THE BLACK HAND FORUM

Also, the DT would confirm today that the Versace murder, a botched attempt on another bloke, was indeed Westie bullshit. I called it.
Hope they get some answer for the family.

Confirmed that the Pat Agresta who just died was Winery Tony’s BIL, specifically married to his sister Domenica. He was a pretty big part of the Griffith scene for a while, and his nephews and cousins across Melbourne and Adelaide have been into a heap of shit. One of his second cousins (or his cousin’s grandson? Whatever) was named in Ironside.

How’s this for irony, apparently Pat Agresta’s daughter is the current owner of the furniture store that once belonged to Don Mackay I know she had worked there for a period after the business had changed hands a few times. But yeah, the Griffith Institution remains part of the social fabric of the Riverina, whether the Calabrian population there wish to admit it or not.

calabrianwatch wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 5:36 am https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-20/ ... /105316554

VIDEO: Man shot dead outside family home has 'no criminal links'
23-year-old John Versace was shot dead in the driveway of his family's Western Sydney home.

Something doesn't seem right in this one....

Tryna get Mark Morri to confrim anything re. The supposed OC bloke down the road, but he can be a real pain to get a hold of compared to Melbourne and Adelaide journos, but I’m still not sure if this is anything more than Western Sydney fuckery, the young Italian blokes all rep ‘chero now as well, more and more I’m finding it’s only the older blokes in the suburbs who still take a more “traditional” affect, if that’s the right word?

But yeah, hopefully he actually gets back

scagghiuni wrote: ↑Thu May 22, 2025 3:49 am

motorfab wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 3:41 am There are more mafia-related cases in Australia in one month than there have been in the United States in 10 years (or more).

Thanks for the updates, Steve.

I think there have been more indictments in the United States

This is accurate, lol. More cases, waaay less actual charges and/or convictions in Australia, it seems. No RICO Act, no DDA antimafia-style laws, the closest we had were the VLAD Laws in Queensland. That was supposed to catch bikers, but was repealed in 2016. There was a pretty sad/comical case were a handful of aging bikies were arrested and charged for stopping to enjoy an icecream together in their club colours

Anyway, I can’t take credit for the catches, it was a mutual mate of Fabien and I that actually pointed it out to me, but a couple of the Agresta brothers (cousins?) have passed away this year; I’m just waiting on proper confirmation on both, but it seems one was one of Winery Tony’s six brothers-in-law (brother-in-laws? In-laws?)

Anyway, the Agresta family has been in pretty deep for some decades; remember Sal Agresta only recently got bailed on his charges, basically because he took legal advice from Nicola Gobbo at some point during the time he was being investigated (he was in the Garbo’s Tomatoes crew).
Also, it was one Domenico Agresta who turned pentito and said his family were big with two localí in Australia in 2017.

Anyway, these guys were like. The 1970s-1990s equivalent (that’s when they were in their “heyday”. These guy were from the generation that were still literally growing weed on their hobby farm blocks.

motorfab wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 3:41 am There are more mafia-related cases in Australia in one month than there have been in the United States in 10 years (or more).

Thanks for the updates, Steve.

I think there have been more indictments in the United States

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-20/ ... /105316554

VIDEO: Man shot dead outside family home has 'no criminal links'
23-year-old John Versace was shot dead in the driveway of his family's Western Sydney home.

Something doesn't seem right in this one....

Shooter wanted to kill crime figure down the road not plumber: cops

An organised crime figure who lives in the same street as a hard-working young plumber executed on the doorstep of his parents’ home may have been the intended target of the point blank killing, police believe.

Mark Morri
and
Clementine Cuneo
2 min read
May 20, 2025 - 7:53PM
An organised crime figure who lives in the same street as a hard-working young plumber executed on the doorstep of his parents’ home, may have been the intended target of the point blank killing, police believe.

Moments after John Versace, 23, was shot dead in the driveway of his family’s Condell Park home on Monday night, members of the underworld raced to the street, fearing one of their own had been hit.


A gunman is on the run after a man in his 20s was shot dead in Sydney’s southwest. A burnt out car was found nearby, with police probing links to the city’s underworld.
Instead, they were confronted by harrowing scenes as the parents and older sister’s of Mr Versace — who police said has no criminal links and just a minor traffic matter to his name — crouched over his body and screaming for help.

The tradesman, who worked for his father’s western Sydney plumbing company, had reversed his ute into the driveway of the Dalton Ave home, just before 10.30pm, when a masked killer ran towards him carrying a small glock-style handgun.

