the AFP's target development team. They've listened

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Speaker 1: to hundreds of hours of Morogi and his girlfriend on

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Speaker 1: the phone from inside prison. Investigators say he would spend

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Speaker 1: up to six hours a day on the phone. He

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Speaker 1: was prolific on there. He was accused of bashing two

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Speaker 1: prison guards years earlier because he spent too much time

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Speaker 1: on the phone and they tried to tell him to

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Speaker 1: make your times up on the phone, and he dealt

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Speaker 1: with them. So you'd be a brave prison guard to

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Speaker 1: tap him on the shoulder. So he basically did as

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Speaker 1: he pleased in there. Sometimes on the phone he would

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Speaker 1: speak for twenty or thirty seconds with his girlfriend on

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Speaker 1: the outside, using these fake code words, but he would

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Speaker 1: tell the guards he was talking to his lawyers.

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Speaker 2: And how did he organize that? How did anybody believe

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Speaker 2: that that he was talking to lawyer.

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Speaker 1: Well, investigators aren't allowed to listen to conversations with lawyers

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Speaker 1: from inside prison, so I guess they've just taken his

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Speaker 1: word for it. And little did he know that the

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Speaker 1: AFP were tapping his girlfriend's phone, who was later arrested.

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Speaker 1: He led guilty over this. So they'd been listening to

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Speaker 1: hundreds of hours. They sat for months listening to these

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Speaker 1: thirty second conversations or half an hour conversations.

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Speaker 2: You're not allowed to tape a real lawyer, but you

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Speaker 2: can certainly tape Marggi's girlfriend pretending to be a lawyer.

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Speaker 1: Once they figured that out, they were quite happy to

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Speaker 1: sit in on those conversations.

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Speaker 2: It's quite a marvelous plot line, it is.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, as I said, we've got to give credit

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Speaker 1: to the target development team for those painstaking hours sitting

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Speaker 1: listening to those conversations, and they've pieced together code words.

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Speaker 1: It would be so difficult to do that, piecing together

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Speaker 1: these code words that don't really make sense sentences the AFP.

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Speaker 1: They've said broadly, criminals might use the word I for

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Speaker 1: iotaine and even trying to decipher what a conversation which

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Speaker 1: might not be suspect or suspicious, but then deciphering how

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Speaker 1: that is being translated to can you move these drugs

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Speaker 1: into Melbourne?

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Speaker 2: Right? And it's interesting I wonder when I first read

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Speaker 2: this story how they'd established that code, given that he's inside,

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Speaker 2: how he'd sort of worked out keywords so that she

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Speaker 2: would know what the keywords what he was talking about.

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Speaker 2: It's fascinating somehow they've been able to communicate certain things

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Speaker 2: they reckon.

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Speaker 1: He spent probably sixty percent of his time on the

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Speaker 1: phone in jail, was orchestrating these criminal activities from the inside,

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Speaker 1: and they suspect he did a fairly good job of it,

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Speaker 1: as a lot of it did get into the country successfully,

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Speaker 1: but AFP say they were over the moon to finally

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Speaker 1: charge him further once inside bar and prison.

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Speaker 2: Does this suggest to you that Moragi had a pretty

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Speaker 2: watertight network of efficient operators working for him overseas end

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Speaker 2: in Australia that she could tap into. She could ring

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Speaker 2: Charlie or George or Harry and say do this, do that,

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Speaker 2: George wants this, George wants that she able to just

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Speaker 2: ride on the coattails of an existing structure, gang structure

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Speaker 2: or whatever. He might call it.

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Speaker 1: So he's a notorious crime family. The gang he established

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Speaker 1: while inside bar and prison, I'm sure they had a

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Speaker 1: major role in helping orchestrate these shipments into Australia and

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Speaker 1: into Melbourne specifically, and with the help of his girlfriend

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Speaker 1: as sort of a connection to that, he was still

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Speaker 1: able to haul in tons of drugs from overseas while

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Speaker 1: inside prison.

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Speaker 2: This case is further proof of crime's multicultural appeal or

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Speaker 2: appeal to multicultural players, because the girlfriend is.

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Speaker 1: Who Antonetta Manella.

