By Marta Pascual Juanola and Chris Vedelago
Melbourne underworld figure Jimmey Barkho claims to have cut ties with the Notorious Crime Family gang after finding God during a court-mandated drug rehabilitation program.
Barkho, whose house was sprayed with bullets after a nightclub brawl escalated into a drive-by shooting in 2021, says his newly found Christian faith has made him reconsider his “bad actions” and sparked a desire to turn his life around.
Underworld figure Jimmey Barkho claims to have cut ties with the Notorious Crime Family gang.
Barkho previously pleaded guilty to a string of weapon and bail offences in Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court, where details of his departure from the troubled organised crime outfit were aired on Tuesday.
The court heard Barkho had begun to reconsider his life choices during a month-long stint in solitary confinement, before joining a court-mandated inpatient drug rehabilitation program at which he reconnected with his Christian faith.
“In my opinion, there is no true rehabilitation without God and a higher purpose because what is one going to hold themselves accountable to?” Barkho told corrections staff assessing him as part of a pre-sentence report that was discussed during the hearing.
“This was missing before, and [that’s] why I found it hard to change. I was not accountable to anything, and that is why I didn’t care about anything I did.
Jimmey Barkho and wife Mia Coory.
“It was when I came closer to my faith through rehabilitation that I actually sought forgiveness from God and thought more about the negatives of my bad actions and decided to do something about it.”
Barkho was among the most high-profile members of convicted killer George Marrogi’s Notorious Crime Family, which collapsed after a series of state and federal police operations to dismantle its drug trafficking and money laundering activities.
The 31-year-old has gang tattoos on his upper body as well as the name of the Marrogi brothers, George and Jesse, tattooed on his back along with guns and the words “low on funds, pull out guns”.
Barkho was arrested in June 2022, after police uncovered a USB in George Marrogi’s cell containing photos and videos of about 40 different firearms.
Barkho and his wife Mia Coory, the owner of Royal the French bulldog.
Among the images, was a video of Barkho pointing a revolver at his wife’s French bulldog, Royal, and telling the canine: “Don’t get smart with me, I’m the man with the thing in my hand” and “Where the money at” before pulling the trigger. The gun was empty at the time.
In a separate video, Barkho filmed himself in the bathroom of his Greenvale home holding a semi-automatic handgun and racking it. Police were later able to identify the gun as one of several firearms stolen from a storage unit in Huntingdale in 2013.
At the time, police alleged Barkho could have access to several other firearms including a Draco machine gun – a Romanian semi-automatic pistol similar to an AK-47 – although he was not charged in relation to this allegation.
While in the holding cell following his arrest, Barkho urinated all over the walls and floor of the room, which had to be professionally cleaned at a cost of $434.
He was charged with five counts of possessing a firearm as a prohibited person, four counts of committing an indictable offence while on bail, one count of handling stolen goods, one count of possessing cartridge ammunition without a licence, one count of disposing of a firearm and one count of acting in a way prejudicial to the good order of a jail.
Less than a year before his arrest, Barkho was also interviewed by police after officers found a stolen $400,000 Porsche 911 under a car cover at a commercial building linked to the 31-year-old. When officers searched Barkho’s home several months later they also uncovered a pepper spray can, which Barkho claimed was for his wife’s protection.
He was charged with stealing, dealing with proceeds of crime, retaining goods on behalf of another person knowing them to be stolen goods, possessing a prohibited weapon and committing an indictable offence while on bail.
Barkho’s lawyer, Michael Kelly, told the court his client had since completed 300 hours of community work as part of two community corrections orders already in place, found full-time employment and consistently returned negative urine sample results for drugs since his release on bail last July.
“The level of insight Mr Barkho has attained through his rehabilitation is really very significant and unique for one who’s been in the grips of poly-substance abuse for as long as he had,” he said.
“He appears to be a man who is certainly capable of very meaningful rehabilitation and reintegration into the law-abiding community.”
Images shared by Barkho on social media show him shirtless working out at the gym, taking his daughter to the pool and marrying long-term partner Mia Coory dressed in a silky white suit during a lavish ceremony last year.
Magistrate Stella Stuthridge described the pre-sentence report as one of the most thorough she had ever seen and based on “extraordinarily frank” conversations between Barkho and those assessing him.
“It does seem that a combination of factors has come together over the last 12 months to really move you to a position to being able to put before the courts some evidence of some real rehabilitation,” Stuthridge told Barkho in court.
“For the first time, you came out from custody in a situation where the costs of the lifestyle you had been living for 15 to 20 years were greater than the benefits.”
Stuthridge said it was the first time in about two decades that Barkho had been drug-free. She noted Barkho was employed full-time, had “consolidated” his relationship with his partner and was a father to a young daughter.
Barkho will have to pay a $600 fine and do an additional 120 hours of community work as part of his sentence.
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