From 'grass castles' to Underbelly

[Oz]

THIRTY years ago the words "murdered Griffith anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay" repeated on the nightly news bulletins signalled the emergence of a secret network of violent organised crime in Australia.

 

Mackay, whose body has never been found, disappeared from the rural NSW town after making a nuisance of himself in the eyes of the local drug kingpins.

 

Middle Australia, fresh from seeing the Italian mafia portrayed on the big screen in the Godfather films, found the drama playing out for real in their own backyards.

 

Sparked by Mackay’s disappearance, the $3 million Woodward Royal Commission trawled through 1000 witnesses in an exhaustive two-year investigation into local drug trafficking.

 

The 2000-page report tabled to the NSW State Parliament in November 1979 uncovered evidence of a secret group known as the “Honoured Society” or 'Ndrangheta, with roots in Calabria in southern Italy transplanted Down Under.

 

Justice Philip Woodward accused society members – including drugs boss Robert Trimbole - of abducting and then “disposing of” the 43-year-old furniture dealer Mackay.

 

The report found between 1974 and 1977 the marijuana industry had been organised almost exclusively by people of Calabrian descent, many of whom lived in palatial houses in Griffith known as “grass castles” while nominally working in the fruit and vegetable trade.

 

The organisation mixed the illegal gains with legitimate businesses to launder the money in the form of company structures, loans, purported partnerships, inheritances, gambling wins and cash payments to tradesmen.

 

He also identified police corruption and recommended a shake-up of operations to bust the syndicates.

 

Despite arrests and renewed police efforts, in 2008 all that seems to have changed is the drugs – with cocaine and ecstasy the shipments of choice.

 

This week it was revealed the Italians, Dutch and Chinese had joined forces to flood Australia with millions of pills and generating vast profits.

 

The extensive network of Italian contacts has helped keep the smuggling secret.

 

With roots possibly stretching as far back as the 11th century it is perhaps no surprise to find the Honoured Society still active in the 21st, despite modern policing.

 

The organisation from Calabria - on the tip of Italy’s geographical “boot” - is distinct from other crime syndicates in Sicily and the Neopolitan Camorra.

 

It operates on a system of largely rural cells or “families” where blood ties and loyalties make prosecution extremely difficult.

 

Waves of migration from the home country have allowed the historic structures to cross borders from Europe to South America, Canada and Australia.

 

With the activities of the 'Ndrangheta seemingly dormant for so long, the underworld for many Australians is that depicted in the top-rating series Underbelly dramatising the Melbourne gangland war.

 

The drama features murdered 'Ndrangheta godfather Frank Benvenuto and money man Mario Condello, a reminder that for the mafia - wherever they are - business still means a killing.

Author: Will Temple

Date: 11/04/08

Source: SMH

Copyright: Copyright 2008 News Limited.

[RobbieGanjaSeed]

And just when was the last time in this country we ever saw these guys at any level investigated? frankly I don't care, but in just one sense. Decriminalisation will never come while politicians are involved in drug smuggling. Everyone here knows the price is up only while the penalties are, and for every bust you ever read in the paper, on the web, heard in your area, when was the last one involving genuine organised crime? Can the local pizza shop boys keep the laws in their favour, grape growers or vegetable sellers? They keep politicians in their pockets and are left alone by the police ...they get the profits while we get the hangman's noose, sacraficed on the alter of "crime fighting" .

 

The coupling of politics and orgainsed crime in this country is staggering, just as it was in griffith when Mackay (himself a fool and a drunk) was murdered for saying nothing more than I am now. makes ya think for a second hey.

 

The first and most important finding of the crime in politics in queensland which saw an entire parliment of national party mugs guilty of every crime imaginable was to de-criminalise pot. Fitzgerald said in his exhaustive report that crime will never be seperated from politics and police whilever lucrative drugs are being smuggled intot he country. His emphatic belief to curb this behavior was the immediate decriminalisation of marijuana. Number one priority on the most expensive and in depth view into corruption in public officials this ocuntry has likely ever seen, and 20 years later it is still totally ignored! Among other findings of fitzgerald was the legalisation of prostituion. I've been familair with Queensland most of my life and for this state to accept prostitution over pot decriminalisation is amazing. just another feather int he cap of the people who play us.

 

Mackay was last seen at the pub in griffith, on his way home to baby sit his children while his misses went out. First he stopped at the pub to get tanked, and to drive home more than likely over the limit, and with an arm full of piss. Of course he never made it home for making statements like these, such as "who is protecting the mafia?" public.

 

Why was it when we had Joe running this state, allowing the cops unrestricted anything , did we believe "when the labor party returns we will have drug law changes", we were convinced, it was just amatter of geting labor back in, and they played on it. LAbor gave us that inclination, and yet since they now have run this stae for 20 years, no chance of being unseated, we have no better laws than bepfre. Indeed, much, much worse. What's the constant? it's not the governement, nor public perception. But still we hear nothing of organised crime being stopped or even looked into. Someone's pulling the strings, and you just ave to ask .."who benifits" from the laws being this way?

 

the whole situation is a comdey that just isnt funny.

 

rob

[mullray]

I kind of totally don't get what this story is about..... Is the journo pretending to be intelligent or am I thick

 

Yep, cops are corrupt. They were then and they are now. Orgnaised crime own the cops!! No........ could this be??

