Prof/Dr Sergi, Welcome back!

[CabriniGreen]

Hello Dr. Sergi! Longtime admirer of your work.

Now all the researchers can ask you questions direct...should make for some fascinating reading...

[antimafia]

I’ll work on digging up where the Sydney Tripodi and their Melbourne cousins hail from. A colleague of mine named Paulie pointed out an interesting link to recently.
At the 1957 meeting of ‘ndranghetisti in Brunswick, Melbourne, one of the attendees arrested by police was one Nazzaereno Di Pietro, born 03/04/1927 in Lubrichi, R.C. He is the father of Antonio Di Pietro, the latest alleged head of the Melbourne-based Barbaro/Madaferri ‘ndrine. As I understand, Lubrichi is quite close to Oppido Mamertina, birthplace of the Melbourne Madaferri brothers. It seems to illustrate your point about location.

Steven,

In the past, you and I have had a limited discussion on TBHF (the current forum and a previous incarnation) and in the defunct RealDeal about connections between the Canadian-based and Australian-based 'ndrangheta groups. Reading through the various current TBHF threads about Australian OC, some of the more observant posters notice some of the Calabrian Australians' surnames that are also borne by Calabrian-Canadian men who had been involved in organized crime: Luppino, Papalia, Musitano. The newspaper obituaries for the Ontario-based Giacomo Luppino, John Papalia, and Dominic Musitano Sr. all mentioned relatives in Australia.

Now that Dr. Sergi is here, I want to know whether either of you have come across any information about any ties between the Madafferi brothers and Canadian-based organized-crime members with ancestry specifically from Oppido Mamertina or from Castellace, a territorial subdivision within Oppido Mamertina.

From the July 2009 obituary for Vincenzo Luppino ("Jimmy"), the son of Giacomo Luppino of Hamilton, Ontario:

Dear brother and brother-in- law of [snip] Letizia and Domenico Morrizzi (Australia)....

[snip]

He will be sadly missed by numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews in Canada, Italy, U.S.A. and Australia.
________________

From the the August 2012 obituary for Rosella Bellavia, a daughter of the aforementioned Jimmy Luppino:

BELLAVIA, Rosa Maria (Rosella) (nee Luppino)

[snip]

Rosella will be sadly missed by numerous loving uncles, aunts and cousins in Canada, Italy, USA and Australia.
________________

From "Tapes identify Mafia members, RCMP says"
PETER MOON. The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ont.:Aug 18, 1982. p. P.4:

On May 26, Mike Racco received a call from his brother, Joe, who told him a man called Pasquale Polestina had called him in Toronto from Australia. "He told me that he heard that his nephew had some problems with me and that I was going after him and this and that. And he said for me to leave him alone because he's responsible for his nephew, and for me to talk to Giacomo Luppino and for Giacomo Luppino to phone him back." Mike Racco said he would pass the message on to Mr. Luppino and did so by phone later that day. (Insp. Chiarot testified last month that, in his opinion, Mr. Luppino is the head of the N'Drina in Hamilton.) Mr. Polestina emigrated from Italy to Australia in 1949 and was "suspected of being (a) prominent figure in an Italian criminal society in (New South Wales)," a memo in the court exhibit said.
________________

The murdered Carmine Verduci of the Greater Toronto Area, who was born in Oppido Mamertina (DOB: May 12, 1957), was a diabetic who, when he found himself in his hometown, also spent time in a hospital because of his condition. Shortly after his murder, I learned of a rumour that he had previously checked into a psychiatric hopsital (but I don't know where).

[B.]

Welcome. Your unique contributions to this subject are greatly appreciated.

[chin_gigante]

Welcome to the forum, your expertise and input will be hugely beneficial to the discussion

[AustraliaSteve]

I’ll work on digging up where the Sydney Tripodi and their Melbourne cousins hail from. A colleague of mine named Paulie pointed out an interesting link to recently.
At the 1957 meeting of ‘ndranghetisti in Brunswick, Melbourne, one of the attendees arrested by police was one Nazzaereno Di Pietro, born 03/04/1927 in Lubrichi, R.C. He is the father of Antonio Di Pietro, the latest alleged head of the Melbourne-based Barbaro/Madaferri ‘ndrine. As I understand, Lubrichi is quite close to Oppido Mamertina, birthplace of the Melbourne Madaferri brothers. It seems to illustrate your point about location.

Steven,

In the past, you and I have had a limited discussion on TBHF (the current forum and a previous incarnation) and in the defunct RealDeal about connections between the Canadian-based and Australian-based 'ndrangheta groups. Reading through the various current TBHF threads about Australian OC, some of the more observant posters notice some of the Calabrian Australians' surnames that are also borne by Calabrian-Canadian men who had been involved in organized crime: Luppino, Papalia, Musitano. The newspaper obituaries for the Ontario-based Giacomo Luppino, John Papalia, and Dominic Musitano Sr. all mentioned relatives in Australia.

