THE BLACK HAND FORUM

AustraliaSteve wrote: ↑Mon Mar 31, 2025 4:08 am Okay so recent info would indicate that the Sydney Commisso actually come from Gioiose Ionica, NOT from Siderno.

My source was very emphatically stating that. Whether he has his own agenda or not, I can’t say, but at this point I can confirm that Cosimo is brothers with Johnny Commisso, and that Cosmo’s immediate family is plugged into Comanchero and HA clubs through his son, Emilio.

Actually the Commisso (Siderno) & Aquino (Gioiosa Ionica) 'ndrine are quite close and connected to each others, so there is good chances Cosimo is connected to Siderno

Great find for confirming Cosimo & John are brothers (and for the rest obviously)

Okay so recent info would indicate that the Sydney Commisso actually come from Gioiose Ionica, NOT from Siderno.

My source was very emphatically stating that. Whether he has his own agenda or not, I can’t say, but at this point I can confirm that Cosimo is brothers with Johnny Commisso, and that Cosmo’s immediate family is plugged into Comanchero and HA clubs through his son, Emilio.

I can see that in 2015 Commisso was in a property dispute with his sister and his niece and son in law over a property he claimed was promised to his sister until her death, and the other relatives were living there after she died claiming that the house had been promised to them. After a heap of legal back and forth where the plaintiffs weren’t able to produce any documents backing their claim the property was granted to the NSW Trustee.

Interestingly, during the hearing the judge notes that millions in cash was seized from properties owned by Commisso, that he was barred from selling said house or others while under investigation and that he found Commisso to be an unreliable witness.

Also in 2006 his son Emilio was kidnapped and held for ransom by a crew of young Middpe Eastern crims, they demanded $100,000 from Cosmo, who called the cops on the kidnappers.

Here’s the newscorp article, has a few pics of the guy.

Revealed: Inside Australian Border Force official and alleged Sydney underworld figure’s intercepted conversations

A man accused of importing cocaine into Sydney with the help of a corrupt ABF official spoke intimately to her in intercepted conversations, telling her: “I’ve just got to get you a pair of high heels,” police allege.

Derrick Krusche
and
Madeline Crittenden
3 min read
March 12, 2025 - 9:55PM
A man with underworld links accused of importing cocaine into Sydney with the help of a corrupt Australian Border Force official spoke intimately to her in intercepted conversations, telling her: “I’ve just got to get you a pair of high heels” and promising her: “Together we’ll conquer the world – you can be my queen”, police allege.

Australian Federal Police allege in court documents Cosmo Commisso, 67, of Mount Pritchard, and ABF National Border Targeting Centre supervisor Rita Gargiulo, 50, of Oran Park, teamed up to exploit her access to the Department of Home Affairs’ computer systems to ensure a parcel containing 6.9kg of cocaine could be smuggled through the border.

Commisso and Gargiulo were arrested during a nationwide police investigation that also nabbed a Sydney father and son – accused of abusing their positions in customs control to smuggle two tonnes of illegal tobacco into the city – and a Melbourne man, accused of heroin trafficking with alleged links to a Sydney logistics worker, who was not charged but fired from his position.

Alleged crime figure Cosmo Commisso, 67, is accused of giving Australian Border Force supervisor Rita Gargiulo, 50, cash, luxury goods and household items in exchange for help bypassing 6.9kg cocaine from ABF examination after it landed in Sydney.
Alleged crime figure Cosmo Commisso, 67, is accused of giving Australian Border Force supervisor Rita Gargiulo, 50, cash, luxury goods and household items in exchange for help bypassing 6.9kg cocaine from ABF examination after it landed in Sydney.
The arrests prompted senior police to label NSW as “ground zero for Australia’s illicit drug importations”, with more than half of substances trafficked into Australia funnelled into the state – mostly into Sydney.

Commisso and Gargiulo, who are being represented by high-profile Sydney solicitor Ahmed Dib, were both charged with bribery and drug importation and are yet to enter pleas.

When contacted on Wednesday about the case, Mr Dib declined to comment.

High profile Sydney solicitor Ahmed Dib is legally representing the pair.
High profile Sydney solicitor Ahmed Dib is legally representing the pair.
According to the police documents, Gargiulo has worked with the ABF for 10 years and in March 2024 was promoted to the role of Targeting Centre supervisor at the agency’s Mascot base, a position that gave her access to Home Affairs’ internal system, allowing her to look up cargo logs and also look up if certain parcels were flagged to be searched.

