Mob boss Frank Madafferi told to present “forensic’’ evidence Gobbo was his lawyer
A jailed mob boss trying to appeal his drug trafficking conviction and secure freedom has been told we will need “forensic’’ evidence that snitching barrister Nicola Gobbo was ever his lawyer.
Police & Courts
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Jailed mob boss Frank Madafferi will require “forensic’’ evidence that snitching barrister Nicola Gobbo was ever his lawyer in order to appeal his drug trafficking conviction, the Court of Appeal has heard.
And he is demanding Victoria Police tell him if a second gangland lawyer connected to his case also turned police double agent.
Madafferi, who is considered to be a Calabrian mafia figure, is serving a decade in jail over his part in the 2007 Tomato Tins drug syndicate which attempted to import more than four tonnes of ecstasy pills into Australia.
In a directions hearing in the Court of Appeal on Thursday, his lawyer Catherine Boston said her client was given legal advice by Gobbo – the woman dubbed Lawyer X – leading to a substantial miscarriage of justice.
Gobbo, as revealed by the Herald Sun, was a registered police informer in June 2007 when she obtained a shipping document from client Rob Karam which she copied and gave to her police handlers.
It led to authorities seizing the biggest ecstasy importation in history.
Although Madafferi was never prosecuted for having a role in the failed importation, he was found guilty of trafficking a commercial quantity of drugs the syndicate subsequently imported between 2007-2008.
“It’s effectively a fruit of the poison tree argument,” Ms Boston said.
Madafferi argues Gobbo gave him informal advice upon his arrest in August 2008 until late 2009 and applied to the court for more documents to help him prove it.
But Victoria Police say Madafferi is a on a ‘’fishing expedition’’.
The court heard Madafferi had no evidence Gobbo was ever his lawyer and the scope of the material he is chasing was excessive.
Madafferi is also seeking documents as to whether his long-term friend and lawyer, Joseph Acquaro, played any role in dobbing on him to police.
Victoria Police has refused to “confirm or deny” the allegations.
Acquaro represented key ‘’Tomato Tins’’ figures, including Madafferi.
He was shot dead outside his Gelobar restaurant in Lygon St in 2016.
A man who worked for him casually at the Gelobar, Vincent Crupi, has been charged with his murder.
The pair had allegedly fought over a fire deliberately lit to an upstairs section of the Brunswick East venue in the months prior to the shooting.
Other members of the Tomato Tins syndicate, including Salvatore Agresta, Saverio Zirilli and Pasquale Barbaro are also appealing.
They are also seeking documents about who played a role in the ‘’Tomato Tins’’ investigation.
Following Judicial Registrar Ian Irving’s ruling to deny Madafferi’s request for a wider scope of materials, Agresta abandoned his similar application.
LAWYER X: INSIDE AUSTRALIA’S BIGGEST GANGLAND SCANDAL
* Explosive new revelations and exclusive extracts from gripping new book Lawyer X, by Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon, only in the Herald Sun and heraldsun.com.au
* Lawyer X, the story of how one woman played off police and criminals, is published by HarperCollins Australia on September 7. Order your copy now at Booktopia
* Watch Peter Stefanovic’s compelling two-part documentary Lawyer X: The Untold Story on Sky News at 8pm AEST, September 12 and 19