BIG MAN: Mathew Bost ran the biggest drugs business in regional Queensland and spent his cash on having a good time. Source: The Courier-Mail
HE WAS the Gen Y gangster who changed his name, moved to Queensland and milked a fortune from the underbelly of the mining boom.
Baby-faced crime boss Mathew Bost was just 24 when he arrived unknown in Bundaberg and set up what became the state's dominant regional drug syndicate.
He employed armed bodyguards, a live-in distribution manager and a network of couriers to traffic millions of dollars of "ice" and other drugs from Emerald to Ayr.
Bost boasted a swag of secret property and business investments, a fleet of vehicles from quad bikes to a $130,000 luxury Hummer and a 50-megalitre jetski park in his back yard.
He reputedly spent $3000 a week in restaurants, and the same again on beauty treatments from laser hair removal on his back and chest to pedicures, manicures and teeth whitening.
He became an angel investor for one of Bundaberg's wealthiest men, property developer John Gorza, and his partner Norm East, who granted him a share of a Childers project in return for $120,000 to cover a surprise GST bill.
Bost employed drug runners under the umbrella of his ill-fated building company.
Mr East told The Courier-Mail: "I said to him one day, 'Mathew, why have you got these goons hanging around?'
"Here's a fellow trying to make a name for himself as a builder in town and he gets around like he's Al Capone or someone."
Phone taps and police informants portray the long-time speed and steroid user as a violent and ambitious crook who bragged he would be in the next Underbelly.
BIG MAN: Mathew Bost ran the biggest drugs business in regional Queensland and spent his cash on having a good time.
Bost had 19 mobile phones and taps caught him "gloating" about bashing employees, a business partner, drug customers and business associates.
He told informants about bashing Aborigines with his gang in town on Friday nights "for fun".
When in custody over a home invasion, Bost called the victim to remind him to "do what we said". The complaint was dropped.
Bost bragged about his one-time retort to a unhappy buyer who threatened to kill his newborn child after a drug deal soured: "That's OK, I'll just have another one."
Born Mathew Sam Bosotas, he left school and became a father at 16. He briefly followed his father into the Commonwealth public service before working as a casual builder.
He was jailed at 19 for dealing speed and cannabis. He told informants he rebirthed cars with Middle Eastern rackets in western Sydney.
Years later, when ordering a $110,000 Ferrari from Sydney Bost despatched a convicted car thief to pick it up.
He did jail time again in 2006 in Canberra for firing a gun in public, then moved north.
Queensland police first noticed Bost in July 2007.
Months later, they raided Bost's home and found $43,500 cash, a rifle and an automatic pistol in the roof.
He was jailed for a year but police had to hand back the money after Bost argued it was from his building business.
Bost told his business partner everything he owned was in relatives' names "so the police can't take it away from me". He was mistaken.
By 2011, police had enough in surveillance, phone taps, and seizures from his couriers to move. As soon as he was arrested, Bost offered to roll on his associates.
The Crime and Misconduct Commission applied for a $1.3 million criminal proceeds order, freezing assets. Bost and the CMC settled the issue out of court and in private.
Bost is due to be sentenced next month after pleading guilty to trafficking.
His lawyers negotiated the time over which his criminal activity would be considered down to just under three years. Over that period to 2011, police financial analysis found $621,000 in mystery income.
But prosecutors have told the court the full extent of his drug fortune is unknown.
Bost repeatedly told an informant he had $5 million hidden in his back yard.
Police claimed he had a $1 million silent interest in a Bundaberg pub.
Behind bars, Bost dropped the gangster bravado. He turned state witness to the December 2011 bashing murder of a fellow inmate.
Weeks later, Bost learned of the death of his "baby brother" from a heart attack.
He pleaded with a judge to let him out for the funeral "to see my brother this final time, to touch his skin, to kiss his forehead and to hold his hand".
Bost was denied.
Even for someone who once bragged of daring an underworld foe to kill his own flesh and blood, it was a bitter lesson.
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