Crime boss Tony Mokbel's former Brunswick house back for sale

Crime boss Tony Mokbel's former Brunswick house back for sale
Jonathan ChancellorDecember 7, 2020

The Downs Street, Brunswick house used as surety in Tony Mokbel's controversial 2004 bail, has returned to the market after the sale of earlier this year failed to settle.

Glenn Bartlett from Woodards Carlton has the listing again, this time offered at $1.23 million, having accepted a pre-auction offer above the $1.1 million that was being publicly sought before February's auction.

The empty double-storey house sits on 500 square metres, but unlike its portrayal on the Channel 9 mini-series Underbelly and Fat Tony & Co, is of modern dimensions not boom Italianiate.

The previous marketing made cryptic mention of its status when noting the "impressive size and scale are the hallmark of this imposing family home, made even more memorable for its role in Melbourne's contemporary history".

It has a 13 metre x 33 metre block next door currently used for pool and garden. They sold last for $850,000 and $550,000 in 2010.

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Property Observer understands Mockel paid $200,000 in 1999 after paying $160,000 next door in 1996 for the larger home.

Ownership of the property was transferred to the Attorney-General of Victoria in late 2009, under the Confiscation Act 1997.

It was the site of a clandestine drug lab which was revealed after it caught fire and exploded. Crime writer John Silvester wrote that following its February 1997 fire, detectives ascertained the lab had produced 41 kilograms of pure methylamphetamine with a street value of $78 million.

He wrote that detectives believed the Downs Street lab helped Mokbel progress from a mid-level drug trafficker to the biggest in Australia over the 1990s.

While Mokbel was not arrested over the drug lab, his friend Paul Howden was badly burnt, charged and later sentenced to four years in jail.

The property was surety when securing his bail in 2004.

It emerged the property was part of a family trust, JR Mokbel Pty Ltd, an ownership structure which hampered efforts to sell the property after Tony Mokbel fled.

After his return from Greece, Mokbel was jailed for 30 years, with a minimum of 22 years, in 2012 over his international drug business. The judge described him as "intelligent and a cunning person".

While on the run in Athens in 2007, Tony instructed his associates to look after his late mother, Lora, who was living in the family's Brunswick home.

Lora Mokbel raised her four sons after her husband Sajih's death in 1980 when Tony was 15. The family had migrated from Lebanon in 1974.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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