One of the state's most powerful organised crime figures is facing a lengthy jail term and deportation back to Italy after being convicted of extortion, drug and weapons offences.

Rocco Arico, 38, has been identified by law enforcement as a major player in Melbourne's underworld as a drug trafficker with family links to the 'Ndrangheta – or Honoured Society – one of the country's most influential mafia groups.

Rocco Arico was arrested in 2015 and convicted of drug trafficking, extortion and weapons offences in 2016 and 2017. Credit:Pat Scala

The verdict is a major win for Victoria Police's Purana anti-gangland taskforce, which had been investigating Arico for more than a year.

Arico has previous convictions for kidnapping in 1999 and attempted murder in 2000, spending more than seven years in prison. He is also suspected of involvement in orchestrating the prison murder of drug kingpin-turned-witness Carl Williams in 2010.