Two Australians named in Italian court as alleged leaders of the mafia
Italian authorities have named two wealthy Australian
businessmen, including a political donor, as the alleged local
"capos" or bosses of a powerful international mafia network.
Arrest warrants and court papers filed in an Italian court
and obtained by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald identify multimillionaire
fruit and vegetable kings Tony Madafferi and Diego (Danny) Luppino as having
alleged dealings with a secretive criminal organisation called the 'Ndrangheta.
The pair are not accused of any crime in either Italy or
Australia and the arrest warrants relate to other individuals, but anti-mafia
authorities have produced phone-tap transcripts naming them as alleged senior
'Ndrangheta figures. The phone taps were gathered during Operation Eyphemos, a
sweeping investigation that led to the arrest this week of 65 men for alleged
mafia activities including extortion and political corruption in Calabria, the
southern Italian headquarters of the 'Ndrangheta.
One of those arrested was Australian-born Domenic Forgione,
who was allegedly corrupted by the group while holding political office in
Calabria.
The court files also refer to the Alvaro mafia clan
operating in both Calabria and Australia. For decades, Australian authorities
have investigated the activities of the Alvaro mafia clan in Adelaide, where it
is headquartered, and in Sydney, Melbourne and the NSW town of Griffith.
The allegations about Mr Luppino and Mr Madafferi are
untested and vehemently denied by both men. Mr Luppino’s son, Dom, described
them as baseless. There is no suggestion that Mr Madafferi or Mr Luppino are
involved in criminal activity, only that they have been named in the Italian
anti-mafia directorate’s brief of evidence.
The court files detail activities that could have been
plucked from the script of the mafia epic, The Godfather, describing a world of
ancient ritual, family power struggles and networks stretching across the
international criminal underworld and Italian politics.
Mr Luppino is alleged in court filings to be one of the most
senior and wealthy figures in the Australian 'Ndrangheta. The Italian
authorities allege that he had significant dealings with an elderly Calabrian
mafia chief, Cosimo Cannizzaro, who travelled to Melbourne to stay with Mr
Luppino.
Phone taps of Mr Cannizzaro, who was placed under house
arrest in Italy on Wednesday, capture him claiming in November 2018 that Mr
Luppino had repeatedly asked him to become part of his booming business
ventures in Australia and had also hosted him in Melbourne while knowing of his
“prominence in the 'Ndrangheta”.
Mr Cannizzaro is also recorded excitedly describing a scene
at Mr Luppino’s home in which he observed “seven people who were counting
money.” While the Italian authorities imbue the conversation with a sinister
importance – describing it as having “extreme significance” – the transcript of
the conversation leaves open the possibility that the cash being counted was
funds derived from Mr Luppino’s thriving produce business.
Mr Luppino’s son, Dom, said his father was merely a
longstanding friend of Mr Cannizzaro and that any cash counted at his Melbourne
home would have been legitimately earned by selling produce.
“They are just friends. They were friends as young boys. He
loves my father,” Dom Luppino said. “These allegations have been made without
any proof. My father has never done anything dishonest. He has busted his arse
all his life. He is such a hard worker.”
In the Italian court filings Mr Cannizzaro is also recorded
describing how Mr Luppino, along with other alleged Australian mafia bosses,
had sought his help in resolving a “sentimental type scandal” or breach of
honour involving a relationship between an Australian mafia figure and a woman.
That mafia figure was stripped of his standing and had to pay a “charge” or
“dowry”, according to the phone taps.
Diego Luppino started a produce stall at the Dandenong
market in the 1960s and, due to his longevity and success, has become an iconic
figure in the fruit and vegetable sector. In 2012, ALP politician Ben Carroll,
who is now Victoria’s minister for crime prevention, described his “honour and
privilege of presenting Diego Luppino” with honorary life membership of a local
Italian community association which backed Mr Carroll after he was elected in
2012.
“Diego is someone I know I can call upon for advice,” Mr
Carroll said.
The Italian phone taps also record Mr Cannizzaro describing
another fruiterer Tony Madafferi as the “il capo bastone” or "chief
stick" – one of the leaders of the Australian arm of the 'Ndrangheta.
It is not the first time Mr Madafferi has been named in
court as a mafia don. In the early 1990s, Madafferi was twice named as a
suspected hitman (allegations he denied and which were never corroborated) at
the inquests into the murders of two greengrocers. In 2015, Mr Madafferi failed
in his attempt to get The Age to reveal the names of confidential sources who
informed the paper’s reporting about his donations and networking across the
state and federal political spectrum.
Asked to comment on the court filing in Italy this week, Mr
Madafferi said: “What is there to comment about? Go and find a job. Where does
this bullshit come from? It has nothing to do with me.”
Corporate records show that Mr Luppino, Mr Madafferi and the
now dead Rosario Gangemi – previously named by Australian police as a mafia
godfather – were directors and owners of an Australian business between 1988
and 2000.
Mr Madafferi’s lobbying of politicians to stop his brother,
drug trafficker Francesco Madafferi, from being deported from Australia has
been the subject of intense media attention over the past decade.
In 1992, when homicide detectives quizzed Mr Madafferi about
what he thought of Liborio Benvenuto, another alleged Australian mafia boss, he
replied: "A very good man. Very honest and he was respected
everywhere."
Mr Madafferi also impressed upon the interviewing detectives
that he, too, was a man of influence. "I am a man who is very
respected," he said.
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