Now that Dr. Sergi is here, I want to know whether either of you have come across any information about any ties between the Madafferi brothers and Canadian-based organized-crime members with ancestry specifically from Oppido Mamertina or from Castellace, a territorial subdivision within Oppido Mamertina.

From the July 2009 obituary for Vincenzo Luppino ("Jimmy"), the son of Giacomo Luppino of Hamilton, Ontario:

Dear brother and brother-in- law of [snip] Letizia and Domenico Morrizzi (Australia)....

[snip]

He will be sadly missed by numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews in Canada, Italy, U.S.A. and Australia.
________________

From the the August 2012 obituary for Rosella Bellavia, a daughter of the aforementioned Jimmy Luppino:

BELLAVIA, Rosa Maria (Rosella) (nee Luppino)

[snip]

Rosella will be sadly missed by numerous loving uncles, aunts and cousins in Canada, Italy, USA and Australia.
________________

From "Tapes identify Mafia members, RCMP says"
PETER MOON. The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ont.:Aug 18, 1982. p. P.4:

On May 26, Mike Racco received a call from his brother, Joe, who told him a man called Pasquale Polestina had called him in Toronto from Australia. "He told me that he heard that his nephew had some problems with me and that I was going after him and this and that. And he said for me to leave him alone because he's responsible for his nephew, and for me to talk to Giacomo Luppino and for Giacomo Luppino to phone him back." Mike Racco said he would pass the message on to Mr. Luppino and did so by phone later that day. (Insp. Chiarot testified last month that, in his opinion, Mr. Luppino is the head of the N'Drina in Hamilton.) Mr. Polestina emigrated from Italy to Australia in 1949 and was "suspected of being (a) prominent figure in an Italian criminal society in (New South Wales)," a memo in the court exhibit said.
________________

The murdered Carmine Verduci of the Greater Toronto Area, who was born in Oppido Mamertina (DOB: May 12, 1957), was a diabetic who, when he found himself in his hometown, also spent time in a hospital because of his condition. Shortly after his murder, I learned of a rumour that he had previously checked into a psychiatric hopsital (but I don't know where).

Hey anti,
I will consult some notes, but off the top of my head all that really springs to mind is the series of meetings Tony Madafferi had with mafia figures in Perth when he was passing on the reins of the Melbourne ‘ndrina to Antonino Di Pietro and Madafferi’s son. This series of meetings signify that they were concerned with ensuring that Western Australian groups were kept informed on the matter, and it’s the Western Australian groups that maintain the most significant links to Canada.

It’s something perhaps Anna could shed more light on given her more global focus of ‘ndrangheta.

As an aside, i remember being surprised when I learned that Polestina was able to reach out to Luppino himself. And I recall reading about the 1990 meeting in Ardore between Australian and Canadian mobsters, as well as the 2009 meeting that tied Australia to Siderno Group members.

Sorry I don’t know anything more solid atm.

[ANNAESSE]

Yes, the 1991 meeting in Ardore had Domenic Sergi from Griffith and 2 guys (not relevant as surnames) from Canada. The link was made between the main clans in Canada (Siderno-based) and the main ones in Australia (Platì-based), because the others (including the Oppido Mamertina ones in both Australia and Canada) were attached to Siderno in Canada and to Platì in Australia. There are Luppinos (see Diego) in Melbourne who are close associates with Madafferi (Tony) and there are indeed needs for Tony M. in Australia to keep the Siderno-Perth side informed of any changes in Victoria/NSW. The equilibrium is still the same. Canada rules via Siderno (and everyone gets attached to it, ndrangheta wise) and Australia rules via Platì in most of its territory (with everyone attached to them) with a niche of Siderno for what concerns the drugs (in WA and SA)

[AustraliaSteve]

It’s wild to me that in the 1980’s Danny Luppino was able to sort a problem for a relative in Canada, literally decades before these links were really understood.

There’s some hubris on his part when Danny and his son Dom sat for interviews on a book detailing how their market’s controlled a 25% share of the Melbourne market economy. It was a few years after that he was publicly named as a senior member with close links to Tony Madafferi. Definitely coloured the interviews with a different context.

The equilibrium is still the same. Canada rules via Siderno (and everyone gets attached to it, ndrangheta wise) and Australia rules via Platì in most of its territory (with everyone attached to them) with a niche of Siderno for what concerns the drugs (in WA and SA)

Can you expand on this a little? I understand that Australia has always had a Plati-centric approach to understanding ‘ndrangheta, but that leads to seminal books like “Evil Life” by Small and Gilling completely glossing over the Alvaro clan and presumably forced into using pseudonyms to describe WA activities, such as the 2009 wiretaps that indicated Domenic Italiano was engaged in drug trafficking with Alan Macri, Angelo and Dan Rossi and Cameron Barnes. They also completely gloss over the long history of Italiano, Carbone and Madafferi families in the Bunbury/Brunswick/Harvey/Wokalup area in WA, including zero mention of the double murder Pasquale Italiano committed in 1991; wouldn’t some context to this add to our understanding of mafia politics in Australia?

