During his investigation on secondment to the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s office, ASIO Agent Colin Brown centered his reports on Melbourne, but also spent considerable amounts of time in rural centres such as Shepparton and in particular, Mildura. From these beginnings arose a very specific line of inquiry, that went a far way towards establishing a clearly defined centre of ‘ndrangheta power, revolving upon the prime role the township played as major growing centre for the Queen Victoria Market. From Brown’s initial reports grew a succession of subsequent intelligence operations, which saw Mildura linked in with operations across regional and rural Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.
The newspapers of the time understated the presence of so-called “Black Handers” in the Sunraysia area. Senior Detective J. Barrett was the local police officer who was tasked with submitting reports to Brown, in which he describes information obtained through an informant who professed to an ‘ndrangheta presence in Mildura dating to the late 1940’s at the very latest. The informant goes on to name several men belonging to the Society, and their roles in local arm of the Victorian market rackets. The informant provided a string of important details, and made particular mention of Bruno Romeo, the greatly feared ‘ndranghetisti who would in later years become known as “The Fox”.
An interesting footnote regarding the Senior Detective is the praise he had heaped upon Giuseppe “Joe” Carbone, of the trucking firm based out of Buronga, New South Wales that was well-known at the Queen Victoria Market. Barrett seems to display a favourable attitude and respect towards him, as he describes Carbone as “…quite an intelligent individual…”, and suggests to his superiors that Carbone could possibly be induced to talk on record about events involving Italians in the produce industry, and on the subject of Mildura. He does however, note that Carbone’s sister was married to Melbourne boss Domenico DeMarte, on trial at the time for murder. His letter ends with the mild suggestion that it may be wise to not approach Carbone until after the trial.
Around 1951, there would be a series of articles printed in various journals that ridiculed the notion of a “mafia” presence in Mildura, with no less than future Prime Minister Harold Holt, who in his role as Minister for Immigration, was resolute in dismissing any notion of mafia-type activities in the Italian community of Mildura. This was despite emerging reports of stand-over tactics being employed towards the owners of the multiple vineyards in the region, with the objective being of benefit to a cartel-style monopoly on Mildura grown grapes.
On the other hand was a small but vocal segment of journalists convinced of the Society’s presence in the regional townships of Victoria. For example, Brisbane newspaper “The Truth” described an interview with a local farmer, who refused to be identified himself, but recounted how another local, who’s membership in the Society was an open secret, had periodically approached him and others in the area with poorly veiled or conveyed “requests” for sums of money, ostensibly to be invested in a local Italian owned business based in Mildura. Despite such velvet glove approach, it was also pointed out that refusals would be dealt casual acts of violence. In the case of the farmer in question, he detailed threats made against him, his property, his family and even his relatives still residing in Calabria.
There were, eventually, more than threats, actual acts of violence that journalists seized upon. During the harvesting season of 1952, several brawls had erupted between scores of Italians who had been trained into town for seasonal labour. On the 3rd of February, police arrested twelve men for being involved as ringleaders in the fights. The newspapers used the events to segue into proclamations fearing the possible involvement of the dreaded Black Hand. And then again a period of quiet for some years in Mildura and Shepparton.
In February of 1958, an incident following a wedding resulted in the stabbing of two brothers who had gatecrashed a wedding reception being held at the Robinvale R.S.L just before midnight. Their assailant was a twenty-four year old local man, a gardener by occupation, who was subsequently charged with malicious wounding. It was reported that the two brothers been “enemies” of the wedding party, arriving with dishonourable intentions, but it would in any case be alleged that there were Society members active there since the 1940’s present.
In Easter of 1963, an informant of the time was asked to provide details concerning the arson of a house owned by an Italian man who tended an orchard on the property. The investigation gleaned some details of note, such as the house neighboured property owned by Francesco Cufari, a fellow citrus farmer, and a figure identified as a part of the Mildura cell. There was a long-standing and publicly known feud between the two neighbouring men, and the report makes particular mention of the 1960 death of Cufari’s son. While the tragic death was deemed as accidental, the implication is that it was relevant to the fued between Cufari and his neighbour. Via our modern lens, it calls like nothing less than Gotti’s relationship with neighbour John Favara in the 1990’s.