She eventually began to allegedly take bribes from Commisso – including Burberry and Louis Vuitton handbags – to ensure the airfreight parcel containing 6.9kg of cocaine would bypass ABF examination this month.

Rita Gargiulo (right) being arrested by police officers. She has worked with the ABF for 10 years.
Rita Gargiulo (right) being arrested by police officers. She has worked with the ABF for 10 years.
However, The Daily Telegraph can exclusively reveal police had been listening to the pair talk to each other – with sometimes intimate language – for weeks and knew where to look, seizing the cocaine and arresting them on Tuesday.

They were introduced to each other in late 2024 by an associate, with Commisso – who police allege has organised crime links – allegedly later saying that Gargiulo had “information about consignments coming into Australia and could tell if they were being watched”.

As Gargiulo began to assist Commisso, investigators from a newly established task force targeting “double agents” were listening in.

Commisso in handcuffs following his arrest.
Commisso in handcuffs following his arrest.
They eavesdropped for months as Gargiulo allegedly raved to a family member about how Commisso had changed their lives, and, as he called her “sexy”, they were also listening as she allegedly explained how ABF inspected packages and how to better hide illegal materials.

On one occasion, Commisso said: “I’ve just got to get you a pair of high heels – do you wear high heels?” to which Gargiulo said: “Yeah, but only for occasions”.

Commisso replied: “Sexy occasions – you can put the lingerie on”.

Another time, Commisso seemingly hinted he had future plans with Gargiulo after their alleged criminal enterprise, telling her: “Together we’ll conquer the world – you can be my queen”.

In another intercepted conversation, Gargiulo gushed to a family member about her relationship with Commisso, saying: “This guy wants to spend every cent he has got on me” and “he got me schnitz, cutlets, more cherries, he got me some anti-pasta stuff … I literally do not need to grocery shop.”

But their relationship involved more than gourmet groceries.

According to the intercepted messages, Gargiulo schooled Commisso about “massive, powerful” X-ray machines used to check consignments by the ABF and how illicit materials could be better concealed by lead, which is not easily X-rayed.

The Raptor Squad moving in on the home of one of the alleged offenders. Picture: AFP
The Raptor Squad moving in on the home of one of the alleged offenders. Picture: AFP
It is alleged the pair worked together for several months, partly to ensure the safe passage of the parcel and to provide information about “dummy run” of cosmetics that arrived in Australia from Malaysia last month.

The pair were arrested by the newly established AFP and NSW Police’s Multi Agency Strike Team that targets contractors, public and private officials who are allegedly on the payroll of organised crime.

Assistant Commissioner Micheal Fitzgerald speaks of an alleged incident were a boarder force officer has attempted to import illicit drugs into Australia. Picture: NewsWire / Thomas Lisson
Assistant Commissioner Micheal Fitzgerald speaks of an alleged incident were a boarder force officer has attempted to import illicit drugs into Australia. Picture: NewsWire / Thomas Lisson
Speaking generally, AFP Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney said the “double dealers” were “highly valuable” to organised crims and gangs.

“We used to call these offenders trusted insiders,” he said.

“However, what they really are (is) double agents or double dealers, by working for both sides.

“They are extremely valuable to organised crime, who will keep these insiders on their payroll for years to make it easier to import large properties of illicit drugs into this country.”

More Coverage
Border Force officer accused of taking bribes from drug trafficker
Border Force officer accused of taking bribes from drug trafficker
What the texts and conversations revealed
What the texts and conversations revealed

There are Commisso in Sydney but I’ve never heard them linked to the bigger shit going on in Perth, but Fab’s right, circa Operation Seville John Commisso, brother in law to Mario Cannistra was arrested in 1983 with Cannistra, Cannistras two brothers, the Velardi brothers and 2 others after a raid at Cannistra Canley Vale home. They would later approach former AFP sergeant John Franklin and tried to bribe him for police protection for another crop. This was unsuccessful, and Joe Verduci would claim in interviews that Cannistra and Commisso were heavily involved in crop growing around rural ACT and NSW.

