How the feared kingpin of the underworld, George ‘Cross’ Marrogi, continues to run the crime empire from behind bars

A feared gangster named “Cross” has been running a multi-million dollar criminal empire behind bars.

Despite being locked up in one of Australia’s toughest prisons, George Marrogi was still able to run a $50 million drug deal.

He was assisted in his drug business by his “clean” girlfriend Antonietta Mannella, who pretended to be his lawyer to help him transport a huge shipment of drugs.

Marrogi was a thorn in the side of Melbourne detectives for much of his 33-year life, most of which he spent behind bars.

Last year he was sentenced to a total of 32 years in prison by the Victorian Supreme Court for the cold-blooded public execution of a drug competitor.

But jail doesn’t seem to have stopped Marrogi from taunting the police from the inside.

George Marrogi, 33, was the mastermind behind bars in a $50 million drug deal

Charity worker Antonietta Mannella has pleaded guilty to helping Marrogi run his business out of prison

It can be revealed that Marrogi hosted rapper BBG Smokey on his family compound while he was incarcerated in Victoria’s Barwon Prison.

The Melbourne rapper performs while surrounded by the gangster’s fleet of luxury vehicles, including a $300,000 Lamborghini Huracan.

Marrogi’s brother Jesse also appears in the video and can be recognized by the words “F**k the Law” tattooed on his torso.

Most of the cars featured in the video, including two Jeeps, a gold-plated Harley-Davidson and the Lamborghini, were either confiscated by authorities under criminal law or sold as police tightened their grip on Marrogi’s gang, the Herald, the Sun reported .

Rapper BBG Smokey (left) drives a fleet of vehicles believed to belong to George Marrogi to parties with wads of digital cash before being seized by police

George Marrogi’s brother Jesse (pictured) has been featured in a music video with Melbourne rapper BBG Smokey

On Tuesday, Marrogi faced a judge again after being caught in a ludicrous plot to deal in massive amounts of drugs.

The latest venture by the Notorious Crime Family syndicate has resulted in the imprisonment of a once law-abiding charity worker, who now faces life imprisonment.

Mannella, 28, from Mickleham, has pleaded guilty to helping Marrogi run his business from Barwon.

Victoria District Court heard Mannella had been his dead sister’s best friend when she inexplicably became involved with the prison bird.

Until then, Mannella had lived an impeccable life, previously distributing food to the homeless on Melbourne’s streets for a charity set up to commemorate Marrogi’s sister Meshilin, who died of complications related to Covid-19.

George Marrogi’s brother Jesse has been linked to Nabil ‘Mad Lebo’ Maghnie’s daughter Sabrine (pictured).

George Marrogi in happier times. He will spend most of his life behind bars

The court heard Mannella and some of Marrogi’s cohorts attempted to transport 800 liters of the drug butanediol from South Australia to Victoria.

Marrogi and Mannella have pleaded guilty to attempted trafficking in a large commercial quantity of illegal drugs.

The $50 million plan was based on a brazen scheme that had Mannella posing as Marrogi’s attorney.

While all phone calls made by prisoners are monitored and recorded by Corrections Victoria, the couple relied on a well-known exemption allowing unsupervised calls with entities deemed to be privileged.

In circumstances that were not explained, the court heard that a phone used by a real lawyer representing Marrogi was diverted to Mannella when the crook called it.

Mannella would answer the phone by posing as “Cassidy” in a poor attempt to ward off prison snoopers.

The pair would then speak in coded form while arranging the transport of four 200-litre drums of butanediol – the main ingredient in gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB.

The court heard Marrogi was able to persuade a man who owed him cash to organize the delivery, which centered around a 71-year-old lorry driver driving the kegs across the border into Melbourne.

The elderly driver was picked up by police as he drove to Horsham in west Victoria.

The mission was doomed from the start.

The court heard that the Australian Federal Police tapped Mannella’s phone and overheard every conversation she had with the crime boss.

Antonietta Mannella after her arrest by federal police last year

Antonietta Mannella helps a Marrogi clan charity

Antonietta Mannella pretended to be a lawyer to help George Marrogi deal drugs

The court heard Mannella would use code words such as “kitten” to describe drugs, “kalbeh” – a Maltese word for dog – to describe the police and “touttz” to describe himself.

“Melasecca, Kelly & Zayler, this is Cassidy,” Mannella replied, the court heard, in an attempt to pose as the law firm’s receptionist at the time.

News of the seizure of the shipment was brought to Marrogi by former Melbourne drug lord Tony Mokbel, who was jailed in the same area as he was.

Mannella later described the bankruptcy as “just bad luck”.

On April 22 last year, Mannella’s bad luck continued when federal police arrested her at her home.

She was later led in front of the cameras by federal police as they escorted her to the police station.

Mannella refused to speak, and Marrogi later tried to take the blame for his girlfriend’s role in the botched drug deal.

Born in Iraq and emigrating to Australia in 1996, Marrogi has already spent most of his life behind bars after being sentenced to at least six years in prison for manslaughter as a youth.

He had been charged with murder after being involved in a wild brawl in 2005 in which he stabbed and killed a man.

The Marrogi clan: Jesse, Meshlin, Mama Madlin and George

After his release, he continued to insult and was later jailed for arson.

Five months later, he would be charged with murder a second time — this time it would stand.

In all, Marrogi has spent 15 of the last 16 years behind bars and missed his own sister’s funeral during the pandemic.

Ors, 24, had been lured into meeting Marrogi, unaware his number would be punched.

CCTV captured from a car park in Campbellfield, 13km north of Melbourne, showed Marrogi chasing his prey, who was accompanied by two comrades.

The court overheard Marrogi chasing Ors and completely ignoring his friends before catching up with him outside an Officeworks.

Marrogi shot his terrified victim seven times, hitting him in the back, leg, hip and buttocks.

After blowing up Ors, Marrogi made a savage escape from the scene when two of the dead man’s buddies chased him in another vehicle.

While Marrogi was escaping the chaos, police found the empty box of bullets in the abandoned Commodore that Marrogi had spray-painted all over Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

The shooter had also left his DNA on the box and the car was quickly linked directly to a childhood friend of Marrogi’s.

A third jury, having endured a 16-day trial, would have no doubt that Marrogi was behind Ors’ murder.

Judge Peter Rozen will sentence Marrogi and Mannella next month.