The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 11

The Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday, September 10, 1985 Page 1 1 ink cnm Australian outlets for organised crime have been set up at the behest of Mafia bosses of New York. BOB BOTTOM continues his examination of organised crime links. PART TWO January, 1981, stayed just five days, and flew back to the US. He returned for another five days in June 1981 and was back again for eight days in December 1981. According to the Californian crime commission, "Gaswirth migrated to California from New York in 1970, and under the auspices of organised crime figure Michael Zaffarano, a key link between California pornography and East Coast Mafia groups, became one of the largest pornography operators in the Los Angeles area.

One of Gas-wirth's partners in his various pornography businesses was Jacob Molinas, a Californian organised crime figure who was murdered gangland style in 1975." "AFIA involvement in the pornography trade in Aus tralia first came to attention in 1974 when Federal police ated with Mr Gambino to hold it in all countries of the world, with the finals in Las Vegas." In fact, Patterson hati received a telegram from Gambina advising: "Will finance your poker project fully to half million US doilai. for 50 per cent your share. Please phone my home New York number Kind regards Gambino." Gambino, now dead, was the Mafia-boss fictionalised by Mario PuzoU book, The Godfather. Now in th2 poker-machine business, as agent for American suppliers, Patterson has had the benefit of impressive credentials fof his overseas dealings. In October 197S he obtained a State GovernmenT Credential issued by the then Liberal' Premier of Victoria, Sir Rupert Hamerr Representations had been made on-Patterson's behalf by a then Labor backbencher, Mr R.J.

"Dolph" Eddy, MLC. Of course, any government can find" itself in an embarrassing position by-giving a government imprimatur to individuals whose background may not be known. During the 1970s, an American Mafia identity, Daniel M. Stein, was able to come and go from Australia despite reports from US intelligence: sources that he was an associate of Meyer Lansky, a prominent leader of organised crime in America. Stein operated in Australia, on and off, from March 1971 until April 1976V A one-time part owner of Caesars Palace casino in Las Vegas, and hidden' owner of an illegal betting operatiow-closed down by the FBI, Stein linked up in Sydney with contacts previously cultivated by Chicago mobster, Joe Testa.

Police traced an ANZ bank account from which Stein had transferred two bank drafts for and S9.000 to Chicago, and obtained a copy of letter sent by Stein from Las Vegas to Sydney identity George Freeman complaining about a delay in monthly payments. "Seems the regular man having an operation and the substitutes don't know which end is up," the letter said. "You know I always drop you 'a note as soon as I receive the money and I haven't gotten it for June yet." When in Australia, Stein flaunted his overseas connections by registering a racehorse with the AJC in Sydney and calling it During the Prime Ministership -of Malcolm Fraser, when Stein's background and connections became known, Stein was unable to get a vba for return visits to Australia. Nor.ethe"-less, he continued to maintain an interest in Australia, holding meetings with Freeman on neutral ground -in Tahiti. After Fraser lost power in 1983 and Bob Hawke took over as Primp Minister, political lobbyists known -to the Prime Minister were approached seeking support for an approach by Stein for re-entry into Australia.

His approach was rejected. TOMORROW: US agencies target Australia. 41 iftJsi- a 11 1 1 hijacking of truck loads of television set's. Police documents accuse him of "grand larceny, criminal receiving, gambling, and When Esposito travelled to Australia to set up his companies, American authorities recorded that it was on "orders from the Esposito arrived in Australia on January 12, 1981 and visited Sydney and Melbourne before leaving on February 2, 1981. Around that time, Esposito was recorded dealing in America with another New York Mafia figure, Thomas "Tommy Agro, reputed" soldier in the Gambino Mafia family of New York, then involved in Mafia expansion moves in Florida.

Five months before Esposito's arrest this year, Agro was extradited from Canada to Miami on racketeering charges stemming from the Florida operation. Agro and nine others, including a member of the Democratic Party's National Committee, were indicted for associating to "organise, finance, direct, manage, conduct and participate in an unlawful extortionate money-lending and debt collection business, illegal gambling activity, and bribery of public officials They have all been indicted under special anti-racketeering laws enabling American courts to jail gangsters for a proven pattern of racketeering activity, rather than simply specific criminal acts. The same laws were recommended for Australia in the final report of the Costigan Royal Commission. No move has been made to implement them. The difference between America and Australia has been pointed out by another operation in which the FBI used the same anti-racketeering laws in an attempt to smash a pornography racket turning over an estimated SUS4 billion a year throughout America.