In 1985, Commisso pled guilty to the Canley Vale matter and received 8 years with a non-parole of 4. Cannistra fought the charges and got off. The following year he also plead guilty to a 1984 charge of supplying drugs after police found opium and weed in his car while he was out on bail for the Canley Cale charges. I’ll see if I can dig up a rap sheet and if these guys are related. The ages make him the right generation, and I recall Commisso having brothers. There was something that came up about the Commisso family during my recent episode with Uncle Pat Bevilacqua.

I was wondring the same as usually the Commissos from the Siderno Group are mostly active in the area of Perth. But there was a Giovanni "John" Commisso involved in Canberra back to the Operation Seville during the 1980s, so who knows. If my memory is correct he was a in-law of Mario Cannistra, so not sure John was from Siderno.

Anyway, yeah it would be great fo find out from where was this Cosmo Commisso

thanks for this - I have been off this site for a bit (lost my access!) and now catching up! Would Commisso be the crime figure they refer too? Meaning what exactly? But more relevant, this is NSW - was he acting alone? Strange.

Still early days on this one, but the name Commisso got my interest

An Australian Border Force (ABF) employee and an alleged crime figure have been charged with bribery and drug offences as part of a crack down on insider corruption.

Fifty-year-old ABF employee Rita Gargiulo and 67-year-old Mount Pritchard man Cosmo Commisso allegedly conspired to smuggle 6.9 kilograms of cocaine into Australia.

Authorities said Ms Gargiulo was paid in cash and luxury items to bypass security checks.

The pair were arrested in Sydney on Tuesday.

Both face multiple bribery and aiding drug importation charges.

Ms Gargiulo has been charged with receiving a bribe as a Commonwealth official, abuse of public office, unauthorised disclosure of information by Commonwealth officer, and aid and abet the importation of border controlled drugs.

The later offence carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said Ms Gargiulo worked as a supervisor, allowing her to search cargo and ABF systems to determine if parcels were flagged for examination.

Two men, aged 25 and 48, were also arrested and charged by police.

Team targeting insider corruption

The arrests were made as part of Operation Proctor, set up by the new Multi-Agency Strike Team.

The team is targeting officials who exploit their positions to help organised crime.

An older man in handcuffs stands next to a male police officer along a road as more officers stand in the background.
The ABF employee and a Mount Pritchard man allegedly conspired to smuggle cocaine into Australia.(Supplied: Australian Federal Police)
"Seven alleged offenders from three separate investigations have already been charged by the mast, including four people in Sydney yesterday," AFP Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney told ABC News.

Deputy Commissioner McCartney said these "double dealers" were critical to drug networks.

"By targeting those double-dealing employees, we take away the secret weapons of organised crime. It also sends a strong message to all criminals that no one is invisible from law enforcement, especially those who are accused of acting corruptly," he said

Tmr88 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 21, 2024 3:52 pm Hey Steve, have you had a read of this yet? No names listed as of yet from what I can find, but it seems like they’re arresting well beyond just the crop sitters

https://amp.9news.com.au/article/a064b2 ... 9d5f5cc3de

Sorry man, I did catch that. Holy shit, you posted it last year. I get obsessed with projects and don’t check shit for ages.

Hey fellas. So not too much in recent news on the local front; apparently cops have put out a $1 million reward for info on the John Furlan case. Furlan was a Melbourne local with ties to a bunch of local scenes who was blown up in his car in 1997. One of the suspects was Domenico Italiano, the grandson of the Pope. One theory goes that Italiano blew him up because he feared the dirt Furlan had on him; apparently Furlan had become aware of rigged raffles that Italiano was running. Of course Italiano would die of a heart attack fucking a prostitute on day release from prison so kind of a dead end there.

The only other kind of adjacent news of really recent is Simon Overland recently spotted in Melbourne again after a stint with Tasmania Police. Overland “made his bones” as an up and comer during the investigation into the Winchester murder. Apparently he’s angling for work on a local council these days.

Hey Steve, have you had a read of this yet? No names listed as of yet from what I can find, but it seems like they’re arresting well beyond just the crop sitters

https://amp.9news.com.au/article/a064b2 ... 9d5f5cc3de

Carmelo Loprete, one of the guys involved in Operation Decollo, has died.

