We read that the Columbians are after him over a missing container, police apparently foiled an earlier murder plot, the Tax Department want $10 million he may or may not have hidden under the mattress and police want him back in the slammer.

He is banned from the casino and racetracks, can no longer act as a boxing promoter and appears at public commissions and secret law enforcement hearings so regularly he should get valet parking.

If the stories are true, and there are a number of contracts out on his life, he is doing an appalling job of keeping a low profile.

Firstly, with the weather on the improve, Mick prefers al fresco dining in the Italian quarter of Lygon Street or the top end of Collins Street. (Which would make him a sitting duck while eating a roasted one.)

Secondly, he usually parks his super-shiny Rolls Royce Ghost nearby, where it attracts admiring glances but few parking tickets.

And thirdly, his dining companions could double as Sopranos extras, with most having neck measurements similar to mature brown bears.

Indeed Mick Gatto is so into fine dining he would make a first-class Fairfax food critic if he would accept the pay cut. (Warning: Any chef stupid enough to serve him raw fish could end up sleeping with one).

Mick, always the businessman, once considered writing his own cookbook with the working title Killing Them in the Kitchen.

While Gatto admits to a criminal past, he says he is now a businessman and man of peace. However his reputation would suggest the last time he turned the other cheek it was a slow-cooked beef one served with a red wine and rosemary jus.

It is virtually impossible to separate the myth from reality when it comes to Gatto. The question remains: is he a malicious mobster or maligned mediator?

For decades he was well known in the world of illegal gambling but virtually anonymous to the wider community.

That all changed during Melbourne's so-called Underbelly gangland war, when drug dealer Carl Williams organised the murder of many of Gatto's associates.

Williams started the underworld extermination program after he was shot in the guts by Jason and Mark Moran, who were part of Gatto's wider social circle.

Gatto made it clear he didn't want to get involved. That is until he ended up having a private chat with one of Williams' hitmen, Andrew "Benji" Veniamin, in the corridor of a Carlton restaurant.

It was March 2004, and Benji ended up shot dead with Gatto, not for the first time, emerging having resolved a conflict in his favour.

With no eyewitnesses, Gatto was acquitted 14 months later in the Supreme Court on the grounds of self-defence.

So did he get away with murder? The jury said no and that is all that matters.

When he was released Gatto may have planned to slip back into semi-anonymity but that was never a realistic option.

The situation showcased Gatto's natural skill for turning a disadvantage (his or someone else's) into a win.

Unable to stay in the shadows, he used the spotlight to build a brand. He found himself a celebrity agent, wrote a book, organised mega-size charity functions and became a boxing promoter.

He is one of the few people who can appear in a newspaper on the front page (Royal Commission), business page (industrial dispute), celebrity spread (charity function), and sport (boxing) in the one edition. And if a gangster dies you will find his name in the obituary pages as he always files a death notice.

When he was banned from the casino, he considered sending then Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon a diamond ring as a thank you because "she saved me a fortune".

A Gatto function is always fascinating, with colourful characters and legitimate business types feeling an overwhelming obligation to purchase multiple tickets at $1000 a pop.

There are always elderly gentlemen who take much younger ladies (presumably visiting nieces) to such functions. They have much in common – the men have deep pockets and the ladies deep cleavages.

They have a shared interest in silicone: the ladies for breast enhancement and the gentlemen to keep their false teeth in place.

And many of both genders wear their hearts on their sleeves – although most have been inked at Toby Mitchell's South Melbourne tattoo parlour.

When Gatto arrives he is kissed by more men than Liberace and stopped for selfies and autographs. As he once said – he always agrees – "because you never know who will be on a jury".

When the word was out that Channel Nine commissioned the Underbelly series on the Melbourne gangland war, Gatto wanted no part of it.

However, when he realised there would be a Gatto character his attitude shifted to one of co-operation because he knows inside influence is more valuable than pointless hostility.

He agreed to meet the production team at his crane company, was charming as always, but made it clear he would be saddened if he was portrayed as being involved in drugs. His constructive advice was welcomed and the TV Gatto was a stout opponent of the illicit trade.

As an aside, when the Supreme Court banned the series someone made a fortune from pirated copies, with the suggestion the first bootlegged DVDs turned up at Melbourne building sites.

Some real-life scenes with the Gatto gang seem straight from the movies. When this reporter visited his sprawling home some years back, Mick and his mates were sharing coffee (short black) and cigars (no doubt Cuban) in the outdoor entertaining area.

At the moment the pool filter burped and a large bubble popped to the surface one of the team remarked deadpan, "Her Mick, I don't think he was dead when you put him in there."

His business portfolio is impressively wide. He has run a crane company, mediated industrial disputes, lobbied for union friends, settled financial disputes, dabbled in boxing events and supported favourite charities.

His advice in certain circles is considered so valuable that associates pay him a retainer for his counsel.

In the media he has been called an underworld figure and a crime boss, and in court proceedings has been accused of being involved in at least three murders.

But the record shows that his last conviction was in 1982, when he did about eight months over a burglary matter. (As a former heavyweight boxer he was wise to look for a new profession as he was not built to slip through small windows or down old chimneys).

He declined to be interviewed for this article (he is currently suing Fairfax for defamation) but is known to be frustrated by the media portrayal of him as some type of mob boss.

He says the unproven allegations against him are motivated by sour grapes by police who failed to jail him and that the constant publicity harms his children, two of whom are still at school.

During the underworld war other parents were so concerned at Gatto's presence he was asked to stay away. Could you imagine being the teacher assigned to give Mick the red card? He actually took it well, saying he understood how the others must have felt.

But back to Gatto's signature move – turning a disadvantage to a win.

He uses the public image he denies to further his business interests. Put it this way, when Gatto rings for a chat people listen and he doesn't need to utter threats to get attention.

After all, a lion is just as frightening when it licks its lips as when it growls.

He told the ABC's 7.30 Report a couple of years ago that his tough-guy image helped in business. "Oh, look, there's no doubt about that, you know, the reputation helps. Of course it does."

But he said it was all in the eye of the beholder saying he didn't "break legs or any of the other nonsense they carry on about."

If Gatto is an active gangster he is either brilliant or blessed. He must work on the belief that he is under surveillance, his phones are tapped, his bank records checked and is constantly under investigation.

Crooks inside have been offered deals to turn on him, associates have been interrogated and his business contracts reviewed in courts and commissions.

More than likely if he spills red wine on a table cloth it will be taken to forensic for DNA examination, which would be making a mountain out of a merlot.

The reality is that until he is charged and convicted Gatto is entitled to the presumption of innocence like everyone else.

Having said that, he continues to socialise with notorious characters who remain the subject of multiple police inquiries.

Indeed, with the government introducing new Criminal Organisations Control Amendment (Unlawful Associations) laws such public gatherings may be restricted in the future.

One thing is for sure, if he is a wolf in sheep's clothing it will be the finest ultrafine Merino – the type used only by the best Italian tailors.