Lawyer X Royal Commission: Tomato tin ecstasy case reveals depths of Gobbo’s deception
The depths of police informer and barrister Nicola Gobbo’s tangled web of deception have been revealed in the infamous tomato tin ecstasy case.
Law & Order
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Frank Madafferi was hosting lunch at an upmarket restaurant on Collins St when he first met Nicola Gobbo.
His lawyer, Joe Acquaro, is alleged to have brought Gobbo along, introducing her as his “very good friend”.
The familiarity of Gobbo and Acquaro, shot dead in 2016, was noted by some at the table. Acquaro introduced her as a top-flight barrister. She was on their side, he said.
Madafferi has detailed the fateful meeting in a submission to the Lawyer X royal commission. He can’t recall the exact date, but remembers Gobbo for her blonde hair and the plaster cast on her leg.
She rested her leg on a chair as she was introduced to Acquaro’s inner circle.
Gobbo was chatty and asked a lot of questions. “Relentless,” said one of those present.
She wanted to know about Madafferi’s work in the fruit and vegetable business. She asked about the mafia’s influence at the markets.
‘’I was unsure what she meant by this,’’ Madafferi says in his submission.
What didn’t emerge until more than a decade later was Gobbo’s duplicity.
Both lawyers have been identified by the commission as “human sources”.
But it is unclear what information Acquaro provided and whether he consorted with Gobbo to hinder clients’ best interests. It is thought that his co-operation was limited.
The pair represented various members of the so-called Tomato Tins syndicate. Those still in prison over the importation of 15 million ecstasy pills in the tins in 2007 now hope to be released because Gobbo was working for the police against them.
She provided police with the crucial bill of lading, a shipping document detailing the cargo’s exact destination, three weeks before the ecstasy haul arrived on the MV Monica on June 28 that year.
Gobbo represented Rob Karam, a long-time client, and Pasquale Barbaro, part of the powerful Calabrian family from Griffith in NSW.
She also represented Frank Madafferi, another Tomato Tins syndicate member who came to trust Gobbo despite his initial reservations at lunch.
The Australian Federal Police considered Madafferi a minor player in the import.
He was driving from the fruit market when he heard the key members had been arrested in the pre-dawn of August 8, 2008. He was raided at 12.30pm the same day.
Acquaro and Gobbo visited him in the cells.
“Don’t worry,” they are said to have told him. “You will be able to go home soon.”
Madafferi saw Gobbo more than 20 times subsequently, sometimes at barbecues at Acquaro’s home. She asked him lots of questions about many things, including his role at the Reggio Calabria Club.
A failed hit had taken place there. It is not suggested Madafferi had any role in this plot.
Tomato Tins ringleader Pat Barbaro expressed shock when told of Madafferi’s arrest.
Madafferi, one of the few who pleaded not guilty, was convicted over alleged drug trafficking in the aftermath of the container’s seizure.
After his release from the AFP’s headquarters in La Trobe St, he returned to Acquaro’s office to find Gobbo having a drink, it is claimed.
She would engage him in odd conversations. She told him to plead guilty, as she would others.
Ultimately, Acquaro and Gobbo would be replaced some years down the track, just months before his trial.
Victoria Police information reports from the time show the depth of her deception.
She had represented Karam since 2005. She told her police handlers intimate details of his goings-on. Karam divulged all sorts of aspects of drug imports, past and future, because he trusted her as his lawyer. It would culminate in his undoing.
Gobbo stung Karam by photocopying the bill of lading when he gave it to her over coffee before a court appearance.
Police information reports show she was telling police about the Tomato Tins smuggling operation by May 21, 2007 — almost five weeks before the MV Monica docked in Melbourne.
Karam, Joe Mannella and John Higgs had worked at the Tullamarine freight forwarding company owned by Mannella, which organised international imports.
On June 5, she had coffee with Karam, Mannella and others. “Rob (Karam) said to me, ‘Can you hold on to this and leave it in the office,’” Gobbo told her handlers.
“I said, ‘It’s not going to get me into trouble is it?’”
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Gobbo guessed Karam did not want to be holding incriminating documents in court. Karam told her that Mannella — on trial in another court — gave him the documents in case he was jailed that day.
“Then at lunch time, see lucky, I photocopied … at lunch time we’re talking around the corner and he goes, ‘I need to come and get those documents,’” Gobbo said.
“So he came down with his brother and his brother took the documents away.”
It was too late. Victoria Police had covertly obtained what it needed.