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Speaker 2: Manella, and of course long term listeners will recall the

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Speaker 2: Manella name because the Manelas have been leading members with

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Speaker 2: those of them who survived and not many have leading

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Speaker 2: members of the Italian crime groups in Melbourne for decades,

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Speaker 2: I would suggest based around North Fitzroy in the good

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Speaker 2: old days when the old Originals turned up after World

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Speaker 2: War II around North fit Troy Fitzroy and I think

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Speaker 2: there were at least three brothers, and certainly two of

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Speaker 2: them were murdered and one of them had a house

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Speaker 2: in May Street, North fit Troad, which is now occupied

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Speaker 2: by a leading Australian author and a Storian, and the

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Speaker 2: neighbors were very relieved when the Manellas moved out. There

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Speaker 2: was one of them that was killed. Sadly. His name

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Speaker 2: was Salvatore, so his short name was selm Manella, Selmanella.

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Speaker 2: Not bad, not bad. Of course, the Manellas were very

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Speaker 2: closely associated with the likes of Alfons Gangatano and Mario

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Speaker 2: Condello and all the rest of that sort of Carlton

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Speaker 2: crew of no good skis. But in the next generation

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Speaker 2: they've reached hands across the arrow, or across Saint George's road,

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Speaker 2: or across something, and the young Manela girl has taken

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Speaker 2: up with George Morogi, who is by no meansertainment.

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Speaker 1: And she will serve the next thirteen years in Dame

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Speaker 1: Phyllis Frost Center, the Victoria's Women's prison. So for her

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Speaker 1: alleged role in orchestra adding these shipments, is.

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Speaker 2: That a third on in this case a lucky number

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Speaker 2: or an unlucky number? What do you think?

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Speaker 1: How do you say it?

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Speaker 2: Oh? I think it's a bit unlucky for.

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Speaker 1: Compared to some of the bread up, a.

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Speaker 2: Bit unlucky when some people kill people and get fewer years.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely so, George Murraghi has had extra time added to

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Speaker 2: his sentence, and that extra time, of course, is for

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Speaker 2: this big drug bust that the AFP has so cleverly

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Speaker 2: pulled off. But why was he in jail already?

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Speaker 1: This was a brazen alleged murder he executed on a

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Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon September twenty sixth, twenty sixteen, where he shot

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Speaker 1: and killed drug rival Owz Campbellfield Plaza, a daylight shooting.

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Speaker 2: Very brazen, very brazen.

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Speaker 1: We've seen a few in recent times of a similar nature.

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Speaker 1: And he launched a bid to sort of have that appealed.

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Speaker 1: His conviction appealed last year. There was some pretty damning

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Speaker 1: evidence against him, which we can go into if you like.

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Speaker 2: I'd be very now am I writing saying I've recently

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Speaker 2: seen some footage of this. We've got red cars and

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Speaker 2: got bugs in hoodies running and all sorts of things.

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Speaker 2: How do they underneath? How do we know who's underneath

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Speaker 2: the hoodie? In each case?

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Speaker 1: The footage is pretty damning. It's taken from a shopping center.

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Speaker 1: You see this banged up holding commodore approach the bus

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Speaker 1: stop where three men are standing. One was Oars and

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Speaker 1: two of his associates.

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Speaker 2: They became fairly perturbed, very quickly.

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Speaker 1: They did and the vision is pretty confronting. It shows

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Speaker 1: allegedly a hood of George jump out of the car.

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Speaker 1: He's stormed the bus stop and just started firing shots

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Speaker 1: at these this group. He's hit cader Oz, who was

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Speaker 1: a drug rival, and just chased him for twenty fifty

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Speaker 1: meters or so, blasted him with eleven shots, hopped back

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Speaker 1: in his Commodore and taken off down Campbellfield.

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Speaker 2: And did a little bit of dangerous driving. I think

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Speaker 2: I noticed that great big intersection when I'm familiar with

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Speaker 2: because I've spent many years driving down that road. He

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Speaker 2: just pulled across, did a right hand turn in front

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Speaker 2: of all the traffic, and away he.

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Speaker 1: Went, Away he went. They later abandoned that banged up

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Speaker 1: red commodore nearby.

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Speaker 2: Did they burn it?

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Speaker 1: They didn't, And that was a significant part of this.

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Speaker 2: What did he leave in the car?

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Speaker 1: He left a bit of cardboard which eventually had his

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Speaker 1: DNA written all over it. And that cardboard was from

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Speaker 1: a bullet box which they reckon held nine millimeter ammunition.

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Speaker 2: They'd probably be right about that.

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Speaker 1: And his DNA was on that and that was one

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Speaker 1: of the major factors in securing a conviction against George Morogi.

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Speaker 2: The jury decided that George was a bad boy. And

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Speaker 2: how many years did George get? Third time would have

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Speaker 2: been a lucky number for him.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, because he got thirty two.

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Speaker 2: Thirty two, that's quite a lot.