While the fire was definitively deemed intentional, there was no evidence sufficiently binding Cufari to the deed. However, the report makes mention of the suspicious presence of two men from Adelaide, whom the informant insisted were in the direct vicinity of the incident at the relative time. The men were described as stand-over types, but were otherwise not identified. As a passing note which may or may not be relevant, in later years Bruno Romeo’s reputation would range to include acts of arson targeting those who refused demands, and even in the early 1960’s, was regarded as a violently inclined heavy.
In an official report submitted for the benefit of Agent Brown’s investigation, Mildura is identified as being an important location for ‘ndrina across multiple states. From information gleaned from an informant, it was revealed that the township served as a meeting place for Society members, reportedly convened every twenty-nine days in bushland on the outskirts of the township. They were attended by multiple heads of various ‘ndrine, mostly from Melbourne and Adelaide, but also figures representing Sydney, Griffith and Canberra. This is confirmed in correspondence between known members, which had been confiscated by police during various raids.
On the 30th of June, 1963, such a meeting took place, with the details of the report stating that these meetings were held to discuss important matters, and to also adjudicate between members involved in transgressions or disputes, imposing fines and other such consequences upon the offending parties. It was at such a meeting that Liborio Benvenuto would attend following his ascension, after the Market Murders. These very meetings, where it was reported that the national agenda was mapped, were known to begin late in the evening and run throughout the night, only ending on the approach of dawn over a few nights. One such gathering of 1962 was reported to have hosted a meetings of over a hundred figures in neighbouring bushland.
As he would for most national power centres of the time, Brown listed the leaders of local cells. In regards to Mildura, he identifies Giuseppe Rullo as the World War Two era coba-bastone. In his report, Brown cites Rullo as commanding such a level of respect amongst his peers that, beyond allowing his eventual retirement to Melbourne, he was awarded a Society “pension” until his death in 1963. In a report supplied by the Victoria Detectives Branch, his sons Vincenzo and Pasquale are named as members of the Mildura cell.
***An interesting note in their applications for registration and naturalisation, both Rullo’s sons list their places of birth as Ohio, USA. With little public information available on their father, it begs the question of what role, if any, their father played in the United States, and why it requires closer attention as a line of research***
As for his sons, alternatively called Vincent and Pasqualino, they are reported to have played a significant role as strong-arm types, standing over the local farmers in order to coerce them into carting with the right produce firms. While Vincenzo in particular is named as a local leader, a report submitted to Agent Brown stated that Vincenzo Rullo was actually seriously in debt during the early 1960’s. The report goes on to make mention of a Sydney man, identified only as G. Paiano, who came to Mildura with the intention of collecting a £300 debt.
After threatening violence, the reports claims that local members of the Society prevailed upon Paiano to forego any acts of violence in Mildura, apparently for fear bringing negative attention to their dealings. Paiano was said to have been encouraged to “deal with” Rullo elsewhere, which suggests that Vincenzo’s status regarding to his paternal lineage did not afford him any benefit, especially in considering the large amounts of debt he had accumulated to Society members from Sydney and Melbourne. For his part, Pasquale’s report records him as a wholesaler of produce, with interests in the Queen Victoria Markets. Older than Vincent by a year, Pasquale’s report links him with several other market figures, all named as suspected members of the local Society, or mafia.
Agent Brown would go on to name Raffaele Romeo as talking on leadership following Rullo stepping down in 1956. Romeo’s application for registration describes him as another local farmer, horticulturist and truck driver dealing in citrus. Romeo’s sheet lists his place of birth as Delianuova, on the 17th of September, 1896. Located in the southern regions of Reggio Calabria, Delianuova boasts a particularly prominent history of ‘ndrangheta activities. As the ancestral home of the internationally connected Musitano ‘ndrine, it produced a network stretching into the USA, Canada and Australia, as party to the so-called Siderno Group.
