Frank Madafferi latest jailed figure to contest ‘Tomato Tins’ drug syndicate conviction
Underworld figure Frank Madafferi is the latest in a line-up of jailed organised crime figures contesting his convictions over his role in the “Tomato Tins” drug syndicate. Here’s why.
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Mafia figure Frank Madafferi is the latest in a line-up of jailed organised crime figures contesting his convictions over his role in the “Tomato Tins” drug syndicate.
Madafferi, who faces deportation after he is released from prison within the next two years, on Monday joined at least five other syndicate members claiming Lawyer X’s role in tipping off police to the world record ecstasy importation was a breach of his legal rights.
A court hearing was heard on Monday about the appeal where Commonwealth prosecutors have suggested Madafferi might have been misunderstood the connection between the two investigations.
“It appears it’s all connected when it’s not,” Lincoln Crowley QC told Victoria’s Court of Appeal.
The two imports were part of two completely separate police investigations, he said.
But Madafferi’s lawyer, Catherine Boston, said there was a clear connection between the two.
She said after the first shipment was seized by authorities, the European drug suppliers sent a further shipment of drugs – those Madafferi is convicted of trafficking.
It’s not clear the extent to which information gathered in the tomato tins investigation was used to obtain warrants for the phone recordings or police surveillance used against him, she said.
The court ordered on Monday that Victoria Police and the Australian Federal Police hand over relevant documents by mid-June.
Madafferi, who was initially represented by Gobbo, pleaded not guilty to being part of the audacious 2007-2008 drug crimes committed by the syndicate.
In 2014, Madafferi was found guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced to 10 years behind bars.
Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton has indicated the federal government will move to deport Madafferi at the end of his sentence.
But Gobbo’s role in the sting has only recently been conceded by federal prosecutors.
Her role in providing the shipping document to Victoria Police as informer 3838 was kept from other federal agencies which conducted the massive investigation.
Madafferi, unlike most other significant “Tomato Tins” syndicate members, fought his prosecution maintaining he was innocent.
Overall 31 syndicate members were prosecuted, with the majority serving jail stints.
Almost a dozen of the syndicate remain in prison.
Among them is Calabrian mafia figure Saverio Zirilli, who last week 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.
Both Madafferi and Zirilli, apart from being given legal advice by Gobbo, were represented by a now deceased lawyer who has been the subject of investigation by the Lawyer X royal commission.
The Appeal Court has urged for the production of documents from state and federal authorities to be swift – including the “Tomato Tins Package”, containing thousands of pages of material.
Other mafia figures Salvatore Agresta and Carmelo Falanga have lodged appeals to challenge their convictions.
Syndicate ring leader Pasquale “Pat” Barbaro is in the final stages of launching his appeal.
Pasquale Barbaro was named as the head of 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 history.
She even translated it from Italian.
Gobbo was acting as drug tsar 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.
Zirilli will potentially lead other “Tomato Tins” syndicate members to join his appeal, including Barbaro, Karam, Madafferi and veteran criminal John Higgs in what will amount to a “fruit from the poison tree” appeal.
After being stung by Gobbo, she went on to represent numerous syndicate members, or give them legal advice.
It is believed she remained involved in the case, despite Victoria Police warning her not to, to keep the mafia men from finding out her duplicitous role.
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