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Speaker 1: It'll be an old man before he's eligible for parole,

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Speaker 1: twenty forty nine that year, so he's got a lot

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Speaker 1: of time to think of what he's done inside bow

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Speaker 1: and Prison. The state stuff is jail.

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Speaker 2: Would he be wondering, do you think late at night,

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Speaker 2: four o'clock in the morning, you know, just as the

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Speaker 2: first shift change starts up and the roosters are crowing

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Speaker 2: over in the suburbs, would he be thinking, I don't

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Speaker 2: know if it's all worth it? Thirty two years in here.

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Speaker 1: It'd be fascinating to be inside his mind, wouldn't it.

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Speaker 1: You'd think, is he thinking of plans for when he's

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Speaker 1: out and yeah? Or is he thinking I'm going to

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Speaker 1: turn my life around and stay out of this business

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Speaker 1: once I'm out, when I'm almost an elderly man. It

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Speaker 1: would be fascinating. Who knows? He may still be having

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Speaker 1: connections on the inside. We don't know.

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Speaker 2: Well, I guess jail is its own little ecosystem or

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Speaker 2: fairly big ecosystem in some ways, and that those who

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Speaker 2: are at the top of the tree, it's a lifestyle

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Speaker 2: of its own. They have their relative luxuries compared with

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Speaker 2: other guys. They've got a better television or a better bed,

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Speaker 2: or a better food or whatever whatever it is, and

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Speaker 2: they can sort of lose themselves in the everyday give

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Speaker 2: and take of living inside of prison.

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Speaker 1: And he's become quite used to it. He's barely spent

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Speaker 1: twelve months of his adult life outside of prison, is

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Speaker 1: that right. He's basically been in prison around Victoria for

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Speaker 1: basically his old adult life. Really migrating to Australia and

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Speaker 1: into Melbourne as a young.

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Speaker 2: Boy got into trouble pretty early, he did.

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Speaker 1: We spoke to some of his old childhood friends on

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Speaker 1: health Sun dot com dot au and they've described him

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Speaker 1: as being a teacher's pet. That's a quote to an

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Speaker 1: quote absolute menace in just a few years.

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Speaker 2: Really, And where did they come from? His parents? What

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Speaker 2: sort of people were they were they hardworking tradesmen whatever.

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Speaker 1: Well, they fled Iraq when he was just six years old,

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Speaker 1: before he started school. They fled to Syria for a year. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: that's a pretty troublesome place. Things didn't work out there,

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Speaker 1: so they've come straight to Melbourne when he was six

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Speaker 1: or seven. Three kids, obviously George is one of them.

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Speaker 1: Box Forest's Secondary College is where he started his schooling

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Speaker 1: as a young teenager, which our listeners may recall. That's

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Speaker 1: now Glenroy College.

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Speaker 2: Oh, it's glen Roy College. The box Forests out there

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Speaker 2: in the book the cemeteries out in.

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Speaker 1: The northern suburbs. Yes, and he was only a short,

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Speaker 1: little fella, not much of him.

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Speaker 2: Didn't stop Napoleon.

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Speaker 1: Well, No, he was picked on because of his size

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Speaker 1: at school, oh dear, But that quickly turned once he

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Speaker 1: became bigger and stronger. He started to fight those people back,

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Speaker 1: so much so that he would start to carry knives

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Speaker 1: at school. He would carry fifty dollar notes, which back

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Speaker 1: twenty years ago was a significant amount for a teenager

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Speaker 1: to carry, let alone now exactly. And we're unsure if

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Speaker 1: he left or was kicked out of that school, but

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Speaker 1: there was a bit of instability with his family in

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Speaker 1: those years, and he moved in with his old man

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Speaker 1: and then enrolled at broad Meadows Secondary College, which is

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Speaker 1: notoriously tough is a school, but yeah, certainly it's a.

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Speaker 2: Lovely school and it's just it's unlucky that now and

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Speaker 2: again some hard cases.

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Speaker 1: Go there and hello to our friends in the Northern suburbs.

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Speaker 1: But no, it was a certainly a tough upbringing for

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Speaker 1: George and rough life. He's lived some of that through

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Speaker 1: his own choice, but certainly as a child moving migrating countries.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, to a fractured life. To be serious, he's fractured

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Speaker 2: life from a young age in things like refg Camp's

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Speaker 2: very tough places where survival is difficult, and that would

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Speaker 2: explain why he's a disturbed character. Well, I know we

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Speaker 2: joke about it, but the reality is a lot of

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Speaker 2: these guys that we talk about damaged people, and they've

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Speaker 2: been damaged by circumstances that affect their family when they're

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Speaker 2: very young.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, families can be fairly unstable and that can throw

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Speaker 1: around all sorts of options for and just speaking generally, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: people who've found themselves on the wrong side of the law.

