Police outside Woodstock Pizzicheria in Brunswick East. Credit:Peter Cox Businessmen identified by law enforcement agencies as suspected senior leaders in the Honoured Society also have a financial interest in the nationwide La Porchetta pizza restaurant franchise, a Brunswick funeral home and a large Victorian meat wholesaler. The businessmen, who have not been named for legal reasons, also have a financial interest in independent supermarkets in Noble Park and Boronia and fruit shops in Essendon, Brunswick, Coburg, Moonee Ponds and other Melbourne locations. Some of these assets have been acquired for far less than market value in circumstances that sources allege amounted to extortion in some cases. The group recently acquired a fruit shop for less than $20,000. It is also able to obtain produce from wholesalers for little or no cost. One senior figure in the group, a 67-year-old known as the "meat man", who was investigated as part of a federal police drugs probe in 2007 but never charged, is among those with shares in La Porchetta Holdings Pty Ltd. Another La Porchetta shareholder is a millionaire Melbourne businessman known as ''Blondie'', whom Fairfax Media has not named for legal reasons.

Rocco Pantaleo outside Melbourne Magistrates Court in 2009. Credit:Paul Rovere Fairfax has learnt that Victorian detectives recently sought to question several Honoured Society associates over a suspected extortion attempt linked to the recent shooting up of three Woodstock pizza restaurants in Essendon and Brunswick. It is suspected the group has unsuccessfully tried to gain equity in the Woodstock business or create a Woodstock franchise venture. The owner of Woodstock, champion pizza maker Tony Cannata, declined to comment when contacted on Friday. The Woodstock Cucina on Nicholson Street, North Fitzroy. It is believed the arrival of several new upscale pizza businesses, including DOC and Woodstock restaurants, has hit La Porchetta's market share.

Before his death in a motorbike accident in 2010, La Porchetta owner Rocky Pantaleo sought the help of senior Honoured Society members to deal with several Melbourne criminal identities also linked to the Italian crime group who had tried to take over his North Melbourne restaurant. Fairfax has seen documents from an investigation by the Victoria Police Purana organised crime taskforce, codenamed Pandora, which warn that the Calabrian mafia was well established in Melbourne and had continuing links to the Melbourne fruit and vegetable market. Operation Pandora also found that some of the group's members were allegedly heavily involved in the movement of illegal drugs, including a cannabis trafficking enterprise spanning Melbourne, Shepparton, Mildura and Griffith, NSW. Operation Pandora found that ''Blondie'' was ''very well respected within the Calabrian community and is regarded as being the leader of the organisation [the Honoured Society]." The 63-year-old also has a financial interest in the Melbourne Waterfront Venue reception centre in Docklands. Other shareholders include a business controlled by a suspected drug importer and a second company closely linked to Rosario Gangemi, who police believed was an Honoured Society boss before his death in 2008. Fairfax has no evidence to suggest Blondie is involved in criminal activity. But Operation Pandora identifies a number of Melbourne criminal identities who are connected to the Honoured Society and who are his close associates.

They include two figures well known in the construction and produce business who are allegedly "part of a violent faction of the Calabrian mafia" and who "are the people to see if violent tasks are required, including murders, extortions or threats". Honoured Society identities have also formed business ventures with major Italian goods importers, including a northern suburbs pasta maker and an Australian executive formerly associated with a well-known international pasta sauce business. The Honoured Society previously gained infamy in Australia after a series of high-profile murders linked to its members. In the 1990s, Blondie was accused by coronial inquest witnesses of links to the murders of two identities at the Melbourne produce market but there was no corroborating evidence and he was never charged. A 1998 statement by a senior organised crime detective, which was aired in court, alleged that Blondie was ''involved in a substantial number of crimes, including murder, gunshot wounding and arson''. However, a later court ruling said that statement was unreliable because it was based on the testimony of unnamed informers.

The Purana Taskforce's Operation Pandora was set up in relation to several unsolved murders but, aside from an intelligence probe, it conducted no systemic investigation into Honoured Society operations. The Purana Taskforce was recently stripped of resources. Italian authorities have recently repeatedly claimed that the failure of Australian police to investigative the Honoured Society - which has headquarters in Calabria and has been implicated in international drug and money-laundering businesses - has allowed it to prosper. Mr Antonio (Tony) Madafferi Since March 2014, The Age and Fairfax Media Pty Ltd have published a series of articles by Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker, Royce Millar and Josh Gordon concerning Mr Antonio (Tony) Madafferi. The Age acknowledges that Mr Madafferi is a hard working family man who has never been charged by the police with any criminal offence, and has no criminal convictions. To the extent that any of the articles might have suggested the contrary, The Age accepts that such suggestions are false and apologises to Mr Madafferi.