Post by ~Snaps~ on Jul 4, 2005 10:21:57 GMT -5
MAJOR Melbourne mafia figure and car bomb murder suspect Domenico Italiano has died only hours after being freed from jail.
Homicide squad detectives believe Italiano, who died on Saturday, was probably involved in the 1998 killing of mechanic John Furlan.
Sources said that Furlan, 48, may have had inside knowledge that Italiano rigged a children's charity raffle.
Furlan died when his Subaru Liberty exploded in a fireball near his Coburg home as he was driving to work.
Italiano, 50, was well connected in the world of Italian organised crime.
His grandfather -- also named Domenico Italiano -- was Victoria's first mafia godfather.
It was the deaths of Domenico "The Pope" Italiano and his deputy, Antonio "The Toad" Barbara, that sparked the Melbourne market shootings of 1963-64.
Prominent gangsters Vincenzo Muratore and Vincenzo Angilletta died during the power struggle to fill the void.
Liborio Benvenuto, who died in 1988, eventually won the bloody battle to take over as godfather of the secret society.
Like his grandfather, Italiano died of natural causes.
Italiano was jailed for four years in December 2003 after being found guilty of theft, obtaining money by false pretences and obtaining property by deception.
He was granted bail and released from jail on Friday after winning his appeal earlier that day in the Supreme Court and being granted a retrial.
He died at his Melbourne home on Saturday.
A death notice in the Herald Sun suggested he had heart problems.
Italiano became a suspect in the Furlan murder after police bugs recorded his involvement in rigging a children's charity raffle.
A police source said that Furlan might have been murdered because he knew about the fraud.
"It's possible Mr Furlan found out about the rigged raffles and Italiano feared he was going to report him," the source said.
"Italiano was questioned about the murder, but denied it.
"He was never eliminated from the homicide inquiry and was still a strong suspect at the time of his death."
Homicide squad detectives investigated Italiano, who rented a Coburg car yard from Furlan, after rumours swept the car industry.
It was during a homicide squad telephone bugging operation that Italiano was recorded discussing the rigged raffles.
He pleaded guilty in 2002 to rigging the Youth Motor Sport Foundation raffles and spent about six months in jail.
The County Court was told prizes such as luxury cars were sold at discounted prices to friends and relatives.
Italiano was related to several notorious Melbourne mafia identities.
His grandfather, "The Pope", was the leader of the Calabrian crime syndicate for years before he died in 1962.
His uncle, Michele Scriva, committed Melbourne's first known mafia hit by stabbing Giuseppe "Fat Joe" Versace 91 times in 1945, and was later sentenced to death over another murder, but it was commuted to a long prison term.
And his cousin, mafia lawyer Gaetano "Tom" Scriva, was a friend of the Benvenuto mafia family.
Scriva, 55, raised more than $6 million in dodgy deals in the months before he died of natural causes in 2000 -- with much of the money never recovered.
Courtesy: www.heraldsun.news.com.au
Homicide squad detectives believe Italiano, who died on Saturday, was probably involved in the 1998 killing of mechanic John Furlan.
Sources said that Furlan, 48, may have had inside knowledge that Italiano rigged a children's charity raffle.
Furlan died when his Subaru Liberty exploded in a fireball near his Coburg home as he was driving to work.
Italiano, 50, was well connected in the world of Italian organised crime.
His grandfather -- also named Domenico Italiano -- was Victoria's first mafia godfather.
It was the deaths of Domenico "The Pope" Italiano and his deputy, Antonio "The Toad" Barbara, that sparked the Melbourne market shootings of 1963-64.
Prominent gangsters Vincenzo Muratore and Vincenzo Angilletta died during the power struggle to fill the void.
Liborio Benvenuto, who died in 1988, eventually won the bloody battle to take over as godfather of the secret society.
Like his grandfather, Italiano died of natural causes.
Italiano was jailed for four years in December 2003 after being found guilty of theft, obtaining money by false pretences and obtaining property by deception.
He was granted bail and released from jail on Friday after winning his appeal earlier that day in the Supreme Court and being granted a retrial.
He died at his Melbourne home on Saturday.
A death notice in the Herald Sun suggested he had heart problems.
Italiano became a suspect in the Furlan murder after police bugs recorded his involvement in rigging a children's charity raffle.
A police source said that Furlan might have been murdered because he knew about the fraud.
"It's possible Mr Furlan found out about the rigged raffles and Italiano feared he was going to report him," the source said.
"Italiano was questioned about the murder, but denied it.
"He was never eliminated from the homicide inquiry and was still a strong suspect at the time of his death."
Homicide squad detectives investigated Italiano, who rented a Coburg car yard from Furlan, after rumours swept the car industry.
It was during a homicide squad telephone bugging operation that Italiano was recorded discussing the rigged raffles.
He pleaded guilty in 2002 to rigging the Youth Motor Sport Foundation raffles and spent about six months in jail.
The County Court was told prizes such as luxury cars were sold at discounted prices to friends and relatives.
Italiano was related to several notorious Melbourne mafia identities.
His grandfather, "The Pope", was the leader of the Calabrian crime syndicate for years before he died in 1962.
His uncle, Michele Scriva, committed Melbourne's first known mafia hit by stabbing Giuseppe "Fat Joe" Versace 91 times in 1945, and was later sentenced to death over another murder, but it was commuted to a long prison term.
And his cousin, mafia lawyer Gaetano "Tom" Scriva, was a friend of the Benvenuto mafia family.
Scriva, 55, raised more than $6 million in dodgy deals in the months before he died of natural causes in 2000 -- with much of the money never recovered.
Courtesy: www.heraldsun.news.com.au