The FBI turned up links with Australia. Two of the top figures were able to travel to Australia and continue their operations here with impunity. Only this year, have governments in Australia acted to tighten laws against pornography. In February 1980, a task force of 400 agents raided more than a dozen warehouses, seizing tons of pornographic material and making 54 arrests in Miami, Los Angeles and elsewhere. It was hailed as the largest crackdown on pornographers in FBI history.

Within a month of the arrests, one of the ringleaders, Norman Arno, went back to court to have bail conditions relaxed so that he could travel to Australia. As queried by an FBI agent, A a favoured haven, Australia has long been talked about as a "pot of gold" or El Dorado for American Mafia investment abroad. It is now literally true. In Sydney and Melbourne, Mafia front companies have been set up to deal specifically in gold, coins and precious gems. In each city, an outlet has been established in rented premises in inner suburbs close to the heart of the main business districts.

Authorities in Australia and the US suspect the companies may also be fronts for international money laundering and cocaine trafficking. Combined investigations in the US by American agencies and the Australian Federal Police have established that the Australian outlets have been set up at the behest of Mafia bosses of New York. An emissary, Louis Esposito, a well-documented crime figure associated with Mafia expansion in Florida and California, travelled to Australia to set up the companies. Esposito was in Australia while under investigation for a gangland murder in New York. He had prev iously superv ised similar outlets in California.

He and two of his agents appeared in Australia after an investigation by US authorities forced the abandonment of their Californian operation. Esposito and another fugitive, Peter LaGatta, also wanted for murder, were arrested in Florida two months ago. Both men, members of the New York-based Colombo Mafia family, had disappeared from New York after indictment for a gangland-style killing. They have been indicted for the murder eight years ago of Louis Muscatello, who was found shot to death on July 14, 1976, in his Cadillac parked on a deserted road at Cold Spring Harbour in Suffolk Countv, New York. County police have described the slaying as a professional hit job, and they have charged that LaGatta shot Muscatello in the head while Esposito waited to drive him from the murder scene.

Muscatello was said to have incurred the wrath of the mob for failure to repay loan sharks for money he had borrowed. Long before he came to Australia, Esposito had been targeted for wire tapping by authorities in New York. In 1969, from telephone intercepts on a telephone used by Esposito in Babylon, New York, police were able to link Esposito and LaGatta with the checked out a Californian film distributor who visited Australia three times that year, arranging the original distribution of the film Deep Throat. Although the distributor had no criminal history, he was registered with the FBI as an associate of Chicago Mafia chieftain Tony Accardo, the legendary bodyguard of Al Capone. A former boss of bosses of the New York Mafia families, Carlo Gambino, once sought to invest in an Australian gambling venture through, of all people, a one-time patron of Victorian football.

Jeffery Leo Patterson, boxer, footballer, adventurer, promoter and entertainment agent, came up with an idea for a world poker championship. He needed financial backing and Gambino offered it. Patterson had made a name for himself on the international scene as an agent in Europe for American entertainers, including Roy Orbison and Bill Haley. He had gone to Europe in the 1960s, leaving behind debts of 5100,000. Returning in 1972, he paid up all his debts with cash in a blaze of publicity, and began driving an Rolls Royce convertible.

At various times associated witn South Melbourne and Richmond football clubs, Patterson in 1976 made an ill-fated attempt to become president of Fitzroy club. Patterson's world came unstuck the following year when he was charged with conspiring to defraud the then Mutual Permanent Building Society (now Statewide) of 558,000 to buy a flat for his girlfriend. Eventually pleading guilty, Patterson was fined 55,000 in Melbourne's County Court in July 1984. During preliminary hearings, police disclosed Patterson's dealings with Gambino. A police witness, Constable Peter Coleman, said Patterson was connected with the Melbourne underground and the Gambino family of the United States.

