The funeral of Rosario "Ross" Gangemi would probably have looked, and sounded, much the same if it had been held in his birthplace in Calabria, Italy, rather than in Moonee Ponds.More than 250 mourners attended the service on Monday, among them the high profile industrial negotiator and gangland figure Mick Gatto.Many of the congregation that packed St Monica's Catholic Church had also been seen at funerals well known to viewers of the Underbelly television series.But on Monday, their shirt buttons were done up to the neck, ties were neatly in place and proper homage was shown for a man who had almost no public profile, but who commanded plenty of quiet respect.A steady stream of limousines delivered those who remain of the generations of Italians who did their business, whatever it was, without ostentation.Small men in cashmere overcoats over dark suits kissed cheeks as they arrived and moved into the church, the most senior taking the reserved seats nearest the front.Gangemi was one of the most influential members of the Calabrian Mafia - the 'Ndrangheta - in Victoria.Since his death, his links to Melbourne's Benvenuto family which once ran the criminal rackets that flourished at the city's fruit and vegetable market, have been revealed.Frank Benvenuto, son of the former "Godfather" Liborio Benvenuto, was one of the 20-plus victims of Melbourne's recent underworld murder spree.Australian police believe Gangemi was instrumental in extortion at the markets and Italian police implicated him in the 1963 murder of Melbourne underworld figure Vincente Angilletta.Gangemi died of natural causes in a Melbourne hospital last Saturday week.

Thursday, 33-year-old Francesco Capicchiano, a known enemy of suspected 'ndrangheta boss Luca Megna, was killed in broad daylight, a slaying investigators believe is linked to the murder a day earlier of 27-year old Giuseppe Cavallo, a police official said.Cavallo's wife was also hit by a bullet in the leg.
On Saturday, Luca Megna, whose father is in jail for ties with the 'ndrangheta, was shot dead in his car as he drove through Crotone with his wife and five-year-old daughter.His daughter is in a coma in the hospital along with his injured wife.
Police said the three men allegedly have ties to the 'ndrangheta, a crime syndicate that has risen in power and international reach in recent years.On Thursday all the teachers in Crotone called in sick, fearing violence around the school that children of the feuding families attend.On Friday the teachers were back at work, and of 450 students only 20 percent were absent.Authorities have said the 'ndrangheta has eclipsed the Sicilian Mafia in power and reach, thanks to its control of Europe's lucrative cocaine market.The group came into the spotlight last summer when six Italians were killed outside a pizzeria in Germany as part of an unrelated clan war.

Italian police have seized more than $220m of property and goods from the Calabrian mafia, the 'Ndrangheta. In dawn raids, heavily armed special forces seized a number of houses, cars, land and businesses in Calabria and the northern industrial region of Lombardi. The areas are strongholds of feuding mafia clans under investigation for six murders in Germany last August. Thirty people have been arrested since six Italian men were gunned down in the north-western city of Duisburg. Several bank accounts were frozen as masked police carried out Tuesday's operation. The raids came two weeks after Italian police arrested alleged 'Ndrangheta chief Pasquale Condello, 57, in Calabria. But while the seizure of $220m of assets might sound like a resounding success, it is small change compared to the group's profits.
The 'Ndrangheta has almost "exclusive" control over cocaine imports from Colombia, with estimated annual sales of $50bn dollars. Last week, a parliamentary report noted that its operations have now spread from Italy, to much of Europe, as well as the United States, Argentina and Australia. The 'Ndrangheta has become a far bigger threat than the Cosa Nostra, and what sets this group apart from other crime syndicates is its structure. It relies on close family ties, which means it is less vulnerable to turncoats. It is so tightly organised that it is now one of the strongest, most dangerous mafia groups in the world.