Just In
· collected 2026-09-04 · by Investigative Reporters Elise Kinsella; Jessica Longbottom
"A royal commission don't bother me," he confidently declared on Karl Stefanovic's podcast in late July, days before Ben Carroll announced the inquiry in his first move as Victoria's new premier.
asserted
Carroll → bother → premier
"They'll spend another $100 million, it'll be a witch hunt … and they'll come up with nothing, like they have in the past," Mr Gatto casually predicted.
asserted
Gatto → spend → past
The upcoming royal commission will investigate serious allegations of wrongdoing on major public building sites.
asserted
commission → investigate → sites
They include accusations that bikies and organised crime figures infiltrated both the once-powerful construction union, the CFMEU, and building companies working on taxpayer-funded infrastructure projects under the Victorian government's Big Build.
asserted
bikies → include → Build
The cost to taxpayers of all this alleged corruption has been reported at $15 billion, a figure disputed by the former premier Jacinta Allan.
asserted
cost → allege → premier
He investigated the industry for the CFMEU's administrator and wrote a report that also put Mr Gatto firmly in the spotlight.
asserted
that → investigate → spotlight
In his report, Mr Watson said that Mr Gatto, who runs a mediation business in the construction industry, had previously been referred to during civil proceedings as a "standover man" and by the National Crime Authority as "the head of a criminal network" — allegations Mr Gatto has previously denied.
asserted
Gatto → say → network
Mr Watson reported Mr Gatto had so much influence over the CFMEU in Victoria that he had the power to shut down building sites.
asserted
he → report → sites
"Everybody knows what he has been doing," the barrister wrote, in his report tabled at a Queensland inquiry into the CFMEU.
asserted
barrister → know → CFMEU
"Yet he seems to survive."
An unfair target with a colourful past, Mr Gatto claims
However, he is again facing scrutiny.
uncertain
he → seem → scrutiny
In June, Mr Gatto and his wife were arrested at their Mount Martha home was searched by police investigating the building industry.
asserted
Gatto → arrest → industry
They seized computers and phones, and the couple was released without charge, with Gatto later characterising the raid as an information-gathering exercise that came up with zero.
asserted
that → seize → zero
This is the sort of pressure most people would find seriously stressful to face publicly.
asserted
people → find → pressure
But Mr Gatto, a former heavyweight boxer, appeared unfazed on a video recording of the former Today host's podcast.
Wearing a long gold chain and a black knitted jumper, the 71-year-old's voice was steady as he dismissed Mr Watson's investigation.
asserted
he → appear → investigation
"Ninety-five per cent of that report, you can rip it up and throw it in the bin," he said.
asserted
he → rip → bin
"It's completely nonsense and in time, it'll all come out that it is nonsense."
asserted
it → come → time
He reckons he has been unfairly targeted because of his colourful past.
asserted
he → reckon → past
That past includes surviving Melbourne's gangland wars in the early 2000s — and being acquitted of a murder charge of his own — when a killing spree broke out in the city's underworld.
asserted
spree → include → underworld
Mr Gatto describes himself as someone who was on the periphery of the gangland wars — someone who knew the key players but wasn't one himself.
asserted
who → describe → players
He rose to national prominence when he was portrayed as a character in the hugely popular Underbelly TV series.
asserted
he → rise → series
His wife Cheryl Gatto told a defamation trial against the ABC in 2020 that her husband had become so famous that he was routinely asked for selfies when they were out dining.
asserted
they → tell → selfies
"I've mentioned to him a couple of times, 'I think you're more recognisable than the Prime Minister," she said in Victoria's Supreme Court.
asserted
she → mention → Court
Mr Gatto declined an interview request from the ABC and did not respond to written questions.
asserted
Gatto → decline → questions
But he told Mr Stefanovic he knows that a high profile comes with scrutiny.
asserted
profile → tell → scrutiny
"Honestly mate, I don't do the wrong thing," he declared.
asserted
he → do → thing
I know that I'm looked at all the time.
asserted
I → know → ?
My phone is bugged.
asserted
phone → bug → ?
I know all that."
asserted
I → know → that
It's widely expected that this upcoming royal commission will probe, amongst other things, whether Mr Watson's allegations about Mr Gatto's work in the construction sector — or Mr Gatto's denials — are correct.
asserted
allegations → expect → sector
At this stage, neither man is blinking.
asserted
man → blink → stage
The 'Devil of South Melbourne'
Mick Gatto says he became a thief at a very young age.
asserted
he → say → age
In his book I, Mick Gatto, he explained that Turkish and Greek clubs near his childhood home in Cecil Street, South Melbourne, had pinball machines rigged for illegal gambling.
asserted
clubs → explain → gambling
"Once I discovered those machines (I was probably six or seven) I was hooked," Mr Gatto remembered.
"
asserted
Gatto → discover → machines
I used to do anything to find money to play them: beg, borrow and steal."
asserted
I → use → them
The stealing he described was prolific.
asserted
he → describe → ?
He stole from his brother, from visitors to his family home and even from the firefighters at the station next door.
asserted
He → steal → station
"We used to break fire alarms or call from a phone box, and when they responded to the alarm we'd go in and take the money from their mess hall," he recalled.
asserted
he → use → hall
At school, Mr Gatto also found trouble.
asserted
Gatto → find → trouble
He was expelled twice and left school at 13, but one former classmate told the ABC that while teachers found Mr Gatto a "handful", he was a "friendly" student who wasn't involved in fights.
asserted
who → expel → fights
Others didn't think so highly of him, with Mr Gatto saying old women in his neighbourhood took to calling him "the devil of South Melbourne".
Run-ins with the police were common.
As Mr Gatto grew older, he wrote that he became involved in more serious gambling and burglaries.
asserted
he → think → gambling
…and 97 more, not listed.