Senior Mafia figures to descend on Adelaide after ‘colourful’ Italian mechanic linked to massive drug smuggling plot dies

Some of Australia’s most notorious Mafia identities are set to descend on Adelaide for the funeral of a “colourful” Italian-born businessman.

2 min read
November 2, 2024 - 11:29AM
Sunday Mail (SA)

With global demand for cocaine booming, and Australians paying some of the highest prices for the drug in the world, it’s no wonder drug traffickers are trying to cash in on the lucrative local market. So how are traffickers trying to smuggle cocaine into South Australia?
Some of Australia’s most notorious Mafia identities are set to descend on Adelaide for the funeral of a “colourful” Italian-born businessman.

Federal and state law enforcement officials are on alert for the underworld influx after “top of the tree” western suburbs mechanic Carmelo Loprete, 66, died last week following a cancer battle.

Mr Loprete, a father-of-one known as Charlie, was accused almost two decades ago of being part of a conspiracy with senior Calabrian Mafia figures to import one of the country’s largest cocaine shipments.


Charges were later dropped.

Senior organised crime figures are expected to attend his funeral in Adelaide’s west later this week after it was delayed to allow overseas and interstate mourners to arrive in South Australia.

Carmelo Loprete, known as Charlie has been described as a “colourful character”. Picture: supplied
Carmelo Loprete, known as Charlie has been described as a “colourful character”. Picture: supplied
Sources said Australian Federal Police officers were “keeping tabs” on Mafia arrivals to Adelaide.

SA Police detectives are also believed to be monitoring city movements.

Mourners, including colourful gangland identities, are understood to be travelling from Italy, Sydney, regional NSW, Melbourne and country Victoria.

“He was pretty close to a lot of people,” a friend said.

He was never convicted of a serious crime despite law enforcement agencies including the National Crime Authority – now the Australian Crime Commission – and AFP pursuing him for years.

“They got close but they never got him,” another friend said.


A joint AFP and Italian police investigation alleged Mr Loprete, from Taurianova, Reggio Calabria, in southern Italy, conspired with three Victorian men to smuggle half-a-tonne of cocaine worth up to $50m into Melbourne between 2002 and 2004.

Nicola Ciconte, 54, Michael Calleja, 51, both of Melbourne, Vincenzo Medici, 45, of Mildura, and Mr Loprete, then in his late-40s, were tried as “fugitives” in 2010 at a Calabria court after a failed attempt to extradite them from Australia.

Authorities alleged the gang plotted to smuggle drugs – never recovered – from South America via Italy to Victoria before being also distributed in Adelaide and Sydney.

The Victorian men were later jailed for between 15 and 25 years after being found guilty in their absence.


A Mr Big, Nicola Ciconte, died in 2013 on the run in Cambodia.

Their prosecutions emerged during a global, four-year investigation codenamed Operation Decollo into Mafia drug-smuggling network across four continents using building materials such as slabs of marble, plastic tubes and vegetable cans.

More than 150 members of mostly Italy-based criminals were arrested while 18 Australian properties were raided including six in Adelaide but with no local arrests.

Mr Loprete’s family, who are not accused of any wrongdoing, declined to comment last week.

But in a death notice on Saturday they paid tribute to Calabrian-born Mr Loprete, late of Findon, as “cherished and adored” father who was “lovingly remembered” and now in “God’s care”.

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Friends told of a “colourful character” and “incredibly generous” man, who was “supermad” for his family and cars.

He was also a regular diner at the city-based La Trattoria Italian restaurant.

Mr Loprete, whose fortune included several properties, was a “highly skilled” mechanic who operated Carmelo Auto Repairs, on Grange Road, Beverley, for more than 20 years.

Until he fell ill, he operated a “boutique” auto business in Hindmarsh using a legendary car knowledge with luxury European models such as Ferrari, Porsche as well as American Cadillacs.


His early years included work at a high-profile Eastern suburbs luxury car dealership. “He was an absolute whiz,” a friend said.

Spokeswomen for SA Police and the AFP declined to comment.

Rick Barbaro has been sentenced.

Ricardo Barbaro jailed for 28 years for ‘entirely merciless’ murder of girlfriend Ellie Price
Erin Pearson
By Erin Pearson
November 1, 2024 — 1.54pm

In April 2020, as the coronavirus took hold, Ricardo Barbaro fled Victoria in a white van he’d rented from his father’s car hire company.

