Having spent most of the last decade in Barwon prison’s high-security units, Mokbel now faces a strict new bail regimen. He is subject to about 30 conditions, including a curfew, daily reporting at a nearby police station – which he did just after 9.30am Saturday – and a ban on using smartphones or encrypted apps. He is paying $25,000 a year to a private bail company to have his movements tracked via an ankle bracelet.
Tony Mokbel and his family on Saturday earlier in the morning.Credit: Alex Coppel
He cannot leave the state or go near any points of “international departure”. Last time Mokbel was out on bail, almost 20 years ago, he orchestrated one of the most infamous escapes in Australian history – smuggling himself out of the country in a specially designed yacht – before being tracked down in Greece a year later, in a restaurant wearing a bad wig.
Mokbel’s ankle bracelet.Credit: Alex Coppel
Mokbel’s fame as one of the few surviving bosses of the original gangland war is expected to protect him on the streets of Melbourne, as a new and violent battle rages for control of the black-market tobacco trade. But he may not be welcome everywhere. The well-known gambler was one of the first people ever banned from Crown Casino and helped spark a ban on suspected organised crime figures from racetracks when he attended Oaks Day at Flemington while on bail.
Just hours after walking free on bail on Friday, Mokbel visited the graves of his mother and brother Milad, who both died while he was in jail.
Tony Mokbel walking in Viewbank on Saturday morning. Credit: Alex Coppel
During court proceedings, his sister Saad agreed to put up a $1 million surety – $100,000 from a bank cheque and the rest in equity from a home in Yallambie – to secure her brother’s release.
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