John Versace was fatally shot in Condell Park. Picture: Facebook
John Versace was fatally shot in Condell Park. Picture: Facebook
Superintendent Rodney Hart described the ambush on Mr Versace as a “brutal and violent execution-style murder”.

Detailed CCTV from neighbouring houses showed a silver Toyota Corolla hatchback pull up across the driveway, and a male jump from the backseat and walk towards Mr Versace, who spotted the gunman coming at him and backed up against the garage door.

“At very close proximity to the victim, he (the gunman) opened fire, we believe fired up to 10 bullets at the victim,” Supt Hart said.

“We believe that the victim suffered at least four gunshot wounds. He slumped to the ground out the front of his home and the offender returned to the hatchback and the car was last seen travelling eastbound on Dalton Street”.

Mr Versace died at the scene despite the efforts of paramedics who worked to save him.

Supt Hart said although Mr Versace and his relatives had no known links to criminal organisations, his killing had the “hallmarks of a targeted execution”.

“It’s very brutal, very distressing,” Supt Hart said.

Police at the crime scene at Dalton Ave in Condell Park. Picture: Rohan Kelly
Police at the crime scene at Dalton Ave in Condell Park. Picture: Rohan Kelly
The Daily Telegraph can reveal police are probing whether the intended target of the killing was an organised crime figure who lives close to Mr Versace, and also if it is linked to a brazen drive-by shooting in Mount Druitt almost a fortnight ago.

At the Versace home on Tuesday, dozens of friends arrived to console the family while forensic specialist police combed the street for more clues or witnesses.


Older sister Bianca said Mr Versace was the family’s “pride and joy”.

“Our baby...the most innocent boy in the world...We’re going to miss that smile that lit up every room,” his sister Bianca Versace wrote on social media.

The victim was not known to police. Picture: Rohan Kelly
The victim was not known to police. Picture: Rohan Kelly
Another sister, Deanna Versace, described him as the “world’s greatest brother”.

“We are absolutely heartbroken to announce the passing of my beautiful baby brother,” Deanna said.

“You were the world’s greatest brother, son, grandson, cousin and friend. You did not deserve this...our angel forever. This world wasn’t good enough for you. Life will never be the same”.

About 20 minutes after the shooting, a car was found alight in Fairfield East, which police believe was the getaway car.

Superintendent Rodney Hart. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer
Superintendent Rodney Hart. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer
Inside the vehicle, Supt Hart said a handgun was found which police believe was the murder weapon.

Strike Force Harkstede, which is led by homicide squad detectives, has been set up to investigate Mr Versace’s murder.

“Many, many detectives are working on it as we speak, and we will do our very best to bring justice to his family,” Supt Hart said.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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‘Shot at 10 times’: Cops probe ‘execution-style’ hit in Sydney
Police & Courts
‘Shot at 10 times’: Cops probe ‘execution-style’ hit in Sydney
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Nah no prob fellas. We all here for the same general thing, and I get plenty out of your Substack and podcasts, B, and I follow your blog for the awesome articles, Fab.

Btw another hit on Western Sydney this morning. Calabrian name but possibly the wrong guy: another bloke with OC links lived nearby. Not sure about this yet, if it’s anything ‘ndrangheta or just usual Western Sydney bullshit.
Stand by for the article.

Yes, thank you for covering this stuff, Steve. Fascinating what's going on there.

There are more mafia-related cases in Australia in one month than there have been in the United States in 10 years (or more).

Thanks for the updates, Steve.

Saw this in passing this morning; this property is actually still owned by the daughters of Rocky Pantaleo (who died about 15 years back). It’s the biggest single space in that whole mall.

Also, it sounds like VicPol would rather drop charges against Crupi than release 600 redacted pages out of the investigative files that would ID a CI.

Hm. There’s another bloke I think might be getting out and being sent back to Calabria at some point lmao

The thing is, all these particular VicPol cases from the last 20 years have basically got Gobbo’s grubby hands all over them, and now the public are wary of anything tainted by her.

Damn, those 600 pages…man, that’d make for some interesting reading. I mean, they brought the charge against Vince Crupi, he got bailed in ‘21, so he did some time over it regardless. The guy’s 75.

But with the Gobbo stuff going on and VicPol looking like clowns with all that shit, I still firmly believe that part of why Acquaro was shot was because Frank found out an Italian lawyer they all knew was a double agent. All the other stuff can be true at the same time, but the timing of the Lawyer X break and the murder were just too coincidental. Plus he was talking to the cops about at least one bloke so maybe Lawyer X was just the proverbial straw?

