For decades, the Latorre family has grown produce in the fertile soils of Victoria’s Goulburn Valley. From the paddocks outside Shepparton, this produce eventually makes its way to wholesale markets in Melbourne.
As a result, John Latorre regularly woke before sunrise in the outer suburb of Greenvale to get to the markets.
But on Tuesday, as he walked out of his home at about 4.30am, the 64-year-old was shot dead in a killing with possible links to Italian organised crime.
“He was a man known to Victoria Police,” Det Sen Sgt Danny Travaglini told reporters at the scene.
“If there are links to organised crime, there’s always the potential of retaliation and that’s where Victoria Police approach such investigations as a high priority … we will do whatever we possibly can to ensure there’s no retaliation.”
In the century since Calabrian families with links to the mafia, or ’Ndrangheta, first arrived in Australia, much has changed about how organised crime operates in the country. But Calabrian-Australian families are still synonymous with the fruit and vegetable trade.
And the only thing more valuable to the ’Ndrangheta than family is silence.
Latorre did not seem a significant player in the ’Ndrangheta, according to Prof Anna Sergi, a leading expert on the group – which makes the motive for his killing – if it is indeed linked to the ’Ndrangheta – all the more puzzling.
“Killing him wouldn’t bother the big guys, but at the same time for some reason he was worth killing,” says Sergi, a professor at the University of Essex.
Sergi says there are three reasons why the ’Ndrangheta kill: for revenge, for performative reasons, and for preventive reasons – to stop someone from doing something.
The rate of these killings has slowed considerably since a high point in the 1980s and 1990s.
“The ’Ndrangheta don’t kill unless they have to, so this is a very bold move,” Sergi says.
“The ’Ndrangheta is now in a very evolved state in Australia. They don’t need the killing like they used to. Killing is for very big things, when you need to make a big scene, or demonstrate power.”
There has also been speculation about an impending changing of the guard in Australia, which could be linked to the killing, Sergi says.
A penchant for symbolism
In Australia, the ’Ndrangheta is suspected to effectively be run by a committee of older men with links – by family or marriage – to the Calabrian towns that remain strongholds of the group.
It has a presence in every capital city and strongholds in multiple regional towns, none more so than Griffith.
There is a curious aspect to the murder, which would be overlooked as coincidence were it not for the penchant for symbolism by the ’Ndrangheta.
Of the few victims with links to the ’Ndrangheta killed in the past decade, one who was known to Latorre was also slain in Melbourne on the Tuesday immediately after Victoria’s Labour Day public holiday.
Another curiosity, according to Sergi, is that regional areas such as Shepparton and Mildura with enduring ’Ndrangheta connections have increased in importance to the organisation since the pandemic.
A relative who answered the phone at a Shepparton property owned by the Latorre family declined to comment.
“No, I’m not talking to you, we’re just too distraught,” she said, before hanging up.
Rocco Grillo, Latorre’s brother-in-law and business partner in Latorre’s Fruit and Vegetable Wholesalers, did not respond to a request for comment.
Links between ’Ndrangheta and fresh produce trade
The Latorre family are not referred to in a classified 2003 intelligence report, seen by Guardian Australia, outlining the extent of ’Ndrangheta operations in the country.
This is despite John’s brother, Vincent Latorre, being considered a suspect in the 1991 murder of Rocco Iaria at the time the report was completed.
Iaria and Vincent Latorre had been charged over an alleged burglary where $500,000 in cash and property was stolen from a wealthy market gardener near Bendigo.
Iaria disappeared before trial, and Latorre was acquitted.
In 1998, when the grave of an elderly woman at a Shepparton cemetery was excavated so her husband could be buried with her, Iaria’s body was found inside.
His body had been wrapped in plastic and doused in lime. Latorre, Vincent Latorre, and two other brothers, Mario and Frank, refused to give evidence at a 2006 inquest into Iaria’s death, according to reports at the time, saying they did not wish to incriminate themselves.
Coroner Paresa Spanos later found Vincent Latorre either killed Iaria or ordered his death, probably because it would ensure his acquittal on the robbery charges.
The Latorres are also not mentioned in the intelligence report despite Vincent Latorre being suspected of standing over other families involved in the fresh produce industry about the time the report was completed. He was found guilty of these charges in 2009 but has maintained he did not harm Iaria.
Vincent Latorre could not be reached for comment.
But the report, completed by the former National Crime Authority after reviewing the intelligence of state police forces and the Australian Federal Police, does mention enduring links between the ’Ndrangheta and the fresh produce trade.
“Italo-Australians still play a highly significant role in the fruit and vegetable wholesale trade through the markets,” it said.
“These markets continue to provide controlled linkages to the [freight] industry.
“Elements of the transport infrastructure are controlled by families with connections to IOC [Italian Organised Crime] … [and] there is continuing intelligence of the exploitation of this … freight for trafficking illicit commodities.”
The report found families had a diminishing importance in Italian organised crime but remained central to operations.
“The geographic spread and connectivity of Italo-Australian organised crime demonstrates that there exists a series of separate but interconnected sociocultural and socioeconomic networks that extend across Australia,” it says.
“Decisions appear to be made on an ad-hoc basis with family occasions such as weddings being used to mediate conflict and reach consensus.”
Appeal for dashcam footage
Dr Adam Masters, an Australian National University criminologist, says it is important to note that the vast majority of Australians with Calabrian heritage have nothing to do with the ’Ndrangheta.
“Even with the families where it might seem there’s entrenched criminality, you’re talking six to 10 members in a family of more than 200 people,” he says.
On Friday, the homicide squad confirmed it continued to investigate links to organised crime groups, and appealed for dashcam footage from anyone driving near the scene between 2am and 6am on 12 March.
“This shooting was particularly concerning for police given it occurred in such a publicly violent manner,” Det Sen Sgt Travaglini said on Friday.
“We are doing everything we can to find those involved and hopefully the right piece of dashcam footage could give us a breakthrough.”
Detectives will also be investigating if Latorre’s family history and routine of travelling to the markets before dawn most days contributed to his death.
According to comments he made to a trade magazine in 2017 after his business won an industry award, Latorre was proud of both.
“It is the strength of our family connections and seven days a week hard work that has built this business,” he said.