As for Romeo, his age places him as an obvious candidate for leadership, when one considers the relative youth of many of the rank-and-file, the picciotti or small soldiers, so to speak. In the file obtained by Agent Brown, Romeo is described as a possible relation to one Paolo Romeo, a neo-fascist organiser and an example of the significant fears most officials of the time would perhaps place above local crime gangs. He was also a cousin of Melbourne boss Domenico Italiano, which no doubt served to strengthen his position. Romeo’s had been present at the Brunswick meetings. In fact, the Romeo ‘ndrine of San Luca, Calabria, is another prominent family with widespread links, including a close association with the Nirta family, who themselves have a significant presence in Australia. Nirtas settled in Canberra; meanwhile Raffaele Romeo was active during a period that also saw several others of the same name, likely related in various distances, active across facets of local and interstate ‘ndrine.
In particular is the reference point to Bruno Romeo, the Adelaide based heavy that was actually carving himself a brutal reputation in the 1960’s. Bruno would rate multiple mentions in the reports prepared by Agent Brown, such as the regular travel Bruno undertook, where he paid visits to suspected Society members in Sydney, Griffith, Shepparton and Mildura. In 1963, Bruno had demanded a payment of £200 from Giuseppe Molina, a Mildura farmer who refused to comply with the extortionate demands. In February of that year, during the night, as he and his family slept, his residence was set on fire. Luckily, he awoke in time to ensure the safety of his wife and children.
In nearby Salisbury, a cousin of Molina’s named only as Caruso had also been the recipient of threats demanding sums of cash. Taking lead from his cousin, Caruso objected and refused to comply. One morning shortly after his brush with the local ‘ndrina, he awoke early as per usual to begin working on his farm. When he went to inspect his tomato crop however, he discovered that his large crop of tomato plants had been destroyed through the night, nearly every individual plant torn up and pulled out of the ground. Described in the report as being “…unpopular with his fellow countrymen, and is feared by them…”, it fits Bruno Romeo would become the prime suspect behind these crimes, fitting his modus operandi perfectly. Of course, with no willing witnesses, there was no evidence to bring charges against a man called the Fox. For his part, Romeo would become a sort of Australian ‘ndranghisti journeyman over the next few decades, with interests and operations across the whole country.
In the case of Mildura itself though, an anecdote relating to Raffaele Romeo is his involvement in a violent altercation with another Society member from Mildura in the early 1930’s, which resulted in his face getting slashed by razor. Out of the respect that Romeo held amongst his peers, Domenico Antonio Strano is reported to have travelled from the cane-fields of Northern Queensland to track down Romeo’s assailant, who had since taken up residence in Western Australia. After murdering the man, Strano is said to have visited Mildura, to pay his respects to Romeo before striking on back to Queensland.
For his part, Romeo remained the nominal head of the regions ‘ndrina, his public persona remaining that of a hard-working market identity, his main line being citrus, both the growing and carting side of the produce industry. His application for naturalization gives his occupation as truck driver and horticulturist. In charge of an ever-expanding business, of course there’s little public mention of the fact that his growers were more often than not strong-armed into carting their produce through him, across the Mildura suburbs such as Red Cliffs, Sunny Cliffs and other prime growing lands, where the Society was accepted as a fact of life.
Following Romeo’s tenure, the next leaders would seem to be members of the Medici family, who would also achieve a lasting infamy in the area. A long time presence in Society circles, Francesco Medici, born on the 27th of February, 1909, had been one of the Society members detained by Victorian Special Branch following the ill-fated meeting held at 15 Osborne Street, Brunswick on the 21st of September, 1957. This was, of course, the infamous meeting that resulted in some thirty men detained and questioned, with some twenty odd being charged with offences relating to weapons. Medici had played an important role in convening the meeting, which was held in the house of his son-in-law, Domenico Versace. The informant who had tipped off investigators had fingered Medici as a leader of the Brunswick and Coburg branches, and also named his as having chaired the section of the meeting that was recognised as pertaining to the “Senior” section of the Society meeting.
There were some events to be underway in Melbourne over the next few years however; in which the Medici name would undertake a prominent role, some of which could still have some ramifications for the country towns Society members. The Medici, for their part, get named frequently as having joined with Angiletta in his La Bastarda faction, most frequently in Italian language books on the subject. This stems primarily, it would seem, from therefore the Macera Reports, which strikes as more dedicated to Italian language reports. Reports of the Shepparton based ‘ndrine also begin accompanying Mildura on occasion.
TO BE UPDATED
Mafia in Australia 