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Speaker 1: It's it's not a great way to kickstart your life.

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Speaker 1: And if you're hanging around the wrong people, or your

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Speaker 1: parents have been hanging around the wrong people, it's it's

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Speaker 1: the writings on the wall in some cases.

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Speaker 2: Indeed, I've seen examples of that with teachers and editors

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Speaker 2: and all sorts of people. What the letters in CF

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Speaker 2: suggest you National Conservation Foundation.

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Speaker 1: Not quite notorious crime family.

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Speaker 2: Oh I see, okay? And who are they again? You've

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Speaker 2: mentioned them before.

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Speaker 1: There are a few of them, some we I believe

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Speaker 1: we can't name.

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Speaker 2: Oh these members of members of.

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Speaker 1: This notorious crime family gang.

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Speaker 2: But they shy. They like members of the Melbourne Club.

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Speaker 2: They don't like publicity.

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Speaker 1: Some of them enjoy it. Some of them try to

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Speaker 1: keep a low profile. Yeah, they started off making their

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Speaker 1: own hoodies and merchandise, but they really that maybe that

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Speaker 1: will isn't such a good idea. But they're suspected in

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Speaker 1: a lot of the drug shipments and drug deals around Melbourne.

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Speaker 1: And they're heavily entrenched in organized crime and.

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Speaker 2: Across some ethnic groups or heavily Iraqi or what you know,

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Speaker 2: Middle Eastern Middle Eastern, by and large, basically with the

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Speaker 2: odd aberrations such as Miss Manila.

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Speaker 1: A few minor exceptions that.

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Speaker 2: Can happen in people fall in love Romeo and Juliet.

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Speaker 2: It is it's the human condition, Reagan, That's what happens.

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Speaker 2: Just can't help, but sometimes they can't and then they

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Speaker 2: do bad things. So, Reagan, the big question here is

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Speaker 2: the AFP have had a win, a big win. But

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Speaker 2: is it a big win in terms of the total

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Speaker 2: amount of drugs brought into this country? Is it a

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Speaker 2: significant amount of drugs they've stopped. Did it affect the

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Speaker 2: market that you think or is there any feedback about

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Speaker 2: any of that? How do you rate it?

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Speaker 1: So George Morogi was one of five of the big

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Speaker 1: name the AFP were after, right, he's a top five,

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Speaker 1: he was a top fiver, and so they were over

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Speaker 1: the moon, as I said, to arrest him again and

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Speaker 1: lay further charges. At least another one of those five

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Speaker 1: has been arrested, and as you can imagine, they are

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Speaker 1: fairly tight lipped on the remaining three of these top

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Speaker 1: five organized crime players.

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Speaker 2: And if you were one of those other three or

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Speaker 2: close to them, would you be sleeping soundly or would

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Speaker 2: you be worried about you know, who's listening.

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't be sleeping all that easy given the AFPs

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Speaker 1: and Victoria police's a masterclass, as I said, tapping phone calls,

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Speaker 1: and you never know who's listening.

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Speaker 2: If you were one of these guys, would you move

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Speaker 2: house like every day?

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Speaker 1: I would be very cautious of where I'm living, who

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Speaker 1: I'm associating with, and even the security measures around my property.

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Speaker 2: What about our starcross lovers. That's George and what's miss

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Speaker 2: Manella's name? And oh yeah, it's a beautiful note. George

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Speaker 2: and Antoinette. Has the relationship flourished under these conditions? Or

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Speaker 2: is it withered? You give him one. He's in a big,

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Speaker 2: bad jail and she's in another jail. They can't really

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Speaker 2: bring each other much. I don't suppose unless they've both

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Speaker 2: got legal telephones, we'd say might have. Is there any

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Speaker 2: feedback about the romance.

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Speaker 1: Not that I'm aware of. You never know how these

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Speaker 1: things can flourish when they're apart. Long distance relationships have

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Speaker 1: worked in the past, yeah, but a lot of the

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Speaker 1: times they do come unstuck.

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Speaker 2: So Reagan George is going to be in their very

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Speaker 2: long time.

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Speaker 1: He will be in for a long time. But there

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Speaker 1: were pretty big plans to get him out. So upon

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Speaker 1: the AFP listening to these hundreds of hours of calls,

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Speaker 1: they heard an alleged plot for a prison escape George

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Speaker 1: to be a free man. One of them allegedly included

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Speaker 1: the use of a helicopter, Oh totally above bar and

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Speaker 1: prison and saving the Big George from the Big House.

