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Underworld figure Gavin Preston purportedly had a $5 million contract on his head after trying to steal the interred body of a rival’s sister and spent the final months of his life allegedly seeking retribution for old friends while making new enemies, a court has heard.
Preston repeatedly came to the attention of police in the five months between being released from jail in April 2023 for murder and being shot dead outside a Keilor cafe in September 2023.
Defence barrister Paul Smallwood outlined on Monday a swath of Preston’s potential enemies to a Supreme Court jury, as well as the accusations made in police intelligence files.
The list included feuds with significant crime figures Sam Abdulrahim, George Marrogi and Waleed Hadarra, and suggestions Kaz Hamad, a key player in the tobacco wars who the court heard was arrested in Iraq in February, had ordered his murder.
“Gavin dug up Meshilin Marrogi’s grave. There is now a contract on Gavin’s head of $5 million,” an August 2023 information report read.
At the time, the credibility rating of that information was “probably true”, the court heard.
Another tip read, “Kaz Hamad may have ordered the hit on Preston”.
One report suggested Preston was seeking retribution on behalf of his friend Abbas “AJ” Maghnie, whose father, Nabil Maghnie – a close associate of Preston – was shot dead in January 2020.
“The Maghnie family is known to hold disputes with Sam Abdulrahim. It’s believed that on his release from prison, Preston may seek retribution for Maghnie,” one tip read.
“Gavin Preston is running around cleaning up anyone who had something to do with Nabil or AJ.”
Preston was released from prison on April 2, 2023, after serving time for shooting one man dead and seriously injuring another. Sources were advising police within weeks of his return to freedom that he was in disputes with people and seeking retribution.
Detective Senior Constable Dale Myers confirmed that one report related to Meshilin Marrogi, the sister of George Marrogi. Meshilin died of COVID-19 in 2021 before being interred in a mausoleum at Preston cemetery on July 30, 2023.
Another report regarded a tip about a feud with Abdulrahim, also known as the Punisher, with suggestions the underworld figure may have torched one of Abdulrahim’s tobacco shops in the months before the Punisher himself was killed and laid to rest in a gold-coloured casket in January 2025.
“He’s [Abdulrahim] since been shot dead himself,” Myers said.
The court heard on Monday that as information continued to roll in to the authorities during their investigation into Preston’s Keilor cafe killing, sources claimed Preston had been attempting to get into the tobacco market and that he had stood over a man and stolen machinery belonging to a member of the Comancheros.
Following his killing, there were prison phone calls police listened in to, in which former Comancheros head Michael Murray spoke with another person in 2024 about claims Preston had raped men as a “weapon”.
Preston was fatally shot as he sat outside Sweet Lulu’s cafe in Keilor on September 9, 2023. His breakfast partner, Abbas Maghnie, was also shot, but survived.
Jaeden Tito, 25, and Rabii Zahabe, 26, both from NSW, have pleaded not guilty to murdering Preston and not guilty to attempting to murder Maghnie.
The jury heard Maghnie suffered life-threatening injuries in the shooting including significant damage to his small bowel and urinary system which led to his being operated on three times during his almost month-long stay in the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
The revelations came during the third week of the trial over Preston’s killing.
When questioned by Crown prosecutor Kristie Churchill, Myers said he had received more than 100 information reports during the investigation of this case, and agreed they came from all sorts of places and all sorts of people.
He said he was unable to say anything about the reliability and credibility of the information contained in them. However, during cross-examination Myers said claims that Preston was involved in desecrating a grave were investigated, with the allegations later discounted and considered unlikely to be true.
The trial continues.
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