The Barbaro 'ndrina is a clan of the 'Ndrangheta, a criminal and mafia-type organisation in Calabria, Italy. The 'ndrina is currently based in Platì. The clan also has a strong presence in northern Italy, notably in Buccinasco, near Milan,[1] as well as in Australia, in particular in the Griffith, New South Wales area.[2]
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The clan originally hailed from Castellace in the municipality of Oppido Mamertina. In the 1950s the clan was involved in a bloody feud with the Mammoliti 'ndrina. In October 1954, Domenico Barbaro killed Francesco Mammoliti, the head of the rival clan. On November 7, 1954, the Mammolitis retaliated and killed Francesco Barbaro and some others, an attack that was attributed to Vincenzo Mammoliti, who was acquitted by the court because of insufficient proof. On January 19, 1955, Giovanni Barbaro, the brother of Francesco, was killed with 31 gun shots.[3]
In the end the Mammoliti clan prevailed and the Barbaros moved to Platì. The feud lingered on until 1978, when Domenico Barbaro was killed in Perugia, after serving 26 years in prison for the murder of Francesco Mammoliti in 1954.[4]
The clan’s long-time boss, Francesco Barbaro 'U'Castanu was known as the king of kidnapping in the 1980s. He was arrested on January 5, 1989.[5] Many of the 'Ndrangheta clans in Platì, such as Trimboli, Sergi, Romeo, Papalia and Marando are associated through blood relations, which center around the Barbaro.[6] Francesco’s son Giuseppe Barbaro took over the leadership of the clan. He was included in the list of most wanted fugitives in Italy until his arrest on December 10, 2001.[7]
The arrest led to the discovery of a complex underground fortress in the mountains in Platì that has been used by the local clans for decades. The tunnels – most running parallel to the town's sewer system – were sophisticated and in some places large enough to drive a lorry through. Remote-controlled trap doors lead into houses, some of them uninhabited, enabling the mafiosi to escape from the police. Some of the tunnels emerged outside the town close to woodland, while others open into animal pens and barns on local farms. Platì has been called the "cradle of kidnapping" and it is suspected that kidnap victims were held within the complex.[8]
The money extorted with kidnappings was invested in drug trafficking and construction in northern Italy, in particularly around Buccinasco, near Milan.[9] The clan participated in a cartel of 'Ndrangheta families involved in cocaine trafficking with the Mafia family of Mariano Agate.[10]
Another son of Francesco, Rocco Barbaro, was arrested on February 8, 2003.[11]
Francesco "Little Trees" Barbaro was named as a member of the Calabrian mafia by the Woodward Royal Commission, held following the disappearance of anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay in 1977. He was born in 1937 in Platì and gained his nickname from planting citrus seedlings on his New South Wales farm. The Commission alleged "Little Trees" made a fortune from "activities associated with cannabis cultivation" and, along with Robert Trimbole and his brother-in-law Antonio Sergi – also born in Platì in 1935 – was part of an organisation "comprised almost exclusively of persons of Calabrian descent, based in Griffith and Sydney, which engaged in the illicit cultivation, trafficking and distribution of cannabis" between 1974 and 1977.[12]
In August 2008, Australian 'Ndrangheta boss Pasquale "Pat" Barbaro – the son of Francesco – was involved in the importation of 15 million ecstasy pills through Melbourne, at the time the world's largest ecstasy haul. The pills were hidden in 3,000 tomato cans in a shipping container brought in from Calabria. Barbaro was arrested in Carlton. Another shipping container, which arrived in Melbourne in July 2008 contained 150 kg of cocaine. The investigation also identified a money-laundering operation worth more than A$9 million.[13] In the early 1990s, Pasquale Barbaro, had been charged, and later cleared, in connection to a massive cannabis plantation on a Riverina farm.[14]