Jailed crime kingpin Rocco Arico’s parents face bankruptcy
JAILED crime lord Rocco Arico’s prison-grade Christmas turkey will be seasoned with the bitter knowledge that his family faces financial ruin as they fight a multimillion-dollar tax bill.
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JAILED crime lord Rocco Arico’s prison-grade Christmas turkey will be seasoned with the bitter knowledge that his family faces financial ruin.
His parents, Antonio and Antonia, are fighting a multimillion-dollar tax bill in the Supreme Court, arguing they are suffering “extreme hardship” after assets that police allege are the fruits of their son’s crimes were frozen.
Earlier this year, Rocco Arico was jailed for 14 years for drug trafficking, extortion and weapons offences. He was estimated to have property worth about $10 million.
MOB BOSS ROCCO ARICO JAILED FOR 14 YEARS
GANGSTER’S PARENTS IN TAX FIGHT
The Australian Taxation Office is pursuing his parents for more than $2 million in taxes it says are unpaid and has applied for an extension of orders freezing their assets.
The Supreme Court heard Arico’s family would likely be bankrupted in the new year.
Antonio Arico had been expected to give evidence about his assets last week, but a translator could not be found.
Dr Julianne Jacques, for the ATO, said there were serious doubts about the legitimacy of claimed race bet wins. She said a forensic accountant had found evidence some bets, said to have led to large wins, had been placed after the races.
During the hearing, Rocco Arico’s wife, Franki, took a photo of a reporter in court, which could have resulted in a contempt of court charge.
Justice Maree Kennedy warned her that if she did not erase it, Protective Services Officers could do it for her.
DRUG LORD’S FAMILY AT WAR WITH ATO
Ms Arico apologised to the reporter and to the court via a letter, read aloud by the judge, writing she acted “out of sheer frustration towards the media for the manner in which they have conducted themselves towards me and my family, during a time of extreme personal and financial hardship”.
An order over the couple’s Brunswick West home restricts them to $500 a week for living expenses. They want an adjournment, and permission to borrow against their equity in the home to finance a March appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
Andrew Tragardh, for the Aricos, said his clients “have no funds to pay anyone to do anything ... The evidence is clear (they) don’t have the money. To suggest (they) appear at the AAT by themselves in a complex tax review matter, Italian migrants of advanced age … that’s neither fair nor just.”
The hearing resumes on Tuesday.