Crupi must be cheering, but I wonder who the snitch was then??
Lawyer X and Informer Z lmao. No doubt “_x_ Y” is a registered CI too.

Crupi just got no-billed and walked out free. Odd case, and VicPol stull refusing to name their informant. Interesting case, keeping an eye…

Murder charge against man accused of killing gangland lawyer dropped
ByMelissa Cunningham and Chris Vedelago
May 5, 2025 — 6.11pm
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Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size
A tradesman accused of shooting gangland lawyer Joseph “Pino” Acquaro outside a gelato shop has walked out of court a free man after a murder charge against him was dropped.

At a brief Supreme Court hearing on Monday, the Office of Public Prosecutions formally abandoned the prosecution of Vincenzo Crupi after years of legal challenges.

Joseph “Pino” Acquaro was gunned down in Brunswick in March 2016.
Joseph “Pino” Acquaro was gunned down in Brunswick in March 2016. CREDIT:PAUL ROVERE
The move to discontinue the murder charge comes after Victoria Police last year won a lengthy High Court battle to protect the identity of an informer in the case, who police claimed would be in danger if their name were revealed.

The Victorian Office of Public Prosecutions did not provide in court a reason for the decision to abandon the case, but said it followed a review by a committee headed by Director of Public Prosecutions Brendan Kissane.

“The case against Vincenzo Crupi for the murder of Joseph Acquaro has been reviewed by the Director’s Committee and a special decision made to discontinue the prosecution,” a statement from the Office of Public Prosecutions said.

“Every prosecution must have reasonable prospects of conviction and be in the public interest.

“This decision followed very careful consideration of the case with respect to these criteria and, as with all matters involving a death, was not arrived at lightly.”

Acquaro, 54, was gunned down outside his East Brunswick gelato shop, Gelobar, in March 2016. The gangland lawyer had represented many members of Melbourne’s underworld, including mafia figures, and had been rumoured to have been a police informant.

Police charged Crupi, who has always maintained his innocence, with the lawyer’s murder in November 2018. He had been set to stand trial in 2019, but the case was indefinitely delayed by several legal challenges over revealing police sources.
For nearly two years, Victoria Police waged battles in the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and the High Court to prevent exposing the informer who provided information used in the investigation.


CREDIT: VINCE CALIGIURI
Victoria Police released a “substantial number of documents” but withheld about 600 pages of extra information, concerned their release could reveal the informer’s identity. Police claimed at the time that the informer faced “a real risk of death” if their identity were made known.

In November 2022, Supreme Court judge Christopher Beale ruled disclosure of the information “is likely to be of substantial assistance to the defence in the conduct of their case” and ordered its release.

In March last year, this masthead reported that the murder prosecution was in doubt, with police prepared to drop the case if they lost a bid to keep the supergrass’s identity a secret. But the High Court ruled in favour of the police and sent the case back to the Supreme Court. The role of the informer in the case has never been known.

Speculation has been rife since Acquaro’s death about his relationship with police and following the exposure of Nicola Gobbo’s double life as a barrister-turned-informer.

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Other court proceedings have heard that Acquaro had “two discrete sets of interactions” with police, in 2008 and 2014. Victoria Police has maintained it rejected formally recruiting Acquaro on both occasions because he was considered to be “unreliable and prone to leaking to the press”.

Acquaro’s interactions with police also become central to the appeals of at least two of his former clients who are serving lengthy jail sentences, reputed Calabrian crime figure Francesco “Frank” Madafferi and drug trafficker Saverio Zirilli.

A hearing was told Acquaro’s actions in 2014 “may be of substantial assistance to Madafferi in his appeal”.

The collapse of the murder case comes weeks after drug kingpin Tony Mokbel walked from custody. The underworld figure had made a bid for bail after being locked up for nearly 18 years – overseas and then in Victoria – for drug trafficking, a prosecution that his legal team argues has been hopelessly corrupted by the Lawyer X scandal.

At the hearing on Monday, Crupi’s lawyers flagged that he would seek the legal costs associated with the High Court battle.

ID’d Gattallari brothers. Vince and Joe Gattellari, arrived from Messignadi in the last decade, father Francesco was killed in Calabria on 2011 and they own a restaurant north of Melbourne.
I didn’t know they were also related to the Grillo, but apparently. They are the cousins Dowsley is referring to.

We’ve spoken about them before on the forum, so I feel okay naming them here. I’ll edit if necessary.