Perhaps as befits a godfather of the Italian-Australian Mafia, Frank Barbaro was, in 2003, attending a funeral every fortnight.

"Frank Barbaro was prepared to travel very long distances to attend such gatherings,"  were the dry words of a 2003 joint-police report into the state of the Mafia in Australia.

"These attendances at funerals of [Italian Organised Crime] and family connected associates related to matters of respect, and presented networking opportunities."

Barbaro, a Griffith, NSW-based scion of one of the pre-eminent families of the Calabrian-Mafia, apparently styled himself as the glue that stuck the Australian Mafia together.

"Frank Barbaro is significant in that he maintains strong associations across so many states and groups. He regularly travelled by vehicle and plane around to facilitate these contacts and activities," the report says.

Francesco 'Little Trees' Barbaro confronts AFP officers outside his son Pat's Griffth property.

"He showed particularly strong travel patterns between Canberra, Melbourne,...