Five senior mafia figures are appealing their convictions over the Tomato Tins importation
The five senior mafia figures behind the Tomato Tins ecstasy importation into Melbourne will fight for their freedom after a shocking revelation about what led police to the haul.
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Lawyer X’s role in tipping police off to the world record “Tomato Tins’’ ecstasy drug importation has been confirmed for the first time by federal prosecutors.
The Herald Sun understands five “Tomato Tins’’ syndicate members have launched appeals – regardless of whether they pleaded guilty or not – claiming their prosecutions were unfair because defence lawyer, Nicola Gobbo, was the source of the sting.
On Tuesday, senior Calabrian mafia figure Saverio Zirilli had his first day in court in his attempt to overturn his conviction and walk free from a 26-year prison sentence despite pleading guilty.
During the hearing a lawyer representing the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions conceded information from Gobbo was passed from Victoria Police to Australian customs officers.
The Appeal Court has asked for the production of documents from state and federal authorities to be swift – including the “Tomato Tins Package’’, which contains thousands of pages of material.
It is understood mafia figures Frank Madafferi, Salvatore Agresta and Carmelo Falanga have lodged appeals to challenge their convictions.
Zirilli, 63, is a cousin of syndicate ringleader Pasquale “Pat’’ Barbaro, and was considered his “right hand man’’ in the audacious attempt to ship 15 million ecstasy tablets into Australia through Melbourne’s docks.
Australian customs detected the container full of illicit pills crammed into tomato tins when they arrived from Naples on the MV Monica on June 28, 2007.
Earlier that month, on June 5, Gobbo – Victoria Police’s “secret informer’’, known as HS 3838, slipped her police handlers the shipping document – sparking one of the largest investigations in Australian police history.
She even translated it from Italian.
Gobbo was acting as Rob Karam’s lawyer on June 5, 2007, when she photocopied a shipping document – known as the ‘’bill of lading’’ – initiating the massive bust.
Victoria Police then shared the information with the Australian Crime Commission and Australian Customs, identifying they had a “secret source’’.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) were not initially told of the operation or the secret source.
However, the AFP would lead a 15-month sting operation, seizing and replacing the drugs with fakes for the criminal syndicate to pick up.
When the syndicate failed to pick up their 4.4 tonne of drugs, a heavy surveillance operation unravelled their desperate attempts to repay their European counterparts by importing and selling more drugs until nationwide raids began on August 8, 2008.
31 syndicate members were convicted in total.
Zirilli will potentially lead other “Tomato Tins’’ syndicate members to join his appeal, including Barbaro, Karam and veteran criminal John Higgs.