 

I don't know the whole mafia thing sort of smells a bit fishy. I liked how they announced the Mafia were sending in loads of drugs with Dutch connections and they were awaiting massive shipments (the Aus cops that is). So, the part I don't get bout that is if this was true why would the cops be announcing their intelligence in the media before the drugs land thereby forewarning criminals that they are being watched ...

 

They busted 70 mill (roughly translated in real terms about 5 mill) worth of drugs in Perth recently from a plane that landed at a local airstrip. In stead of watching where the drugs went they intercepted the mule. That made no sense. Here was a real opportunity to arrest organised crime figures who live in Perth but they tipped them off by busting the plane as it landed. Go figure. Who were the cops protecting???

[RobbieGanjaSeed]

Mullray I mightbe wrong, but I'll give my take on it anyway.

 

Police and p[oliticians are corrupt and help different criminal enterprises by at the very least, turning a "blind eye". that is, when someone makes a report, they're told it's already under investigation, and is being allowed to continue for reasons that facilitate a greater success.

 

But in truth, they do everything from rushing certain thibngs through customs (customs corruption), refuse to follow public information (police corruption) and everything from altering laws to fronting cash (politician corruption).

 

Periodically something goes wrong. A member of the public for example isn't impressed withthe sgt of police assuring him that regardless of whathe sees every night at work at the docks, the police are aaware of it and watching, just waiting to make their move.

 

Or someone reports something through channels that haven't been bribed, and so have to act.

 

this can result in a number of different responses, and I suppose it depends on how involved the corrupt public officials are who are involved. I mean how much dirt can be traced back to them.

 

If the operation they're covering is a bust and they can do nothing about it, they arrest the "mule", making headlines of a job welldone, while writing off this months paycheck, for the greater good of the operation continuing, just aware of a new way needed from now on.

Secondly, a person who isn't an organised criminal, someone who has lived int he crime world a long time, has money and can get things done...but isnt a part of the racketeers. This bloke is a threat. he can bring heat on the whole operation by being sloppy, by having no cover from police and subsequently be brought undone by any lowly counstable who gets lucky, in turn putting pressure on all such operations int he area. Or worse still, be doing such a great job, he's actually flooding the market, making the guys who have paid millions in quiet money go backwards by the retail cost of the drugs being reduced from a over-supply. This man has to go.

 

these are the people that we see on Tv periodically who we're told are "the biggest score of ilegal drugs in Aus histroy..bla bla bla..". But in my timem here in Aus, these have never been tracd back to organised crime, in the true sense of the word. i dont mean overzealous individuals or small groups, going for a big score. i mean organised business structured criminal syndicates who operate yearin, year out without so much as the public even believeing they exist.

 

I believe these are the peiople (including the cops and other officials who protect them) who entice politicians to continue the increased penalties against drugs. this reduces competition by people being too afraid to go too big and flood the market, and of course inflate the price through the old mathematic equation of heavier penalties = more expense gear.

Of course, seeing as the guys who are making the real $$ are not really in danger, they have no fear of polie to encourage increase prices, but the general fear is "out there' and they can justify it.

 

The cops could also be tipped off by a rival mob, say a genuine mobster is importing gearfrom Holland (assuming the article is true), and buys X amount every month. Then one day he is told by the bloke he buys from, that someone has come along un-invited and forced him to sell a large deal of gear. The grower is afraid because the amateur could undo a great income, and the mobster is unhappy becuase the profits will drop...so the mobster dobs the guyin with onformation gleaned by the grower in Holland, new Guinea, Africa..where-ever..

 

Maybe I'm too cynical. but in all my time here, I've read article after article of the major crime squads being aware of heroin imprters in Melbourne, who like clockwork import insane amounts of gear. Yet in all that time, I hear only of the occassional drop man being busted. Often an illegal immigrant doing it to make ends meet.

 

Anyway, that's how I see it. And truely, it's only a guess from years of pondering. I have no evidences.

 

cheers

rob

[mullray]

I wish you were wrong but I think you are right. Gads.....

 

I'm against the drug war but what I'm more against is organised crime (Mafia, Russian Mob and bikies etc) and it shits me that they go untouched while the little guy gets busted and makes headlines. The whole drug war is a sham and now these guys have so much cash they can pretty much run the country.

[brick]

I wish you were wrong but I think you are right. Gads.....

 

I'm against the drug war but what I'm more against is organised crime (Mafia, Russian Mob and bikies etc) and it shits me that they go untouched while the little guy gets busted and makes headlines. The whole drug war is a sham and now these guys have so much cash they can pretty much run the country.

 

Who is the easier out of the two to bust? Even if there were no corruption the little guy would still be getting it in the neck.

[mullray]

True.

 

Theres a guy in Perth who has no official income but owns half of WA. With all their resources they can't catch him. C'mon.

[mrsmokey1]

i know of a certain family from griffith who now r into grapes and wine but guess how they made all tha money?

and tha cops know about them but prob got kik baks but these guys i wud say controlled most of the weed going bak a few years who knows what they up 2 but BIGG players but im not saying the name haha.

 

the small go down and the big rule the roost its always tha way.