Fat Tony headed for extradition
A court approved yesterday a request to extradite Australian drug fugitive Tony Mokbel to face murder charges in Melbourne and serve a nine-year sentence for drug trafficking. Lawyers for the convicted mobster, known as «Fat Tony,» said they would appeal the decision. The three-judge panel said there were no legal grounds to deny the Australian request but added that Mokbel could be tried and convicted only on crimes covered by the extradition request. Mokbel was sentenced in Australia to nine years in prison for importing cocaine but now also faces murder charges after police subsequently linked him with two gangland killings. He was arrested in Glyfada, southern Athens, in June by Greek narcotics officers working with Australian police. His lawyers claim that he cannot receive a fair trial in Australia because officials there have publicly described him as being guilty of crimes for which he has not convicted. Mokbel was absent from court yesterday, citing health problems.
