One of the state's most powerful organised crime figures is facing a lengthy jail term and deportation back to Italy after being convicted of extortion, drug and weapons offences.
Rocco Arico, 38, has been identified by law enforcement as a major player in Melbourne's underworld as a drug trafficker with family links to the 'Ndrangheta – or Honoured Society – one of the country's most influential mafia groups.
The verdict is a major win for Victoria Police's Purana anti-gangland taskforce, which had been investigating Arico for more than a year.
Arico has previous convictions for kidnapping in 1999 and attempted murder in 2000, spending more than seven years in prison. He is also suspected of involvement in orchestrating the prison murder of drug kingpin-turned-witness Carl Williams in 2010.
It is understood the federal government plans to deport Arico after he serves any prison sentence for these latest convictions under immigration powers introduced to deal with foreign citizens who commit serious crimes.
Arico, a married father who has lived in Australia since he was a child, is still to be sentenced by County Court Judge Geoffrey Chettle.
In November 2016, Arico was found guilty of three counts of extortion, and intentionally causing injury and drug trafficking, but the media was prevented from reporting the verdict until Arico had faced a second trial for other offences in February.
On Thursday, Arico was convicted of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm and drug possession over items found inside a Vespa scooter when police arrested him nearly two years ago.
The Calabrian-born but Melbourne-raised 'property developer' was charged in March 2015 following an investigation into allegations he had been extorting a fellow drug trafficker over an unpaid debt.
The case hinged on the testimony of a long-time friend of Arico and associate of a crew of criminals formerly linked to Carl Williams and his rivals in the Moran family and Carlton Crew, who waged a bloody gangland war from 1999 to 2006.
The friend cannot be named for legal reasons.
In 2010, the friend had lost a kilogram of cocaine belonging to Arico after he was ripped off in a deal to the sell the drugs to then Bandidos bikie enforcer Toby Mitchell.
Mitchell took the cocaine and left a box of soft-porn men's magazine Ralph rather than $375,000 cash at the handover.
The friend testified he was given the choice by Arico of killing Mitchell in retaliation or paying the money back. He ended up working off most of the debt by acting as an interstate drug mule.
But when Mitchell was shot six times outside a Brunswick gym in November 2011, the friend falsely took credit for the attempted hit.
"I'm a f---ing idiot. I said it 'cause, um, to get [Arico] off my back," the friend testified.
Arico, incensed when he found out it was a lie, demanded he friend pay $50,000 that had been wiped off the original debt because they were friends. That figure eventually rose to $110,000.
When he didn't pay, properties and vehicles owned by the friend's family, above, were targeted in graffiti and arson attacks. Arico also punched the friends in the face and threatened to shoot up his home.
Under mounting pressure, the friend decided to break the underworld code of silence and co-operate with police investigators, eventually wearing a "wire" to a meeting with Arico where he was caught on tape offering to sell the friend a kilogram of ice.
Arico's defence barrister Bruce Walmsley had branded the story a total fabrication, arguing that the friend was unreliable because he was a drug trafficker attempting to hide behind police from substantial debts to numerous criminals.
Arico also took the unusual step of testifying on his own behalf at his trial last year, claiming he was a property developer who had lent the friend money from gambling winnings but was unaware the friend was a drug dealer.
During cross-examination, prosecutor Kevin Armstrong branded Arico a "puppeteer" who controlled and manipulated those around him.
Arico's brother-in-law also attempted to claim the gun and drugs found in the Vespa belonged to him, testimony that was rejected by the second jury who voted to convict on the charges.
The Australian Taxation Office is also attempting to seize $10 million worth of assets linked to Arico as the suspected proceeds of crime.