Four underworld hits — including high-profile trainer Les Samba — likely to stay unsolved, Coroner told

FOUR high-profile gangland executions are unlikely ever to be solved, State Coroner Sara Hinchey has been told.

The wreckage of John Furlan’s car in Lorensen Ave, Coburg North, on August 3, 1998.

FOUR high-profile gangland executions are unlikely ever to be solved, State Coroner Sara Hinchey has been told.

POLICE CLOSE IN ON SUSPECTS IN UNSOLVED MURDER OF HORSE TRAINER LES SAMBA

Police have formally advised Judge Hinchey that they have exhausted their investigations into the 1998 murder of bent car dealer John Furlan, the 1999 murders of brothers Vincenzo and Gerardo Mannella, and the 2011 execution of horse trainer Les Samba. It is likely no one will be charged in relation to any of the murders.

Mr Furlan was killed by a car bomb as he drove to work on August 3, 1998.

John Furlan was killed by a car bomb as he drove to work on August 3, 1998.

He had a reputation as a “hard and aggressive businessman” and had been the subject of numerous investigations by consumer affairs authorities.

And in his last months, he had also dobbed in a rival car dealer for tampering with odometers.

But despite a $100,000 reward offered in 2000, police have no firm suspects.

The Coroners Court heard that the killers of the Mannella brothers are also unlikely to face justice.

Vincenzo Mannella was shot dead in the driveway of his North Fitzroy home.

Gerardo Mannella was shot and killed in Fitzroy North.

Police hold confidential information on both murders which will not be made public, but nobody has ever been charged in relation to either.

Vincenzo Mannella was shot dead outside his Fitzroy North home on January 9, 1999, shortly after returning from a business meeting.

In October, his brother, Gerardo, was murdered: two men chased him along a Fitzroy North street, shot him in the legs, then executed him with several shots to the head.

Judge Hinchey was told police believed Vincenzo Mannella was a member of N’drangheta, the “honoured society” organised crime group founded in Calabria.

“At this stage, the inquest can go no further,” Judge Hinchey told his relatives.

“If any other information was to come to light, then we could reopen the matter.”

Les Samba with his daughter Victoria Samba.

The court heard that at the time of Gerardo Mannella’s death, the crane driver had become obsessed with finding his brother’s killers.

Both he and his wife had also been having affairs.

Mr Samba, 60, of South Australia, was killed on February 27, 2011.

After dining at Crown ­casino, Mr Samba was ambushed in Middle Park by two men who shot him in the head and back.

An aerial view of the wreckage of John Furlan’s car after it exploded.

Judge Hinchey heard he was a known associate of criminals, and had millions in unexplained wealth. He had been investigated by the Australian Taxation Office over his wealth in 2001, and declared bankrupt in 2002.

But the Coroner was told that though the investigation remained open, all avenues had been exhausted and no one was likely to be charged.