Mafia killing raises fears of drug war in rural Australia

Nobory, apparently, saw anything, even though the murderer struck in daylight and there were several people working near by. Antonio Romeo, an Italian-born Australian, was shot in the back while pruning a peach tree on his family farm near Griffith, a small town in the far west of New South Wales.

Griffith is no ordinary country town. The quiet backwater has long been notorious as the centre of Australia's drugs trade and a stronghold of the Calabrian Mafia. Twenty-five years ago this month, an anti-drugs campaigner, Don Mackay, was gunned down in the car park of a Griffith public house. His body has never been found.

Mr Romeo, 46, was released from prison six weeks ago after serving a six-year sentence for conspiring to import £3m of marijuana from Papua New Guinea. One of his accomplices, Rosario Trimboli, from another prominent local family, is still behind bars. Mr Romeo, according to local sources, was warned to stay away from Griffith after leaving jail.

On Monday, shortly before 3pm, a bullet entered his left shoulder, passed through his chest and left his body near his right shoulder. He collapsed and died on the spot. There were six farm workers near by and about 30 in the orchard. Nobody saw the killer.

Police are pursuing several avenues of inquiry, but admit privately that the murder appears to have been an organised hit. Someone, seemingly, had a score to settle with Mr Romeo, although a precise motive has yet to be established. One theory is that he was killed for indulging in a long-running affair with the wife of another local mafioso.

Townsfolk are unhappy about the spotlight being shone on Griffith, which has tried to shake off its unsavoury image. Its residents prefer to stress the town's other claim to fame as a big wine and fruit producer. The alluvial soils in the area are perfect for growing crops – which is one reason for the thriving drugs trade.

Mike Neville, the mayor of Griffith, said local people were shocked by the murder despite the town's history. "The general feeling is, 'Here we go again'," Mr Neville said. "The town has moved on significantly from its unhelpful past, but an incident like this reflects very badly. The community, unfortunately, wears the stigma of a few." Others are not so certain that the town has moved on from the days when – so the story goes – visitors could arrive at Griffith airport and smell what locals called Calabrese corn.

Mr Mackay, who owned a furniture store in Griffith and had been campaigning against marijuana cultivation in the area, disappeared after having a drink in the Griffith Hotel on the evening of 15 July 1977. His mini-van was found in the car park and a bloodstain and three bullet shells lay beside it on the ground.

A career criminal called James "Machine-gun" Bazley was convicted of conspiring to kill Mr Mackay in 1986, but the victim's family believes he was only a hitman. Ruth Fletcher, Mr Mackay's daughter, said: "There was a web of people behind Bazley who have never been brought to account. The whole family are convinced of that." Among those implicated was Robert "Aussie Bob" Trimboli, who died in 1987 while on the run in Spain. Trimboli was a senior member of the Australian arm of L'Onorata Societa, a Calabrian-based secret society with links to organised crime. He and others had built ostentatious mansions in Griffith, which locals nicknamed the grass palaces.

The Mackay case triggered claims of political and police corruption, examined by a royal commission. Later, three detectives were sent to jail.

In Griffith – where half of the population is Italian, mostly from Calabria – Antonio Romeo's wife and four children are in mourning. Police are trying to find out why anyone would want him dead. The theories, one officer said, are multiplying by the day.