By Chris Vedelago and Lachlan Abbott
The hitmen who killed suspected Calabrian mafia figure John Latorre used a motorcycle to stage the execution-style murder and escape from Greenvale’s suburban streets last week.
Police and underworld sources say a small motorbike – potentially a Vespa or another type of scooter – was the getaway vehicle used in the brazen murder of Latorre in his driveway in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, as the fruiterer was leaving for his regular early morning trip to the Melbourne Market in Epping.
Grieving family members outside the Greenvale home where John Latorre was shot dead.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Police are seeking CCTV and dashcam footage of a motorcycle that travelled through the streets of Greenvale or Gladstone Park – particularly along the major thoroughfare of Mickleham Road – around the time of the murder, which happened about 4.30am on March 12.
The CCTV footage police have obtained shows a single person on the motorcycle. Investigators suspect more than one person may have been involved in the attack, but not captured on the footage investigators have collected so far.
Latorre was shot several times in his upper body as he left the garage of his Buchanan Place home in what police have described as a “targeted attack”.
The 64-year-old was allegedly part of the shadowy Calabrian mafia group known as the Honoured Society, or ’Ndrangheta, that has deep roots in illicit drug trafficking and extortion rackets in the fresh food and hospitality industries.
John Latorre, seen here at an underworld funeral in 2015, was executed outside his Greenvale home.Credit: Jason South
Police have called for members of the public to provide any dashcam footage from the area from between the hours of 2am and 6am.
Police are also investigating whether the motorcyclist escaped down a quiet grass laneway at the end of Jedburgh Place, near the scene of the shooting. The laneway runs behind large family homes through to Attwood Creek Reserve. On the other side of the parkland, another alley connects directly to Mickleham Road.
Mickleham Road has been a focus of the investigators’ search for dashcam footage.
This escape route would have allowed the assassins to avoid any close early morning residential traffic and many neighbourhood CCTV cameras, compared to the only road exit from the Buchanan Place crime scene onto Elphinstone Boulevard.
Police sources say the hit team likely arrived in the neighbourhood shortly before 4.30am, when Latorre was known to leave home for his business, Latorre’s Fruit & Vegetable Wholesalers, at the state’s largest fresh produce market in Epping.
Sources at the Melbourne Market who are familiar with Latorre’s work routine said he arrived at the Epping market five or six days a week about 5am following a 30-minute car trip from his Greenvale home.
Victoria Police declined to comment.
Latorre’s murder comes during a period of supposed upheaval in the Honoured Society amid unconfirmed reports a “new boss” has emerged to lead the Melbourne ’Ndrangheta.
The underworld has been alive with rumours and theories about the motive behind Latorre’s murder, most of which police and gangland sources have dismissed as baseless speculation.
’Ndrangheta expert Professor Anna Sergi of the University of Essex said the mafia cultivates and thrives on ambiguity about its operations and intentions.
“Until or unless law enforcement acts, there is always going to be ambiguity, precisely because it helps the people on top,” Sergi said.
“Murder is not common in the ’Ndrangheta. The ’Ndrangheta kills by necessity or in a parsimonious way. Crucially, if this is a message then the message need to be understood by the recipient.”
Latorre was born in Australia, but his family originally hails from Oppido Mamertina, a small Calabrian town known as an influential ’Ndrangheta stronghold.
It is also the hometown of the Madafferis, who police suspect are one of the most powerful families in the Australian ’Ndrangheta. The family includes alleged boss Antonio “Tony” Madafferi and convicted drug trafficker Francesco “Frank” Madafferi.
Antonio Madafferi vehemently denies any involvement in criminal activity.
Latorre, who had no criminal record, was a close associate of the Madafferis.
This masthead has reported that Latorre was part of a small group of businessmen linked to the Calabrian mafia who donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Liberal Party as part of a suspected plot to get a visa for Frank Madafferi.
In 2005, then-immigration minister Amanda Vanstone granted Madafferi a visa to stay in Australia, but he was later convicted over his involvement in what was at the time the world’s biggest ecstasy bust. He remains in jail.
Latorre’s brother, Vincent, was previously jailed for extortion activity in the Shepparton region.
John Latorre’s funeral will be held on Saturday in St Monica’s Church in Moonee Ponds.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or make a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
John Silvester lifts the lid on Australia’s criminal underworld. Subscribers can sign up to receive his Naked City newsletter every Thursday.