Furthermore, I was flicking through “Chasing the Mafia” the other night… is one of the families you reference in WA the Italiano? I’ll admit I’m still stumped when I think about which other family you might be talking about, if it’s not the Strangio…also understand if legal constraints mean you feel you can’t go into deeper detail here.

[ANNAESSE]

Siderno and San Luca (thus Macri/Commisso/Figliomeni etc + Strangio/Vottari/Pizzata etc) are the solid connection for drug trade today into and from WA. However, San Luca and Platì in Australia overall have always been intermarried and therefore participated (probably still do) to the drug jobs too. The Italiano-Alvaro-Madafferi are separate, always have been and intermarried usually with San Luca/Platì and others in the hinterland, less so with Siderno but in WA, for reasons of proximity the drug trade brings various people together, whereby instead of running the structure like usual (surname first, location second) they run it the other way around (location first - that is if you are Calabrian you are good - and proximity later). You probably do yourself a favour if you think of this as interconnecting circles, never-ending and not full circle either.

Evil life is a great book but contains some contextual/interpretative mistakes as well, including the number of active families, which is wrong.

[Eline2015]

How many locali today in Australia?

[AustraliaSteve]

Look, the traditional estimates have always been six to nine locali around the country. I wonder if that’s still correct, given the way the clans have evolved in Australia.

[AustraliaSteve]

According to an ABCI report from 1981, Australia was divided into six districts; the report named the heads of the divisions too. I can dig it up from my notes if you’d like the names.
One would think that in the 40+ years since that report, there are some new names and faces in the upper echelons; such as Tony Di Pietro for example.

[Eline2015]

According to an ABCI report from 1981, Australia was divided into six districts; the report named the heads of the divisions too. I can dig it up from my notes if you’d like the names.
One would think that in the 40+ years since that report, there are some new names and faces in the upper echelons; such as Tony Di Pietro for example.

Yes, please. I would to know the names of capi locali

[AustraliaSteve]

Sure;
According to the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence, the six bosses were as follows;
Domenico Alvaro, Pasquale Alvaro and Giuseppe Alvaro led Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide respectively.
Guiseppe Carbone was also recognised as a boss in South Australia, Pietro Callipari in Griffith and Pasquale Barbaro in Melbourne.

Since that 1981 report however, there has been some changes. Following the death of Pete Callipari, Domenico “Little Mick” Sergi seems to have become the point man for Griffith for a time, but I believe he died relatively recent as well. The same source names Antonio “Young Tony”’Sergi as a power player, but a source indicates that Young Tony is currently in very poor health and that Antonio “Tony Cat” Catanzariti is currently the power in Griffith following the arrests of Pat “Garbo” Barbaro and Sam Zerilli.

In Canberra, there was a time by the early 90s when Pasquale “Il Principale” Barbaro was running Canberra, largely due to this connections to Griffith mostly managed by his brothers Antonio and Rocco. He would record a series of interviews with the Queensland Police that were passed onto the National Crime Authority, which made him the highest ranking pentiti Australia ever had on record.

There’s some overlap too, because the report named Garbo as the Melbourne boss, but by the 2000s I am unsure if Tony Madafferi was reporting to him. I tend to view Madafferi as a leader himself in Melbourne, a veteran of the Market Wars and a fixture for decades. Recent reports have indicated he has installed his son Francesco and Antonio Di Pietro aka Elvis as deputy leaders while he winds back into semi-retirement

Note that the report completely neglects to mention Western Australia; I would imagine at this time an the Italiano family would have been the major force. By the late 2000s however, evidence recorded on a wiretap indicated that Tony Vallelonga, the Mayot of Stirling, was running a locale in Perth.

I think, however, that this report was still focused on a US model of id, looking for “bosses”. It completely ignores families like the Medici, Perre and Romeo, among a litany of others. I can’t see Bruno “The Fox” Romeo reporting to any one. I think the report was made before the dynamic nature of shifting alliances and short-term business dealings was properly understood.

[AustraliaSteve]

The Alvaro clan might be one of the most successful in Australia. Besides some tax dodging in the 80s, their only real issues have been some very recent drug charges. They have diversified into property development, construction, the economic sector and run a law firm.
The Carbone family has famously moved into politics with Frank becoming the mayor of Fairfield, aka New Plati.

[Eline2015]

The Alvaro clan might be one of the most successful in Australia. Besides some tax dodging in the 80s, their only real issues have been some very recent drug charges. They have diversified into property development, construction, the economic sector and run a law firm.
The Carbone family has famously moved into politics with Frank becoming the mayor of Fairfield, aka New Plati.

Thanks for info. Let's get something straight. Called a clan, are you mean a ndrina, not a Locale right?