Victorian underworld figure Mick Gatto has declared a speeding fine as the reason for an early-morning raid that led to the arrest of him and his wife.
The comment came after he was released without charge following reports Victoria Police had arrested the pair as part of an investigation into corruption into the building industry.
Detectives from Taskforce Hawk executed a search warrant on Wednesday morning at the couple’s Mount Martha home on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula.
Mr Gatto, 70, and his wife Cheryl, 72, were detained by officers following the raid and later released pending further inquiries.
“Detectives from Taskforce Hawk executed a warrant at a Mount Martha property this morning as part of a current investigation into alleged financial offences,” police said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
Police said they executed warrants at two residential addresses, one in Mount Martha and one in Melbourne’s CBD.
About 4pm, Mr Gatto arrived at his $3m mansion and initially avoided speaking to the waiting media pack outside his gate.
He emerged later in the afternoon to declare the police action was a “load of crap”.
“When they use 20 or 30 police over a speeding fine, this country is in trouble. It’s a load of crap. All a load of crap. It’ll all come out in due time,” he told reporters.
Mr Gatto’s lawyer Martin Amad said the arrests were not linked to the construction industry. Instead they were allegations about driving infringements.
“As to why Hawk would turn up with God knows how many police, only police will know what the motive for that was,” he said.
Police said they seized a number of items including electronic devices, and two “controlled weapons including a baton and knife”.
Mr Gatto, outside his property, said that was a “toothpick”.
Taskforce Hawk was set up in 2025 to investigate the corruption and underworld infiltration in the building industry.
Mr Gatto previously described himself as a construction industry “mediator and arbitrator” who helps solve disputes between builders and workers.
But in a report prepared for a Queensland inquiry into the CFMEU published in February, lawyer Geoffrey Watson SC alleged Mr Gatto held a “malignant influence” on the construction union for decades.
It was alleged Mr Gatto received millions of dollars in retainers from builders to prevent shutdowns on their work sites.
Mr Gatto had denied those allegations and maintained he had no ties to criminal gangs.
In March, a Gold Coast company linked to Mr Gatto also came under investigation by the inquiry into CFMEU misconduct.
At the time, commissioner Stuart Wood KC and counsel assisting Patrick Wheelahan KC said they were duty-bound to stop alleged Victorian corruption flowing north.
“The money pot is clearly now going to be in Queensland in the build-up to the (2032) Olympics,” Mr Wheelahan said.
“It would be remiss of us not to investigate – on the back of (corruption investigator) Geoffrey Watson SC’s report – that one of the companies that he says is linked to Mick Gatto now sets up in Queensland, because Queensland does not want to end up like Victoria.”
Mr Watson’s Rotting from the Top investigation into John Setka’s Victorian CFMEU alleged the Victorian government’s $100bn Big Build infrastructure spend was corrupted by the union and its allies, including Mr Gatto.
On February 18, Mr Gatto denied allegations in a report by Mr Watson that he had “damaged the building industry and damaged the Victorian economy – maybe permanently”.
“Unfortunately, they’re looking for a scapegoat, and I refuse to be one,” Mr Gatto said on 3AW at the time.
“I’ve been down this track the last 30 or 40, years, you know: They’ve tried to do it in different royal commissions that they’ve had – nothing’s come out of them.
“They’ve rendered me a standover man with no evidence.”
Mr Gatto’s underworld ties stretch as far back as four decades, where he rose through Melbourne’s illegal gambling scene in the 1980s and 1990s.
Police have historically described him as a figure in the “Carlton Crew,” a group of powerful, old-school underworld identities.
In 2004 Mr Gatto was charged with the murder of suspected hit man Andrew Veniamin and was remanded in custody for 18 months.
Mr Gatto was found not guilty at trial, during which he argued that he acted in self defence after Veniamin pulled a handgun and threatened to kill him.
Mr Gatto claimed that during a struggle, he was able to turn the gun around on Veniamin and fire two shots at him.
Today, he runs a crane company that employs about 60 people among other proprietaries.
The $3m home where the arrests took place appeared unattended when media arrived on Wednesday and the gates were locked with four cameras pointing towards the entry.
He did not respond when The Australian tried to reach him on Wednesday.
Mohammad AlfaresJournalist