MAFIA KILLING RAISES FEARS OF DRUG WAR IN RURAL AUSTRALIA

Nobody, 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 UKP 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.