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Speaker 2: Is that a fact?

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Speaker 1: Imagine that for a story.

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Speaker 2: It is wonderful. And these plugs they're desperate, They've got

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Speaker 2: a lot of time to think and access to a

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Speaker 2: lot of money outside. You would think it is fascinating.

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Speaker 2: And of course you may or may not remember that

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Speaker 2: many years ago there were people locked up for drug

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Speaker 2: offences in Pentridge Prison and they had a set up

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Speaker 2: to a former British Special Services and whatever to fly

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Speaker 2: a helicopter into Penridge, pick them up and spirit them

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Speaker 2: out to a park in the nearby suburb. They're going

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Speaker 2: to then run into a nearby flat, get massive makeover

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Speaker 2: makeup and then get put on him in a boat

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Speaker 2: on the back of a truck and the boat will

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Speaker 2: be taped down the back of a truck and they

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Speaker 2: would be taken into state and then they were going

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Speaker 2: to float the boat off and drive it to Malaysia

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Speaker 2: or New Guinea or Papi in New Guinea, whatever and escape.

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Speaker 2: But of course it all came unstuck because the police

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Speaker 2: were listening to the pilot in the room next door

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Speaker 2: at a leading Melbourne hotel and they were able to

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Speaker 2: stop that plan before it got off the ground. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: before the chopper got off the ground. They were able

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Speaker 2: to but it actually made a lot of scenes. They

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Speaker 2: probably could have got away with it as Indeed, there

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Speaker 2: was of course a great case in Sydney where John

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Speaker 2: Killick bank robber or similar escaped from silver Water Prison.

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Speaker 2: I think it was because he's Russian. Girlfriend Lucy Dudco,

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Speaker 2: I'm going to say she was Russian, had got a

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Speaker 2: ride with a chopper pilot and pulled a gun and

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Speaker 2: made land into prison and I mate run over and

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Speaker 2: jumped on and they took off and they escaped for

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Speaker 2: a very short time. This is starcross lovers, blonderful stuff.

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Speaker 2: The Ballad of John and Lucy.

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Speaker 1: One of the other alleged plots to break free from

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Speaker 1: Barwin was upon going to court for one of his

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Speaker 1: many schedule meetings. Yep, the AFP heard that he was

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Speaker 1: allegedly going to just try and break free from the guards.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: You know those shots how magnificent photographers get. Yes, they've

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Speaker 1: got a split second. They have to get the shot

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Speaker 1: as they're walking from the prison van to the court

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Speaker 1: in the CBD. They believe Morogi was going to try

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Speaker 1: and break free at that instance and run through the CBD.

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Speaker 1: Can you imagine that with his hands in cuffs. Do

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Speaker 1: you know anyone that can break free of vancuffs? Because

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Speaker 1: that was his plan.

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Speaker 2: I suppose as long as his feet weren't shackled, he

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Speaker 2: could still run, but he wouldn't run very well, and

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Speaker 2: he would count on the prison office as being a

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Speaker 2: little bit nervous of chasing him.

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Speaker 1: Possibly, I think he thought better of it with those

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Speaker 1: two plans. Well that the latter. Anyway, it wouldn't.

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Speaker 2: It's seen a lot of future in it. Now you

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Speaker 2: need a lot of organization. Well, Reagan, it's a delight

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Speaker 2: to have you fill us in on those things you've

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Speaker 2: told us. How this really started with the lovers talking

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Speaker 2: to each other about business, and probably they should have

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Speaker 2: stuck to couing sweet nothings to each other. Now they're

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Speaker 2: both inside.

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Speaker 1: They're inside for a long time.

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Speaker 2: Crime doesn't pay, apparently not, and neither do detectives. Thanks Reagan,

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Speaker 2: Thanks Andrew, thanks for listening. Life and Crimes is a

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Speaker 2: Sunday Herald Sun production for true crime Australia. Our producer

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00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:28,960
Speaker 2: is Johnty Burton. For my columns, features and more, go

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Speaker 2: to Heroldsun dot com dot au forward slash Andrew rule

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00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:40,919
Speaker 2: one word. For advertising inquiries, go to news Podcasts sold

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00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:44,800
Speaker 2: at news dot com dot au. That is all one

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00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:50,040
Speaker 2: word news podcasts sold And if you want further information

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Speaker 2: about this episode, links are in the description

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Speaker 1: A