Kidnap lands father well and truly in it

By GREG ANSLEY

Joe Barbaro, the father of the baby kidnapped from a Melbourne shopping mall last month, was yesterday released on bail on serious new drug charges as more revelations emerged about the city's underworld war to which his family has been linked.

A couple was charged with kidnapping after Barbaro's daughter was found abandoned in a derelict house.

But the case continues to raise new problems for Barbaro, who has since emerged as a major player in serious crime.

The convicted drug trafficker, whose father was shot dead in what some believe was retribution for acting as a police informant, already faces charges of trafficking in a drug of dependence and possessing and cultivating cannabis.

He was arrested in raids in Melbourne in March that also netted expatriate New Zealand singer Allison Durbin, who faces drugs-related charges. Both face court again in November.

The publicity surrounding Montana's kidnapping alerted police in New South Wales, who had three warrants outstanding for Barbaro's arrest on charges of supplying a prohibited drug and conspiracy to supply amphetamines.

Yesterday, the NSW police asked Melbourne Magistrate Duncan Reynolds to return Barbaro to custody awaiting extradition to Sydney to face the new charges.

Barbaro did not oppose extradition, but AAP reported that he was granted bail after the court heard he needed to care for the baby's mother, who was suffering chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.


Barbaro was ordered to appear in Sydney Central Court on September 21.

His family connections continued to surface yesterday as Melbourne's Herald-Sun reported that a gang from the western suburbs, led by murdered thug Paul Kallipolitis, was the prime mover in the war that has claimed 26 lives in the past six years.

The newspaper said the gang had been linked to at least 10 murders and up to six non-fatal shootings.

In turn, the deaths of Kallipolitis and three gang associates, Andrew Veniamin, Dino Dibra and Mark Mallia, are being investigated by the Purana anti-gangland taskforce.

This investigation has included the questioning of Alfonse Traglia, on remand for alleged involvement in the brutal slaying of Jason Moran, a member of one of Melbourne's best-known crime families, and Pasquale Barbaro, a cousin of Joe Barbaro.

The Herald-Sun said Kallipolitis was killed in October 2002 in a struggle for prominence in the amphetamine drug trade.