Slain mafia-linked Sydney crime figure Pasquale Barbaro ‘had a lot of enemies’

SLAIN mafia-linked figure Pasquale Barbaro allegedly rorted rivals to the tune of $1 million, but there were other reasons enemies wanted him dead.

Slain Sydney crime figure Pasquale Barbaro ‘had a lot of enemies’.

THE slain crime boss with extensive mafia links who was shot dead in a suburban Sydney street was concealing a million-dollar debt.

Pasquale Barbaro, 35, was alleged to have “ripped off” $1 million from rival gangsters ahead of his execution-style shooting in Larkhall Street in the southwest suburb of Earlwood on Monday night.

As police continue to investigate the targeted murder, there is no shortage of theories as to what may have been the motivation for the hit-style shooting.

Born into Australia’s oldest organised crime group the Calabrian mafia, and having forged links with bikie gangs and Sydney crime crew Brothers 4 Life, Barbaro was destined to end up dead or behind bars.

A friend of the young man told Nine News he “had a lot of enemies” and there were “plenty of people” who would have wanted him killed.

Mixed up in drugs, crime, and believed to have become an informant to the NSW Crime Commission, police insiders have suggested there could have been a number of reasons for the execution

“It could be anything — it could be drugs, it could be sleeping with someone’s missus ... you never know,” one cop told the Daily Telegraph.

Pasquale Barbaro was found shot dead after police were alerted to a shooting in Earlwood on Monday night.

Along with allegedly being involved in a high stakes rort of a rival gang, Barbaro had been due to appear before the District Court on drugs charges next month. He had reportedly remained active with his criminal enterprises while on bail.

Vision of the slain kingpin appeared via video at a judge-only murder trial in the NSW Supreme Court, just hours after his death.

Barbaro was not a suspect in the murder of gangland standover man Joe Antoun, who was gunned down on the doorstep of his family home in 2013.

Barbaro had previously evaded a hitman execution in 2015, running from a hail of bullets aimed at him as he stood outside a Leichhardt business.

Following this incident an officer told the Telegraph the shooting had “all the hallmarks of an attempted professional hit, except they missed”.

A former senior police officer who has spent years investigating the mafia arm into which Barbaro was born, has warned the killing could lead to more murders.

“The Calabrian mafia started up in Australia almost 100 years ago in the 1920s, and since then they’ve just grown and grown and they are currently the longest operating organised crime syndicate in Australian history,” he told ABC radio on Tuesday.

“Many of the names that came here in those early days are still prominent names within Australia within the Calabrian mafia. The Barbaro name did come in early in the piece and they’ve been main players going back to the start of when they became involve in the drug trade.”

Pasquale Barbaro is reported to have rorted a rival gang to the tune of $1 million.

Mr Small said that the family-based crime group had grown in maturity in Australia, seeing a decline in murders. These days, shooting and gang warfare associated with the group rarely play out in public, but there had been recent exceptions. In August last year, mafia-linked lawyer Joseph Acquaro was executed outside his Melbourne gelato shop.

“As they mature in organised crime, they also understand that murdering in the streets is bad for business. It attracts police attention, and that’s why we’ve seen a decline in the number of murders,” he said.

“At the same time, when it’s been a matter of prestige or revenge, they have been willing to kill people.”

He said whether the motivation for Barbaro’s killing had come from inside the mafia — one theory that has sprung from his rumoured turn as a police informant — or was ordered by one of his many other enemies, more deaths were likely to follow.

“The interesting part here is going to be if this was not another mafia hit ... but an outside hit, I would think the mafia are going to decide that they have to avenge the death of Pasquale Barbaro and we’ll see another killing or killings sooner rather than later,” he said.

Another insider told the Telegraph: “There’ll be four or more bodies before you see the end of this”.

Police at the scene of Pasquale Barbaro’s shooting death on an Earlwood footpath. Picture: Dean Lewins/AAP

Police are searching for Barbaro’s killer and have asked anyone with information to come forward. NSW Police Superintendent David Johnson made an appeal to associates of the shooters who might not be keen to speak after Barbaro was killed.

“Given the sort of nefarious activities these people are engaged in, clearly it’s in their best interest to come forward,” he told reporters in Sydney.

“These people are dangerous people.”