In Australia
Francesco "Little Trees" Barbaro was named as a member of the Calabrian mafia by the Woodward Royal Commission, held following the disappearance of anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay in 1977. He was born in 1937 in Platì and gained his nickname from planting citrus seedlings on his New South Wales farm. The Commission alleged "Little Trees" made a fortune from "activities associated with cannabis cultivation" and, along with Robert Trimbole and his brother-in-law Antonio Sergi – also born in Platì in 1935 – was part of an organisation "comprised almost exclusively of persons of Calabrian descent, based in Griffith and Sydney, which engaged in the illicit cultivation, trafficking and distribution of cannabis" between 1974 and 1977.
In August 2008, Australian 'Ndrangheta boss Pasquale "Pat" Barbaro – the son of Francesco – was involved in the importation of 15 million ecstasy pills through Melbourne, at the time the world's largest ecstasy haul. The pills were hidden in 3,000 tomato cans in a shipping container brought in from Calabria. Barbaro was arrested in Carlton. Another shipping container, which arrived in Melbourne in July 2008 contained 150 kg of cocaine. The investigation also identified a money-laundering operation worth more than A$9 million. In the early 1990s, Pasquale Barbaro, had been charged, and later cleared, in connection to a massive cannabis plantation on a Riverina farm.
Barbaro pleaded guilty in Victoria's Supreme Court to charges of ecstasy and cocaine trafficking. In May 2012, he was sentenced Barbaro to life in prison with a 30-year minimum.
Read more about this topic: Barbaro 'ndrina
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