The court was told: "Patterson is involved in the financing of a world poker championship and has negoti Links in the chain clockwise from top, the late Carlo Gambino, with an FBI agent, Norman Arno, Jeffery Leo Patterson and Theodore Gaswirth. member, Michael Zaffarano. Zaffarano died of a heart attack while being hunted by FBI agents. Among others, Arno has dealt in Australia through a Melbourne identity, Alexander Gajic, nominated by the Woodward Royal Commission as a "principal member, in Melbourne, of an interstate heroin distribution Now better known as a marketer of video porn, Gajic admitted to the Woodward commission that he had dealt in both marijhuana and heroin. Gajic has operated his video porn business from Bridge Road, Richmond.

Estimated to turn over nearly SI 50 million a year, the pornographic film business in Australia has been described by Mr Douglas Meagher, QC, senior counsel for the Costigan commission, as a "big business with an enormous cash flow, untouched by law enforcement agencies in Arno has been followed to Australia by Theodore Gaswirth, another organised crime figure listed by the Californian crime commission. Gaswirth, too. was indicted with Arno in the 1980 crackdown by the FBI. In a subsequent operation, when the vice division of the Los Angeles Police Department sought to serve a warrant on him, Gaswirth was found to be in Australia. Records show that Gaswirth first travelled to Australia at the end of "What could be so important, or so big in Australia to demand such urgent attention when a billion dollar business was on the line back in America?" Amo flew into Australia on March 21, 1980, and before leaving 15 days later, reportedly held meetings with Australian associates in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

Based in Los Angeles, Arno is a publicly-listed organised crime figure. In a report of the Organised Crime Control Commission of California, he is said to have been involved in many organised-crime connected pornography operations in southern California. The report describes him as a business partner of New York Mafia A thin thread to save South Africa Mr Kenneth Kaunda, 6 1 President of Zambia since 1964, is one of black Africa's elder statesmen. He is a firmly committed nationalist, and also a devout Christian who believes that "when the good Lord said 'Love thy neighbor as he didn't mention colour." WILLIAM STEWART recently spoke to him in Lusaka. When a thought comes, get it off your mind.

And onto tape. Think on your feet. A Philips Pocket Memo is your dectronic notebook. Use it anytime, anywhere. For thoughts, notes, ideas, letters, appointments.

IT'S VV1 rfc? sanctions at the United Nations (against Rhodesia in the 1960s). "But an explosion is about to take place in South Africa, and when it does, it will destroy everything in its wake. So whether there is an explosion or whether there are sanctions, we are involved. As a matter of both principle and self-interest, we want to do everything possible to avert that explosion. "Final arrangements can only be determined by the South Africans themselves.

But we might give a hint: It's always dangerous giving too little too late. "I told Mr Botha in my (Botswana) border meeting with him in 1982: 'You and the moderate whites in commerce, the moderate blacks in commerce form a very substantial middle group. You should together form a new structure for the country, politically, economically and socially. Once you do that, South Africa will become free. Fail, and "How to do this is their concern, but speed is of the essence." (c) 1985, Time Inc.

Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate. 4 rSTvELVE and a half years ago, a South African 1 journalist asked me when a possible explosion might take place in his country. I s.iid in 15 years. He said, 'That long?" And I replied. 'Of course'.

We are left with 2 years of my prediction, and I am not sure we have even that long. "We can be black dictators, or brown, yellow or white. The people will reject us. When we defy God's law that we are made in his image, we are in trouble. We are dealing here with a situation in which one human being says to another, 'You are inferior because God made you black.

"There is no exception to God's law on human rights. The dignity of man is there, always. Power must be given to all the people of South Africa, all of them. The 5 million whites are as African as I am, and so are the 24 million biacks. So are the Coloureds and the Indians.

They have to sit together to discuss their future. "If they do not, the explosion we have been fearing will take place. When it happens not if, but when it will make the French Revolution look like a Sunday school picnic. Black and white will perish, not by the thousands as in Zimbabwe, but by the hundreds of thousands. We have to move at breakneck speed, with only a possibility of averting it.

