Slain mafia man Pasquale Barbaro ‘wore bulletproof vest’ and owed $1 million
Sydney underworld figure Pasquale Barbaro, who reportedly had links to the Italian mafia, owed a criminal gang $1 million and walked the streets in fear wearing a bulletproof vest, it has been revealed.
Pasquale Barbaro was left in a pool of blood in Earlwood on Monday night after he was executed with a shot to the head by two hooded hitmen.
It is believed the 35-year-old was sitting in a silver Mercedes outside the home of underworld figure George Alex in southwest Sydney when he was killed.
Underworld sources told reporters the slain kingpin had many enemies and regularly wore a bulletproof vest to protect himself, according to the Daily Telegraph.
“We heard this guy going ‘open the door, open the door’, so he was probably asking for help but no one would open their door,” one witness, who lives near where Barbaro was found, said yesterday.
Barbaro’s killers showed no mercy, executing him on the footpath after he managed to escape from his car.
His death is the latest in a long-running gangland war, which included the daylight execution of Walid ‘Wally’ Ahmad in Bankstown in April this year.
It has since been revealed Barbaro was a suspect in another gangland hit which killed Hamad Assaad in front of his 12-year-old nephew in October 25.
In a separate, ongoing murder trial, audio from a phone call between Barbaro and a man accused of another gangland murder has been played to a Sydney court.
The wire-tapped conversations between the late Barbaro and accused killer, Brothers for Life leader Farhad Qaumi were played.
Farhad Qaumi, 34, and his brother Mumtaz Qaumi, 31, are standing trial, accused of hiring a shooter to kill debt collector Joe Antoun after receiving a contract to carry out the hit, according to The Daily Telegraph.
“You know what they are doing, they’re just trying to talk, to talk rubbish on the phone you know, we don’t do nothing, you don’t do nothing. They’re trying to get us to talk you know,” Barbaro can be heard saying in one of the calls played before the court.
CCTV footage of the murder was played at the judge-alone trial, which showed a man knocking on the front door of Mr Antoun's house, shoot him and then run from the scene, The Daily Telegraph has reported.
A friend of Barbaro, who asked to be identified only as Marco said: "He had a good heart, just because he did bad things doesn't make him a bad person."
Barbaro had already survived one attempt on his life, in Leichhardt last year, before he was killed on Monday.
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Police found an Audi four-wheel-drive burnt out in Concord shortly after Barbaro’s murder.
Barbaro's grandfather Peter Pasquale Barbaro was gunned down in Brisbane in 1990 and his cousin Pat Barbaro was shot dead in a Melbourne car park in 2003, while in the company of underworld figure Jason Moran, who was also murdered in the same shooting.
NSW Police Superintendent David Johnson said Barbaro had been well known to police.
"You can appreciate that there is going to be many lines of inquiry, many people to speak to," Superintendent Johnson said.
“These people are dangerous people.”
The investigation into Barbaro’s murder is continuing.
