Business targeted in suspicious blaze has links to Gatto, Finks leader

The owner of a torched warehouse housing three colourful law firms in Melbourne’s inner west has longstanding associations with underworld figures including Mick Gatto and the national president of the Finks bikie club.

Warehouse owner Victor Doree is listed as the principal lawyer of Kingsford Lawyers, one of the businesses targeted in Tuesday’s early morning arson attack on Hudsons Road in Spotswood.

Two other firms, Kelly & Chapman Lawyers and Latham Moore & Associates, also operate out of the torched warehouse.

Kelly & Chapman was owned by Doree’s business associate David Chapman, an ex-solicitor who worked for Gatto Corporation.

Chapman was struck off the Victorian Legal Services register following a drug trafficking conviction in 2013. He now works as a consultant for Latham Moore & Associates, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Doree also has links to Mark Balsillie, the national Finks bikie gang boss who, in March 2021, invested in a Queensland-based company, Gluck Nominees – a company in which Doree is a shareholder.

Kingsford Lawyers’ Queensland arm is registered under the same address as one of Balsillie’s collapsed hotel companies.

Doree is the director of Kingsford, which has offices in Perth, the Gold Coast and Italy, according to its website. An office in Tweed Heads is listed as “coming soon”.

When asked about his business relationships with Gatto and Balsillie, Doree said: “We do not discuss our clients, which is legally privileged.”

Emergency services were called to the warehouse business premises about 2am on Tuesday after residents reported hearing popping noises.

One resident, who did not want to be named, said she had woken up to clouds of smoke rising from the area just before 2am. She said that in the time it took to call Triple Zero, the smoke quickly turned into bright orange flames.

“By the time the fire brigade arrived, it was an inferno. It was just mad,” she said. “Within 15 minutes, it went from crackling sounds and smoke to a full-blown fire.”

Latham Moore & Associates moved to the Spotswood warehouse in 2012 after their former offices in Bentleigh were torched.

Gatto Corporation, which was co-owned by Melbourne’s most persuasive debt collector, used the Bentleigh premises of Latham Moore as its principal place of business, ASIC records at the time showed.

Underworld sources said Gatto and Doree fell out shortly after the Bentleigh arson, which remains unsolved.

When asked about the fires, Doree told this masthead the attacks at both locations were “totally unrelated”, and that Latham Moore was “totally unrelated to Kingsford Lawyers”.

Doree, 57, has dozens of companies registered with the corporate regulator that appear to specialise in property development, luxury cars and hospitality. He started his career as a used-car salesman in Melbourne’s south-east, according to underworld sources.

Doree took up occupancy of the Hudsons Road factory about a decade ago, and neighbours say he has operated various businesses out of it since.

The office is surrounded by several workshops full of tradies, and witnesses said they hadn’t ever seen clients or employees coming or going from the office.

Doree said: “A police source confirmed that they have viewed CCTV footage which shows a vehicle ramming the roller door of the warehouse … The warehouse is tenanted and used for storage totally unrelated to Kingsford Lawyers.”

Speaking at the scene on Tuesday morning, Fire Rescue Victoria assistant chief fire officer Greg Christison said that while he understood the blaze to be suspicious, he could not comment on how it had started.

“At the height of the fire, we had 14 fire appliances on the scene here with a number of specialist aerial appliances,” he said. “We’ve had over 50 firefighters, and we still have some specialist equipment coming to the fire round here this morning.”

The blaze was brought under control about 4.45am, he said, and crews were still on the scene to put out the “remaining pockets of fire”.

“Unfortunately, two premises were completely gutted,” the assistant chief fire officer said. Surrounding businesses were also affected. Nine people were evacuated from the buildings.

“It’s our job as a fire service to protect the community from fire, and we’ve been very busy of late,” said Christison. “I think we’ve all seen many media reports of the activity levels through metropolitan Melbourne and surrounding suburbs.

“The activity levels at the moment are like we haven’t seen before.”

Police confirmed the offenders were seen driving away from the area in a ute, but the direction in which they drove is unknown. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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