Surgeon fearful after gangster patient dies
AUSTRALIA The untimely death of a patient undergoing routine nose surgery is bad enough for any cosmetic surgeon, but when Australian doctor William Mooney discovered his recently deceased patient was a major underworld figure, with a posse of aggrieved associates, he was worried enough to call the police.
Alex ‘‘Little Al’’ Taouil, a feared standover man and a close associate of bikies and Melbourne identity Mick Gatto, was admitted to East Sydney Private Hospital in Crown Street, Woolloomooloo, in early December.
‘‘Another plastic gangster bites the dust,’’ said one underworld figure dismissively of Little Al’s ‘‘nose job’’, which went horribly wrong. Others told Fairfax Media the ‘‘mediator’’ was undergoing surgery to correct an ongoing sinus problem. Whatever the reason, he was not expected to die.
His doctor was well-known eastern suburbs cosmetic surgeon and TV personality William Mooney, 51. The Aston Martindriving Mooney boasts on his website that not only is he ‘‘Australia’s leading ENT [Ear, Nose and Throat], specialising in Facial Plastic Surgery’’ but also ‘‘Sydney’s Premiere Rhinoplasty Surgeon.’’
However, Fairfax Media can reveal that Mooney now has unspecified conditions placed on his practising certificate and his claims to be a VMO (Visiting Medical Officer) at Randwick’s Prince of Wales hospital and Syd- ney Hospital in Macquarie Street are not correct.
A spokesperson for the Prince of Wales said Mooney’s position as a VMO had lapsed because of his failure to provide the requisite documentation required to allow him to operate in a public hospital.
In Taouil’s case, complications arose from the surgery and he was rushed to the Prince of Wales hospital.
The 41-year-old debt collector, whose wife was expecting their fourth child, never regained consciousness. On December 13, after five days on life support, a decision was made to turn off the machine.
While Taouil lay in a coma, Mooney’s staff received angry calls at the surgeon’s Bondi Junction clinic.
It was only at this point that Mooney learnt about his critically ill patient’s colourful background and his association with members of the Comanchero bikie gang. Taouil, a nephew of the slain drug boss Danny Karam, was linked to drug-smuggling through Sydney airport as well as a number of standover figures in the construction industry, according to police intelligence reports.
In 2009 Taouil was arrested and charged over the brutal bashing of a Melbourne man in relation to an unpaid debt. The charges against him were later dropped.
‘‘Success is my motto,’’ claimed Taouil on his LinkedIn profile. His expertise in mediating and debt collecting was through ‘‘putting people together’’, according to his profile. Taouil’s death has been referred to the coroner and has been listed for mention on June 26.
Although Mooney claims on his website that he is a VMO at Prince of Wales hospital as well as being ‘‘an active member’’ of the hospital’s head and neck oncology team, this is not correct.
His appointment as a VMO lapsed in June 2017.
‘‘Dr Mooney is yet to provide all the information required by NSW Health policy to consider his reappointment as a Visiting Practitioner in the NSW Public Health System,’’ said a spokeswoman for the South Eastern Local Health District.
According to the register of practitioners, Mooney has conditions attached to his registration. While the conditions imposed on a doctor’s registration are ‘‘to protect public safety’’, says the NSW Medical Council on its website, in this instance the nature of Mooney’s conditions ‘‘are not publicly available due to privacy considerations’’.
A council spokesperson said: ‘‘Conditions ‘which are not publicly available’ may relate to the practitioner’s health or personal circumstances and are therefore confidential in the same way as health information is about any other member of the community.’’
As well as clinics in Bondi Junction and Bankstown, Mooney founded Face Plus Medispa, on Bondi Beach, a day spa offering beauty treatments. Last year Mooney sold his oceanside Bronte home for $5.3 million.
Through his solicitor, Mooney declined to respond to Fairfax Media inquiries. Fairfax