But Barbaro wasn’t fleeing the pandemic, but instead a murder scene inside an unassuming South Melbourne apartment where his girlfriend Ellie Price, 26, lay haemorrhaging blood from a deep gash to her neck.

Ricardo Barbaro arrives at the Supreme Court on Friday for his sentencing for murdering Ellie Price.
Ricardo Barbaro arrives at the Supreme Court on Friday for his sentencing for murdering Ellie Price.CREDIT: SIMON SCHLUTER

On Friday, Barbaro, 38, was jailed for 28 years and ordered to serve 22 before he is eligible for parole for what a Supreme Court judge described as a senseless and cruel crime which had robbed Price’s son of a life with her. Price’s son was 4 when his mother was killed.

Outside court, Price’s mother Tracey Gangell said no prison sentence would ever be long enough to compensate for the loss of her daughter.

She said her family was still broken.

“If he can take life away from someone, his life should be taken away as well. He’s still breathing, he’s still seeing his family. I don’t get to see my daughter any more,” Gangell said through tears.

Tracey Gangelll (in pink) and family members outside court after the sentencing.
Tracey Gangelll (in pink) and family members outside court after the sentencing.CREDIT: SIMON SCHLUTER
“My daughter’s life’s gone. Just why, why couldn’t he have just walked away?”

Justice Stephen Kaye said Barbaro and Price began a relationship in October 2019 which soon became volatile and violent.


Kaye said that at the same time, Price developed a friendship with a man 30 years her senior, Mark Gray, who provided the dancer with substantial financial support.

On May 4, 2020, police found Price’s blood-stained body on the bedroom floor of her Park Street apartment after she failed to contact her Tasmanian-based family for days.

Ellie Price was murdered at her South Melbourne home in the early hours of April 29, 2020.
Ellie Price was murdered at her South Melbourne home in the early hours of April 29, 2020.
Her last known contact was with Gray in text messages she sent him early on April 29 that year.

After the killing, the court heard, Barbaro left the Park Street scene in Price’s white Mercedes-Benz, stopped to visit his father in Williamstown and left the car at an associate’s farm in Diggers Rest.

He then drove a white hire van to see family in the ACT before renting a room in an apartment in Wentworth Point, NSW, where he was arrested on May 14, 2020.

Barbaro was found guilty of murder in September 2023 after two earlier juries were aborted.

“You are the only person who knows what happened on that fateful early morning. Clearly your murder of Ellie Price was a result of a total loss of self-control by you,” Kaye told him on Friday.

“In losing control you made a conscious decision to take hold of a knife for the purpose of venting your rage on her. You then proceeded to stab her six times.


“Your vicious attack must’ve been absolutely terrifying for Ellie Price as she vehemently tried to defend herself against you by scratching at your forearm. Your murderous attack on her was cruel, vicious and entirely merciless.”

Price’s sister Danielle Price last month told the court she was now raising her nephew, who remains traumatised years after his mother’s death.

“His only wish in the world is to have his mum back. When we go to Ellie’s grave he lays down to be near her. He always says how much he needs his mother,” Danielle told the court.

“How do you answer to a child asking why his mother isn’t here any more?”

On Friday, the judge said Barbaro’s crime had deprived Price of her most basic right to life and the joy of watching her son grow.

He noted Barbaro had lived an unsettling upbringing littered with significant trauma and the exposure to his paternal family’s lengthy criminal behaviour.

Joe Barbaro, the father of Ricardo Barbaro, outside court.
Joe Barbaro, the father of Ricardo Barbaro, outside court.CREDIT: LUIS ENRIQUE ASCUI
After leaving school, the court heard, Barbaro was rejected from the air force because of his family’s criminal connections.

In 2004, his half-sister was abducted and later found abandoned, before his stepmother died in a car accident in 2007 while driving his siblings to school.


In the following years, Kaye said, there were numerous attempts made on Barbaro’s life, his brother Rossario died by suicide and brother Pasquale was murdered.

Kaye said Barbaro had told a psychologist he recalled waking to Price attacking him and acted in self-defence, a version of events Kaye said the jury verdict rejected.

With time already served, Barbaro will be eligible for parole in 17½ years.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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