"The thin thread by which all this hangs is the immediate and unconditional release of (imprisoned African National Congress Leader) Nelson Mandela. State President P. W. Botha has got to release Mandela unconditionally if he wants to save the situation. I believe President Botha is a sincere man, despite what has happened.

It is a good quality, but in this situation it is not enough. I don't think he has the courage to see his sincerity through. "The outside world must also participate by imposing economic sanctions. (If they are imposed), the 24 million black Africans will see that the outside world is assisting them (and) will say, 'The world has not forgotten us. Let's wait and see'.

This is the thin hope. We have been told several times that it is we (black Africans) who will suffer most if sanctions are imposed. Nobody knows that better than I do, nobody. I've gone through it, my people and as a result of the British-proposed On the frontline in life, and death Seven times faster than writing. You'll quicklv unload your mind.

It's se en times faster than writing. And better than forgetting. W.IUPS Gi cs ou time to get on AwtTH with your job. Frees your WORDS mind for thinking. raw, mFREE 1 Learn the secrets ot eftectiw dictation in the free booklet "A way ith won Just send the coupon below to Philips.

For more information or to order your Philips Pocket Memo, phone Stott Underw ood. Sydney (02) 9290566 homes around the world. He stayed ia that war ravaged country for the next decade. Unlike many other newsmen in Vietnam at the time, Davis covered the war from the Vietnamese point of view. Some of his most devastating Vietnam war film was put together by Australian producerdirector David Bradbury in a documentary called Frontline.

"The film was so powerful because he was up in the front line," said Bradbury. "I think it was because he was with the Vietnamese soldiers that he got so close to the action. The soldiers went out looking for trouble and if they found it they would have to fight there way out. That obviously made the best kind of footage because Neil was right in there when it was happening." Mr Phil ip Koch, now ABC manager in Canberra, worked as an ABC journalist with Davis for four years from 1964. Together they covered the Sukarno period in Indonesia and that country's coup in 1965; they covered the Borneo border conflict and the Malaysia uprising.

"His talent was through the camera," Mr Koch said. "He was a trouble-shooting cameraman. He liked the danger but he wasn't fearless. He and I spent some frightening times together. I would say to him 'I'm frightened shitless'.

He would turn around and say 'So am Davis was wounded several times while covering the wars of Indo China. He knew what the risks were and, according to colleagues who worked with him, he lived life on the basis that you never know if you are going to be dead tomorrow. After the fall of Ssgon, Davis based himself in Bangkok. He was appointed Thailand Bureau Chief for the NBC network in 1980. He was divorced twice and had one child.

Neil Davis died yesterday where he had spent most of his working life on the frontline. ALAN TATE profiles the life of Neil Davis, who died while filming yesterday's attempted coup in Bangkok. A USTRALIAN journalist Neil Davis survived Vietnam and Cambodia. He survived f. Borneo and Indonesia.

First as a and then working in front of the camera, Davis covered nearly every major conflict that has inflamed Indo China in the past 20 years. By his peers' acclaim, Neil Davis was one of the best and bravest journalists Australia has produced. The film Davis shot during the Vietnam war was seen around the world. He was there when those napalmed children ran along the South Vietnam road pleading for mercy. He filmed the Saigon police chiefs infamous street execution of a suspect.

He was in Phnom Penn when a rocket hit a primary school. As the only Western journalist to stay in Saigon when the city was overrun by communist forces in 1975, he filmed the Viet Cong tanks as they roiled into Saigon's presidential palace. But Neil Davis's luck ran out yesterday. He was wounded when caught in firing behind Thailand's Government House in Bangkok during yesterday's coup attempt. He died before reaching hospital.

Born 52 years ago near Hobart, Davis grew op possessing a fiercely independent spirit. He began-work as a cameraman with the Tasmanian Film Unit before joining the ABC. In 1964 he went to Vietnam for the British film agency Vis News and began shooting the film that was to make such an impact on television screens in Name. Organiiation. Address Phone To Philips Communication Systems, P.O.

Box 269 Liverpool, NSW 2170. Neil Davis in 1973 bleeding from a wound he received while covering fighting in Cambodia. i.