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Arena was
convicted of manslaughter after he killed his wife's lover in 1976.
He served
two years.
While in
jail he met Laurence Laurence
Joseph Sumner.
In 1982 he
used his family home as surety to get bail for Sumner
who had been charged over a $2 million heroin deal.
Sumner
was later acquitted and seen drinking with members of the jury in a hotel near
the court that night.
Sumner
became an associate of several Italian crime figures and a close friend of
Arena's.
He
was suspected of attempting to blow up Godfather Liborio
Benvenuto's car in 1983.
He was later
involved with large scale amphetamine production and informed on what was
perhaps Australia's biggest drug ring.
On
December 17, 1990, Federal police charged a Mildura man over the alleged
$350,000 fraud and linked him with Arena.
The arrest
of Antonia Cufari, 54, of Irymple, followed more than a year of investigations
by the National Crime Authority.
Cufari, 54,
appeared in Mildura Magistrates' Court charged with conspiring with Giuseppe
Arena and others to defraud the Federal Government.
Police told
the court Cufari had opened 20 bank accounts in Adelaide between 1983
and 1986 in his own name and those of his children.
Det. Sen-Sgt
Ernie Tyrrell said Cufari deposited more than $350,000 in the accounts to
conceal alleged illegal transactions.
Cufari, who
was unrepresented, told the bail hearing before Mr Graeme Chirgwin, he had lived
in the Mildura area for about 30 years.
Mr Chirgwin
ordered him not to apply for a new passport after hearing Cufari's passport had
been seized during NCA raids last November.
He also
ordered him to notify police of any change of address.
Mr Chirgwin
remanded Cufari on bail to appear in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on March 21
next year.
Arena was
a man with many social contacts.
He regularly
dealt with a group of police, and once helped the son of a prominent legal
figure find employment.
Joe Arena
also helped find legal representation for members of the so-called
"Griffith Mafia".
Arena
was a close associate of Liborio
Benvenuto, the undisputed Godfather of Melbourne,
the father-of-three described
as a popular and influential character in the Italian community.
When the frail Liborio
Benvenuto was on his
death bed in May 1988, it was not thought son-in-law, Alphonso
Muratore, nor Liborio's son Frank, were ready to take over the running of
his empire.
Arena was summonsed to
Benvenuto's
Beaumauris home and
discussions were held about him becoming head of the organization.
Police
said Arena retired from the insurance business he had been involved in all his
life within weeks of
Benvenuto's death.
At
the age of 50 he gave up work "even though he clearly did not have the
money."
Arena
sold his small insurance broking business for $60,000.
His
assets were not those of a man who could retire in middle age.
He
had a small share portfolio, a few life insurance policies, four motor cars
valued at $20,500 and jewellery worth $20,000.
His
estate was later valued at $216,768.57.
This
was simply not enough of a nest egg to give work away and retire.
After
Benvenuto's death, Arena became nervous, snappy and withdrawn.
According
to Homicide Squad Sen-Det. Sol Solomon his behaviour changed and he became agitated.
At
the time someone started a disinformation campaign against him.
It
was falsely alleged he was having an affair with the wife of a powerful Italian
identity.
Arena
had become terrified that he was marked for death shortly before his shooting
and approached Laurence
Sumner in late July who provided him with a pistol for protection.
"But
just a few days before his murder Joe gave it to another friend," Solomon
said.
It
remains a mystery as to why Arena feared for his life and why he must have
thought the threat was over, days before his murder.
Laurence
Sumner is also rumoured to have also supplied the gun
would be used to kill Arena.
Arena was murdered by a rival
faction when he was shot in the backyard of his Bona
Vista Rd, Bayswater,
home on August 1, 1988, six weeks after
Benvenuto had died.
He was hit from behind with a shotgun, the traditional Honoured Society method of
death with dishonour, as he was taking out the rubbish bins.
The killing
happened shortly after he and his wife came home from a wedding in Footscray.
A man walking past Arena's home a
couple of hours before the shooting reported getting that feeling human beings
get when they are being watched.
He could feel eyes being focussed
on him from bushes in Arena's garden.
The man naturally upped his pace
and scurried home.
He then retired to bed only to be
awoken a short time later by the cracking of gun-fire.
It appears the killers may have
been laying in wait for some time.
Police
were told that
Benvenuto picking Arena as his replacement as Melbourne Godfather
had angered several of the high-ranking officers in the secret criminal
organisation.
Police
suspected Arena may have been killed by those who wanted a slice of
Benvenuto's empire.
Arena
was considered as an obvious replacement for
Benvenuto.
Unfortunately
for investigating police, those interviewed stuck strictly to the unwritten law
of 'Omerta', or silence which in so prevalent within such circles.
"They
must have known something." Sen-Det. Sol Solomon said that one man who
police knew was one of the victim's closest friends simply refused to
acknowledge any friendship when quizzed.
"He
said that Joe was just his insurance broker and they were not friends, but we
know they were quite close."
It was also
known that in 1988, Arena fell out with a wealthy Italian gangster who had just
bought a $1.2 million business in Melbourne.
Arena
left behind an estate of $216,768.
A check on
his affairs showed that he was involved in money laundering for some alleged
mafia heavyweights.
He also had
at least one corrupt contact within the Tax Department.
On May 8,
1992, police announced a $100,000 reward for information over the murder of
Arena.
The reward
was made up of $50,000 from the State Government and another $50,000 from an
anonymous donor.
In September 1998, Carlton
underworld figure Mick Gatto publicly denied murdering Arena.
Gatto
said he was shocked at a news report he claims pointed the finger at him over
the 1988 killing.
The burly Mr Gatto,
a friend of slain crime boss Alphonse
Gangitano, said he contacted the Arena family after a newspaper report
indicated he was prime suspect in the 1988 gang land slaying.
He said his father was a good
friend of Mr Arena's and he had also been an acquaintance of the dead man.
"I passed on my respects (to
the Arena's) and told them I knew nothing about it," he said.
"They were quite shocked to
hear that my name had been mentioned."
He denied allegations he was a
standover man who had been responsible for a series of violent attacks in the
past decade.
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