Vincenzo Mannella

Born in 1950, Mannella migrated from Italy to Australia with his parents in 1966.

He worked as a fruiterer and a labourer before becoming a known figure around Carlton and Brunswick cafes and illegal gambling houses.

Mannella was a former employer of career criminal Victor Peirce.

He owned or part-owned nightclubs and coffee shops and was a heavy gambler which apparently brought about considerable debts.

Vince had convictions for assault as dishonesty but was said to have been everyone's friend, outrageous and funny.

In 1971 he was arrested for carrying a dagger and in 1977, he was found carrying two pistols.

On February 20, 1981, he shot a man seven times in Nicholson Street, North Fitzroy.

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 casinos in Fitzroy was busted by police, they found Manella, speed king John Higgs and other major amphetamines dealers in the crowd including those allegedly working for the notorious Moran family.

Manella came under attention as a possible source of chemicals during the drug squads Operation Phalanx into Higgs during the mid 1990's.

In late 1988, Vincenzo became involved with a gang stealing large quantities of foodstuffs.

Police believe that he sold the stolen goods for the gang who had robbed two major targets.

In one case, three of Mannella's associates were charged with a $250,000 cheese theft.

Giovani Failla, Antonio Varipodio, Nicholas Kalafatis, Salvatore Chirico and Giovanni Bruzzainti stole cheese from Anspac Gold Storage who were holding the goods for Murray Goldburn co-op.

Kalafatis was an employee on Anspac.

On March 30, 2000, Shepparton court heard from witnesses that they had purchased some of the cheese from Kalafatis.

Sen Sgt Michael Daley referred to the crossing of paths into the robbery and also Vince Manella's execution. 

On, or about, January 3, 1999, Vince made a trip to Shepparton.

He was said to have traveled to the north-east Victorian town to engage in business dealings.

On January 9, 1999, at 11.45pm, Manella was shot dead at his Alister St. North Fitzroy home.

He had been socialising with associates at 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. The security cameras at the home were not connected.

The killer, wearing a hooded top, ran along Merri Creek to a pick up point at nearby Albert Street. A reddish Pontiac Trans Am with a distinctive eagle on the bonnet was seen in the area.

Det Chief Inspector Rod Collins said that one of the motives police were investigating for the murder was a falling out with criminal associates.

Death notices aplenty appeared in the Herald sun in the days that followed.

There was one from "Mark and Jason", presumably of the Moran clan, and another was placed by Carlton Crew boss Mick Gatto (left).

On February 22, 1999, the Herald Sun reported that the hit on Mannella was ordered by a $200m cocaine cartel.

According to the report the cartel was also linked to the killing of Alphonse Gangitano.

Other media outlets speculated that Mannella's death was debt-related or part of an underworld power struggle but no suspects were ever named.

On October 20, 1999, Vince's brother Gerardo (left) was shot dead outside his brother Sal's home in North Fitzroy.

Gerardo,31, had run from two men who they opened fire.

They were picked up by a third man in a dark Ford station wagon.

On March 30, 2000, Shepparton court heard from Sen Sgt Michael Daley that Giovani Failla, one of the accused relating to the cheese robbery of 1988 had dined with Vincenzo Manella the night that he died.

The policeman also said that Failla stopped using his mobile phone at the moment of Mannella's killing.

"He went into hiding he told me", Daley said. 

On August 7, 2007, a court was told Vince Mannella's son and the lover of slain Russian mafia boss Nikolai Radev were two members of a group trying to obtain a shipment of ecstasy pills worth $7million.

The County Court heard Giuseppe Mannella, 31 (left), and Hayley Wood, 29, both had links to Melbourne's underworld.

Mannella assumed the role of "man of the household" after his father was shot to death, his lawyer told the court.

The court heard that Wood had an affair with Radev, drug dealer and enforcer for the Melbourne head of the Russian mafia.

Radev died after being shot repeatedly in the head and chest in Coburg in April 2003.

"He was a fairly domineering, controlling man," Wood's lawyer said.

"That would probably not be considered a positive relationship."

In June, a jury found Giuseppe Mannella, Wood and associate Mario Acciarito, 36 (left), guilty of attempting to possess a commercial amount of ecstasy.

The court heard the trio were arrested on the evening of April 21, 2005, as they unloaded a shipment of barbeques in the Tullamarine warehouse of Mannella's company, Logistic Solutions.

The shipment had earlier been intercepted by customs in Sydney, who found the barbeques contained 90kg of ecstasy pills.

The ecstasy was replaced with fake drugs, and tracked to the warehouse.

Mannella's lawyer, John Kelly, said his client steadfastly claimed his innocence and appealed his conviction.

Mannella had no prior criminal convictions and had "committed himself wholeheartedly to a business," the court heard.

Mannella had lost "an awful lot by way of reputation....and potential earnings," Mr Kelly said.

Prosecutor Gavin Meredith said Mannella and Acciarito "had an expectation of significant return" from the enterprise and urged the judge to impose a significant term of imprisonment on the two men.

Judge Liz Gaynor remanded Mannella, of Fitzroy North, Wood, of Coburg, and Acciarito, of West Brunswick, in custody for sentencing on September 3.

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 Vince Mannella, his brother Gerardo, 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 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.