Honoured Society (Australia)

Honoured Society

'Ndrangheta in Australia by region.   Crime families reunited into Locals   Independent crime families   Inactive
Founded	Ca. 1920
Founding location	Melbourne, Victoria
Years active	1920s – present
Territory	Active in all Australia, mainly in the Western Australia and Victoria regions
Ethnicity	Calabrians, Italian Australians
Membership	9 'ndrine ("crime families")
Criminal activities	Racketeering, illegal gambling, drug trafficking, money laundering, fencing, fraud, pimping, extortion, loan-sharking, arms trafficking, conspiracy
Rivals	Carlton Crew (formerly), and other street gangs

The Honoured Society (Italian: Onorata Società) is a Calabrian 'Ndrangheta criminal confederation, started in Melbourne and currently active in all Australia. In 1963, it was reportedly involved in the Victoria Market Murders. It was led by gangster Frank Benvenuto until his slaying in 2000. Tony Romeo, another high-ranking member, was shot in 2002.

Known by the names "The Honoured Society", L'Onorata Societa or La Famiglia to Italians but more simply as the Mafia to most Australians, the 'Ndrangheta has controlled Italian-Australian organised crime all along the East Coast of Australia since the early 20th century. The 'Ndrangheta began in Queensland, where they continued their rural form of organised crime, especially in the fruit and vegetable industry. From 1928 to 1940, some 10 homicides and 30 bombings were attributed to the Society. 'Ndrangheta operating in Australia include the Sergi, Barbaro and Papalia clans. Similarly in Victoria the major families are named as Italiano, Arena, Muratore, Benvenuto, and Condello.

Melbourne godfather Domenico "The Pope" Italiano died in 1962 followed several weeks later by the death of the cells enforcer Antonio "The Toad" Barbara, both of natural causes, leaving a power vacuum that sparked a struggle to take over the cell. That in turn resulted in the deaths of Calabrian-born mobsters Vincenzo Angilletta and Vincenzo Muratore, sparking the "Market Wars" over control of the Victoria Market. At the time it was unclear that most involved in the Market Wars were affiliated with the 'Ndrangheta. A Victoria Market stallholder named Liborio Benvenuto was eventually to take over as godfather, a position he held until his death of natural causes in 1988.

In 1964, investigations by Victoria Police into the Victoria Market murders prompted the Victorian Government to invite two overseas experts on Italian organised crime to assist, John T. Cusack, a district supervisor of the United States' Federal Bureau of Narcotics, and Dr Ugo Macera, an assistant commissioner of police in Calabria. The Cusack and Macera reports revealed the existence of the Society in Melbourne, warning that without action being taken, within 25 years they would have diversified from their stand-over tactics in the fruit and vegetable industries and have monopolies in such fields as "labour racketeering, wholesale distribution of alcoholic and soft drinks, the importation of olive oil, tomato paste and cheese, the baking and distribution of Italian baked goods, the vending machine business, the monopolistic ownership of night clubs and taverns, musical recording and record distributing companies, model and theatrical booking agencies and building and road construction companies." Neither report was made public.