Gang enforcer Vince Mantovani sentenced to seven years in jail

A GANG enforcer who sought revenge against rivals of a mobster fruiterer in Shepparton has been jailed.

A GANG enforcer who sought revenge against rivals of a mobster fruiterer in Shepparton has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Vince Mantovani, wearing an open-necked crimson dress shirt and a black suit, said "I love you'' to his crying family as he was led away from the dock after his sentencing today.

The 30-year-old bodybuilder and enforcer for convicted mobster Vincent Latorre helped run a violent extortion ring that terrorised rival Goulburn Valley farm owners.

The gang's crimes took more than four hours to be heard during Latorre's sentencing last week, detailing a history of blackmail and sabotage between 2002 and 2006 designed to squeeze hundreds of thousands of dollars out of nearby businesses.

In one case, Mantovani drove four men to a rival orchard grower's property late at night because the owner had made a sexual advance towards his ex-girlfriend.

More than 1000 trees were cut down and irrigation equipment destroyed.

"Revenge is an ugly motive and deserving of condemnation and punishment,'' County Court Judge Felicity Hampel told the court.

Mantovani had pleaded guilty to all charges including blackmail, intentionally destroying property and drug and firearms offences.

He will not be eligible for parole for at least four years, and was also fined $2500.

His lawyer, Russ Hammill, had tried to argue that a Herald Sun article on the case placed his client at risk in prison because it could be taken to suggest he was a police informant.

But Judge Hampel said the article would have a short-term impact and had no bearing on sentencing.

Latorre was last Thursday sentenced to 11-and-a-half years' jail, with a minimum term of eight years and three months.