‘There’s not that many people able to pull that off’: Source says of shooter

Gangland circles are abuzz with talk that the murder of John Latorre in Greenvale was the work of a fly-in-fly-out assassin brought in from overseas.

The murder of Melbourne fruiterer John Latorre would have needed the green light from the mafia’s upper echelon and may have been the work of a fly-in-fly-out assassin.

Sources have told the Herald Sun there is no way a hit on someone with Mr Latorre’s ­status would have happened without being sanctioned by Honoured Society bosses.

Melbourne gangland circles are abuzz with talk that last Tuesday’s killing at Greenvale was the work of a FIFO shooter brought in from overseas.

The gunman was waiting in the darkness at 4.30am as Mr Latorre, regarded as a captain in the Calabrian mafia’s Melbourne arm, prepared to leave home and drive to work at the Melbourne Markets.

The hit on John Latorre would have been sanctioned by Honoured Society bosses.

He was known to start at the Epping fruit and vegetable wholesale complex at 5am.

A family member, one of two women at home, heard the shooting and rushed out to find Mr Latorre’s dead body.

One source described what had happened as well-planned and a long way from some of Melbourne’s “amateur” hit plots of recent years.

“This was smooth … cool, calm and calculating. This is a professional job. There’s not that many people able to pull that off,” he said.

A source said the shooting was well-planned and the killer was calm and calculating. Picture: Nicki Connolly

One theory circulating in the underworld is that rancour among some major players over a 2020 “black flight” cocaine importation from Papua New Guinea in which Mr Latorre was suspected of playing a key role was a factor.

It turned to disaster when an overloaded Queensland-bound Cessna packed with $80m of the drug crashed after takeoff, leaving some big investors with heavy losses.

Despite this, one source said no one saw the murder of Mr Latorre coming. The 64-year-old maintained close ties to major players in the Calabrian mafia, including Francesco Madafferi, who is serving a long jail term over the Tomato Tins ecstasy bust of 2007.

“It was definitely a huge shock,” the source said.

“There’s a lot of people who bluff but there’s no coming back from something like this.”

Police last week said the force was ready for the possibility of retaliatory attacks.

But the source told the Herald Sun this was unlikely because such a killing would have been endorsed at the highest levels of the Honoured Society.

“One hundred per cent it was. They wouldn’t have done it without assurances. It’s a big job,” he said.

Detectives are focusing on a four-hour window leading into the pre-dawn execution, and are keen to speak to anyone travelling through Greenvale or Gladstone Park between 2am and 6am on Tuesday.