Greenvale shooting: FIFO assassin suspected of killing Melbourne greengrocer John Latorre on Mafia orders
Hunt to find greengrocer's killer continues
Sources claim John Latorre gunned down by FIFO assassin

By KYLIE STEVENS FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

PUBLISHED: 22:11 GMT, 17 March 2024 | UPDATED: 10:08 GMT, 18 March 2024

A fly-in, fly-out assassin is suspected to have jetted in from overseas on a Mafia-sanctioned mission to kill a successful greengrocer in a brutal gangland execution.

John Latorre, 64, was gunned down outside his Greenvale home in Melbourne's north as he headed to work early last Tuesday morning.

His family were woken by the gunshots and found his body lying in the driveway. Almost one week later, Mr Latorre's killer still remains at large.

Underworld sources believe the execution was so well planned they believe it had to be '100 per cent' endorsed by the highest levels of mafia leadership.

Mr Latorre is understood to have been a discreet but influential member of the 'Ndrangheta - a powerful Mafia organisation from Calabria, southern Italy.

'This was smooth … cool, calm and calculating,' a source told the Herald Sun.

'This is a professional job. There's not that many people able to pull that off.

'They wouldn't have done it without assurances. It's a big job.'

The source added that many didn't see Mr Latorre's killing coming which he described as a 'huge shock'.

He added that the possibility of retaliatory attacks was unlikely.

Another theory circulating in the underworld is that a bungled 2020 'black flight' cocaine importation bound for Queensland could be a factor behind the murder.

An overloaded Cessna packed with $80million of the drug crashed after takeoff from Papua New Guinea.

Mr Latorre was suspected of playing a key role in the botched importation which left investors with heavy losses.

He was known to visit friend and international drug trafficker Frank Madafferi but did not have a major criminal record.

Mr Latorre was shot multiple times in the driveway of his Buchanan Place home around 4.30am last Tuesday.

He had been heading to work at Melbourne Market in Epping, where he ran a successful fruit and vegetable business.


A source close to Mr Latorre said he had felt no threat on his life prior to his death.

'There was no indication of any threats to his life,' they said last week.

Homicide detectives are still investigating whether the shooting was linked to organised crime.

'There's nothing to suggest retaliation at this point in time,' Detective Senior Sergeant Danny Travaglini told reporters last Tuesday.

'However, you've also got to understand, that if there are links to organised crime, there is the potential for retaliation.'

Homicide detectives have collected CCTV and have narrowed down their investigations to a four-hour window between 2am and 6am in their hunt to track down Mr Latorre's killer.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...eengrocer-John-Latorre-Mafia-orders.html

The hitmen who killed suspected Calabrian mafia figure John Latorre used a motorcycle to stage the execution-style murder.

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HIGH VOLTAGE
'Ndrangheta in Australia and the fear of a new "war": a murder and two restaurants on fire in Melbourne
On the night of April 30, two rooms were set on fire in just a few minutes. In March, however, the ambush against Latorre. In the background "well-known" Calabrian families and common origins

It is still early to define the contours, investigators, as often happens in these latitudes, prefer caution, but what happened in the north-west of Melbourne on the night of 30 April raised more than one alarm bell. And it couldn't be otherwise considering the episodes that were at least unusual: two restaurants set on fire, one just a few minutes apart. The first to catch fire was “La Porchetta” around 2.30 am. The second, however, was the “Negroni 888” .

The restaurant "La Porchetta", for example, is part of a chain born from the entrepreneurial idea of ??the Calabrian Rocco "Rocky" Pantaleo, who died in 2010 in a car accident. As reported by the local press, Pantaleo began his business in the second half of the '80s together with Felice Nania, investing in a place called "La Porchetta", transforming it in a few years into a real chain of franchised places. The news of recent years, as well as the investigative activities, link the brand to that of another family of Calabrian origins - from Messignadi, a hamlet of Oppido Mamertina - who since 2010, through a subsidiary company, have purchased some company shares .

Full article: https://www.corrieredellacalabria.i...-e-due-ristoranti-in-fiamme-a-melbourne/