Australian kingpin obtains shorter sentence over drug charge

Tony Mokbel, one of the key figures in Melbourne's years-long gangland war, walks from the Victoria Supreme Court of Appeal in Melbourne on November 6, 2025. Mokbel has avoided any more jail time over a decades-old drug trafficking charge, a court ruled Thursday Nov 6, 2025. - AFP

SYDNEY: Australia's most famous gangster won a reduced jail sentence Thursday (Nov 6) on one of his drug-related convictions, after it was revealed his lawyer was a police informant.

Tony Mokbel - one of the key figures in Melbourne's years-long gangland war - was handed a 30-year prison sentence in 2012 after pleading guilty to masterminding an elaborate drug syndicate.