Slain lawyer Joe Acquaro pistol-whipped, beaten over Mario Condello’s informer suspicion
MURDERED lawyer Joe Acquaro was stripped naked and pistol-whipped in front of Calabrian Mafioso Mario Condello back in 2002.
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MURDERED lawyer Joe Acquaro was stripped naked and pistol-whipped in front of Calabrian Mafioso Mario Condello back in 2002.
His two-hour punishment in Carlton’s Pizza by the Metre restaurant was over suspicions that he had broken the mafia’s code of silence by turning informer.
According to police documents seen by the Herald Sun, the alleged assailant was a close underworld associate of Condello.
The documents detail Mr Acquaro’s alleged role in police becoming aware of an attempt by Condello and his associate to launder proceeds of crime through a suburban real estate agency.
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A veteran detective from a Victoria Police taskforce had visited the Ivanhoe estate agency to question staff.
Condello, who blamed Mr Acquaro for tipping off the force, was involved in luring Mr Acquaro to the restaurant.
Condello questioned Mr Acquaro as he was beaten at gunpoint. But Acquaro was freed after convincing Condello he wasn’t to blame.
Documents seen by the Herald Sun reveal Mr Acquaro explained his injuries to his mum by telling her he had fallen off his roof.
Condello, who was executed outside his luxury Brighton East home in 2006 in what is still an unsolved murder, was the Calabrian mafia’s money launderer of choice for decades.
His skill at it made him a valued member of the Italian secret society.
Some Mafioso wanted to legitimise themselves by starting businesses; others wanted to start businesses to make it look as though they were legitimate.
Others still simply wanted his advice on how to turn ill-gotten gains into clean cash.
All knew the Calabrian-born former solicitor was the man to go to for such advice.
The cash-in-hand payments Condello received for helping Italian criminals contributed to his extravagant lifestyle.
Condello had decided to confront Mr Acquaro after becoming angry that his suspected informing would stem that steady flow of cash.
Many of the Victorian businesses Condello helped set up were funded with marijuana money.
The fees that Italian-run businesses paid Condello often weren’t the last: many were expected to pay him protection money forever.
But authorities believe that Condello was far more than one of the Calabrian mafia’s money launderers and organisers of extortion rackets.
Intelligence that law enforcement agencies gathered over years suggested he rose high up the Calabrian mafia chain to be an organiser of major drug importations and of nationwide drug distribution networks.
As Mr Acquaro found out, Condello wasn’t afraid to use violence.
But he preferred to watch rather than dish it out himself.
Club pokies debt may have been deadly
JOSEPH “Pino” Acquaro may have been gunned down over a $350,000 debt incurred by Melbourne’s Reggio Calabria Club while it was under his direction.
His death came less than a week after Tabcorp launched legal action against the club to recover money owed to it.
Mr Acquaro was a past president of both the club and the Italian Chamber of Commerce. Tabcorp has applied to the Supreme Court to have the club wound up and a liquidator appointed. The club, formed in 1981 by a small group of Calabrian immigrants, has a restaurant and ballroom and regularly hosts boxing bouts.
The debt relates to rental of poker machines, and other services.
According to documents lodged in the Supreme Court six days ago, the club failed to make 10 monthly payments of $35,000 to Tabcorp between July 2014 and April 2015.
It is understood that the club ceased to operate as a gaming venue after Tabcorp stripped it of its poker machines.
The legal action was launched by Tabcorp Gaming Solutions after the club failed to respond to a letter of demand for payment.
Early last month that letter was hand-delivered to the club, giving it 21 days to pay up.
Tabcorp declined to comment on its debt chase as the matter is now before the courts.
— Peter Mickelburough