|
A keen angler,
he had returned from a four-day fishing trip to Tasmania less than 24 hours
before the explosion.
Mr Furlan was
killed just a few minutes after leaving the Sydney Rd home where he lived alone.
He is believed
to have had enemies but most friends have questioned whether someone would have
borne a grudge strong enough to lead to a car bombing.
On
September
24, 2002
two
hard-nosed businessmen who rigged the raffles of a children's charity admitted
their fraud.
The County Court heard prizes such as luxury cars were sold at discounted prices
to friends and relatives before the two raffles were conducted.
But the dodgy
dealings of the Youth Motor Sport Foundation came unstuck when one of its
directors was investigated by the homicide squad over the unsolved car bombing
of John Furlan.
The foundation was
established in 1997 to help disadvantaged children "grow through motor
sport" but its first raffle recorded a $20,000 loss.
Co-director Thomas
Cherrie then suggested rigging the next raffle so a friend or relative would
"win" a car.
They would then pay the foundation an amount
significantly less than the prize's retail price, the court heard.
Cherrie, who had
pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to defraud but was yet to be
sentenced, told police the rigging was as simple as putting the pre-determined
winning ticket on top of the pile of tickets.
The first rigged
raffle, in May 1998, resulted in Italiano's cousin Luigi
Ponte, 33, of Keilor,
"winning" a BMW 528 worth $100,000.
Mr Ponte, who paid
the foundation $74,200 for the car, was yesterday found not guilty by a jury
after arguing he had no knowledge of the fraud.
The same jury also
found co-director Pasquale Laguda not guilty of two charges of conspiracy to
defraud.
The court heard that
in a second raffle a business associate of Italiano won a Mercedes-Benz SL 500
after paying $180,000 for the car, which had a wholesale value of $240,000.
Car dealer Mario
Costanzo, 50, of Eltham, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud over the
Mercedes-Benz and was fined $10,000 and sentenced to six months' jail, suspended
for three years.
Costanzo had agreed
to become involved because Italiano owed him $60,000, which he could not repay.
The court heard
rigged foundation raffles resulted in another person "winning" a Bali
holiday and a cleaner at Italiano's Richmond car yard "winning" a
Mercedes-Benz.
Prosecutor Rob Just
told Judge Roland Williams a total of $513,700 had been collected in ticket
sales for the two rigged raffles.
Judge Williams
sentenced Italiano, who pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to defraud
and who has lost his wife and business as a result of the offences, to 2 1/2
years' jail, of which all but six months was suspended for three years.
Judge Williams said
he wondered about the original intentions of the businessmen in becoming
involved in children's charities.
He said the
dishonest scheming had resulted in the cheating of the public and the
consequential erosion of public trust in such ventures that were intended to
make money for good causes.
On September 25, 2002, the Herald
Sun reported that Domenico "Mick" Italiano was suspect in the Furlan
muder.
Italiano's
house was bugged after the killing but rather than leading to a murder charge,
the taps led to him being charged with defrauding charity raffles.
Appearing
in court on the raffle charges, Italiano said rumours had been rife about the
car-bomb explosion which killed Furlan.
After
Juge Roland Williams lifted a suppression order on the the plea hearing in early
September 2002, it was revealed by the Herald Sun that Italiano's lawyer Peter
Chadwick said his client had once leased a car yard from John Furlan.
It
was next door to Mr Furlan's Sydney Road home and, after the business went bust,
Italiano had to pay out the lease.
Mr
Chadwick told the court Italiano was investigated by police after Mr Furlan was
killed and rumours spread through the car industry.
"Those rumours are
completely denied," he said.
Italiano died
shortly after being released from jail in 2005.
It was reported that
he partook in a Viagra fuelled sex-binge with numerous prostitutes and suffered
a heart-attack.
|
