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 Gerardo
Mannella
Gerardo lived in
Avondale Heights in Melbourne's north.
He had a part-time
job at the wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Footscray and also worked as a crane supervisor in the
city square.
In 1992 Gerardo was
charged with carrying a pistol.
His brother
Vincenzo was the former employer of armed robber
and Walsh Street suspect, Victor
Peirce.
He was a heavy
gambler which apparently brought about heavy debts.
Vincenzo
had convictions for assault as dishonesty.
He shot a man seven times in
Nicholson Street, North Fitzroy.
The man was the owner of a cafe which had
barred Mannella from playing cards there because he was acting tough and carried
a loaded pistol.
He was sentenced to nine years jail with a minimum of seven for
the attack.
In
1987, when an opening night at one
of Alphonse Gangiatano's illegal casino's
in Fitzroy was busted by Police, they found Vincenzo,
speed king John William Higgs and other major
amphetamines dealers in the crowd.
These included
several people allegedly working for the
notorious Moran family.
On January 9
1999, at 11.45pm, Vincenzo
was shot dead at his Alister St. North Fitzroy home.
He had been to a
coffee shop in Lygon Street, Carlton before moving on to a restaurant in Sydney
Road, Brunswick.
Manella returned home and a waiting gunman let fire.
According to one
criminal Gerardo had vowed to avenge the murder of his brother.
On October 20,
1999, Gerardo Manella was shot dead outside his brother Sal's home in North
Fitzroy.
Gerardo was 31 when
he died.
He had run from two men but they opened fire.
The men, who had
chased Mannella to the middle of the street, shot him in the head.
They were picked up by a
third man in a dark Ford station wagon.
On
December 24, 2007, John
Silvester wrote in the Age that the
Purana gangland taskforce had
launched a long-term
investigation into Italian
organised crime, including
several unsolved murders.
Silvester
wrote that detectives
are looking into five
"hits" they suspect
may have been ordered by leading
Italian-Australian gangsters.
These include the murders of
Gerardo and Vince
Mannella,
Joe
Quadara, Frank
Benvenuto and Victor
Peirce.
The
cases have been officially
switched from the homicide squad
to Purana.
The
first phase for the taskforce
was to concentrate on the
murders ordered by drug dealer Carl
Williams. Williams was
earlier this year sentenced to
35 years' jail for the murders
of Jason
Moran, Michael
Marshall, Lewis
Moran and Mark
Mallia.
The
second Purana phase was to
investigate Tony
Mokbel's drug syndicate,
uncover his hidden financial
network, and find him. On June 5
this year Mokbel was arrested
in Greece and charged with
two murders and a string of drug
offences. He is expected to be
extradited by mid-next year.
Detective
Superintendent Richard Grant
said Purana would take on new
targets next year. He said
intelligence files were being
checked to identify a new crime
ring that required long-term
investigation.
Meanwhile,
homicide investigators have
found that a hitman who worked
for Williams also worked for
Italian gangsters. Andrew
"Benji" Veniamin
was considered to be Williams'
loyal lieutenant, but police now
believe he carried out three
contract killings for Italian
gangsters before Williams
recruited him.
They
believe his first known victim
was Joe Quadara, and he remains
the suspect for the murders of
Frank Benvenuto and Victor
Peirce.
Police
suspect Veniamin was the gunman
in seven underworld murders.
They say he shot dead Dino
Dibra, on October 14, 2000, Paul
Kallipolitis, whose body was
found on October 25, 2002, and
was the main suspect in the
murder of standover man Nik
Radev, who was shot dead on
April 15, 2003. Radev had an
appointment to see Veniamin on
the morning he was murdered, and
was also part of the torture
team that grabbed and killed
Mark Mallia in August 2003.
Police
say that both Peirce and
Veniamin worked for Benvenuto at
different times when the
apparently respectable
businessman felt the need to
intimidate enemies at the
wholesale fruit and vegetable
market.
Veniamin
was shot dead by a Melbourne
identity, Mick
Gatto, on March 23, 2004 in
a Carlton restaurant. Gatto was
acquitted of murder on the
grounds of self-defence.
Purana
detectives working on the
Italian murders have arrested a
man they allege was the driver
when Veniamin ambushed Peirce in
Bay Street, Port Melbourne.
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