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Underworld figure Mick Gatto and a woman have been arrested by Victoria Police as part of its ongoing investigation into corruption and underworld infiltration into the building industry.
“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.
Mick Gatto, pictured earlier this year, was arrested after detectives executed a warrant in Mount Martha.Jason South
“Two people at the address, a man and a woman both in their 70s, were arrested and are being interviewed by police. Further information will be released later today.”
Taskforce Hawk was set up to probe criminal behaviour in the construction sector in response to reporting by this masthead.
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In his report, tabled in Queensland’s Commission of Inquiry into the CFMEU, Geoffrey Watson, SC, outlined what he called the “Gatto extortion model”, which involved demanding payment from contractors to avoid industrial strife.
Watson accused Gatto of successfully running a “terror campaign” that he estimated would net the gangland figure millions of dollars a year.
Watson’s report also backed revelations by this masthead that Australian Federal Police were investigating – and in March 2025 had raided – accountant Charles Pellegrino over payments from a number of contractors as part of a probe into a suspected criminal conspiracy to give or receive “corrupting benefits” to influence union officials.
On February 18, Gatto denied allegations in a report by Watson that he had “damaged the building industry and damaged the Victorian economy – maybe permanently” as a result of his work as a self-styled mediator and arbitrator between the CFMEU and construction firms.
“Unfortunately, they’re looking for a scapegoat, and I refuse to be one,” 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.
The Mount Martha house where Mick Gatto and a woman were arrested. The Age
“They’ve rendered me a standover man with no evidence.”
Gatto filed defamation proceedings against Watson earlier this year in the NSW Supreme Court over accusations that he was a “murderous member of the mafia” in a segment on Nine’s 60 Minutes.
Paul Svilans, a lawyer who has acted for Gatto, had no comment when contacted today.
This masthead was unable to reach Gatto when contacting him for comment.
On Wednesday, 3AW host Jacqui Felgate said the two arrested were Gatto and his wife.
“Mick Gatto was actually taken into custody by these detectives last night, and was brought back to his house in a police van with his wife,” Felgate said.
“Police are still at scene, they have been taking boxes, I think there are about six cars there at the moment, and they have been taking boxes in and out of the property all day.”
More to come.
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Nick McKenzie is an Age investigative journalist who has three times been named the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year. A winner of 20 Walkley Awards, including the Gold Walkley, he investigates politics, business, foreign affairs and criminal justice.Connect via email.From our partners