Mr Madafferi's lawyers had spent the past three days arguing unsuccessfully before Justice John Dixon in the Supreme Court that these facts should be hidden from public view. Tony Madafferi runs a fruit shop in Noble Park. The reason is that Mr Madafferi is suing The Age for defamation after the newspaper described him, in a number of reports since 2014, as the head of the Melbourne Mafia, and linked him with murder, drug trafficking, extortion, and buying political influence. Mr Madafferi believed Mr Acquaro was a prime source for The Age in its reporting since 2008, and Age reporter Nick Mckenzie was warned, also last June, that Mafia figures were investigating means of carrying out surveillance on him. The Age and Mr McKenzie have never commented on whether or not Mr Acquaro was a source. It also does not suggest that Mr Madafferi is guilty of Mr Acquaro's murder. But it does stand by its reporting and will vigorously defend Mr Madafferi's defamation suit.

In an affidavit, Mr Madafferi's lawyer Paolo Tatti, revealed how police had visited Mr Madafferi to discuss the contract on Mr Acquaro's life. Lawyer Joseph Acquaro was shot dead in an East Brunswick street on Tuesday morning. Credit:Channel Nine Mr Tatti's affidavit, dated September 16, 2015, said two detectives went to see Mr Madafferi at his Noble Park supermarket on June 19, 2015. "My client requested that they move outside the shop as there were customers present, and a discussion took place in the loading bay adjacent to the shop," Mr Tatti's affidavit said. "During the discussion, which lasted no longer than a few minutes, the police said words to Mr Madafferi to the effect that they had information that there was a contract on the life of Mr Joseph Acquaro for $200,000, and that if something happened to Mr Acquaro they would know where to start looking.

"My client told the police that he knew nothing about the matter and the police then left and have not contacted him again. "I am instructed by Mr Madafferi and I believe that he was and remains extremely upset and distressed about the visit. "He denies the suggestion that he would ever engage in such conduct." Mr Tatti said Mr Acquaro had from time to time performed legal services for Mr Madafferi or his related entities. "Mr Acquaro also represented my client's brother, Francesco ["Frank"] Madafferi, in relation to charges of trafficking a commercial quantity of a controlled drug ... until he ceased acting shortly before the trial commenced.

"I am informed by [lawyer] Mr Michael Teti [a former employee of the law firm Acquaro and Co] that in addition to acting on behalf of Francesco Madafferi in relation to this criminal matter, Mr Acquaro had business dealings with Francesco Madafferi and was a close friend of his for many years until the two had a falling out in 2013." Another member of Antonio Madafferi's legal team, lawyer Gina Schoff, QC, told the court this week that Mr Acquaro's execution-style killing meant a suppression order was now needed to protect her client's prospect of a fair trial in the civil case against The Age. Tony Madafferi is the owner of the national pizza chain La Porchetta. Credit:Jason South "One can see how highly prejudicial it would be if a juror were to learn or to think that Mr Madafferi was responsible for the death of one of Mr McKenzie's sources ... and that is what The Age will report tomorrow if ... there is carte blanche on reporting," Ms Schoff said. She said Mr Madafferi was suing The Age because he was "seeking to clear his name ... he seeks vindication".

The appearance of Mr Acquaro's "dead body" was an "extraordinary coincidence," which would make full vindication of Mr Madafferi's reputation difficult. "Here we have gunshot wounds. Yes, they could be totally unrelated but that stark coincidence, that incredible coincidence of on the one hand the $200,000 contract ... and now the murder of Mr Acquaro, it can't but fail to excite the interest of readers," Ms Schoff said. Last year Ms Schoff argued in the same court that The Age should be compelled to reveal the sources of its stories. At the time she said: "to suggest that someone might try and knock off one of [McKenzie's] sources, it's really – in our submission it's fanciful, Your Honour, absolutely fanciful". Tony Madafferi in his Noble Park store, where police visited him in June 2015. Until Mr Acquaro's murder this week, lawyers for The Age had pushed for his name to be suppressed to try to protect him. They argued that, if it was widely believed (rightly or wrongly) that he was a source, it might endanger his life. Since his death, that fear no longer applies, and The Age this week attempted to have the suppression order lifted.

Mr Madafferi changed positions and opposed that. Ms Schoff argued for her own client's statement to be suppressed because now there was "a dead body within five months of the trial". In a landmark decision in December last year involving the first test of Victoria's protection law for journalists' sources, Justice Dixon said The Age had argued the articles related to matters of significant and legitimate public interest that warranted investigation and public scrutiny. Justice Dixon did not believe the identity of The Age's sources was critical to Mr Madafferi's defamation case and dismissed his application. The defamation trial is set down to begin on August 1. Lawyer Gina Schoff said the murder of Mr Acquaro was an 'incredible coincidence'. Credit:Justin McManus Ms Schoff also suggested that, since Mr Acquaro's execution, Mr Madafferi - who originally wanted his pleas heard by a jury - might now prefer to seek vindication in front of a judge alone.

The Age's reporting on Mr Madafferi and his brother Francesco, a convicted drug trafficker and violent criminal, began in 2008 with a series of revelations about their political connections and how they had used donations to the Liberal Party as part of a successful attempt to win a residency visa for Francesco Madafferi. Loading Mr McKenzie's affidavit in the defamation case also canvassed the wide number of allegations, so far unproven, about Tony Madafferi's involvement in criminal activity including murder, gunshot wounding and arson. He told the court Mr Madafferi had been filmed meeting a group of drug traffickers in a city park and at the casino; that he may have been involved in attacks at pizza shops that were rivals of La Porchetta, and in threats of violence as part of extortion.