A manhunt is underway by police in Victoria Australia for Ricardo “Ricky” Barbaro, 33 over the death of Ellie Price, 26.
Miss Price’s bruised and battered body was found in her south Melbourne townhouse by loved ones on Monday. Investigators have since confirmed that the body had been lying there for at least a week.
Ellie Price who was found murdered in her Melbourne home
Barbaro comes from a powerful and notorious Australian criminal organization with documented and well-known ties to the infamous Calabrian mafia, the ‘Ndrangheta.
The Barbaro family, which lives in Melbourne, Sydney, and Australia’s Gold Coast have a tragic history.
Pasquale Timothy Barbaro, 35, and his younger sibling Rossario, 28 both died less than a year apart in 2016 and 2017.
Pasquale Timothy Barbaro, 35 (left) and his brother Rossario Barbaro, 28 (right)
They described themselves as ‘Lost Angeles’ and amongst the tattoos covering almost their entire bodies was the word ‘malavita’ which has a few meanings but to them, it meant ‘bad life’ or ‘evil life’.
‘The evil life’
There were eight Barbaro siblings with one father, Giuseppe “Joe” Barbaro, and three different mothers, but it was Pasquale “Pas” Barbaro who embraced the criminal lifestyle.
Pas was very involved in the Sydney drug trade and dealt with Hells Angels, Brothers 4 Life, and served some time behind bars. He also wasn’t known to be subtle about his wealth and ill-gotten gains and liked to flaunt himself around town in diamond jewelry and Versace shirts. At one point he was known to be virtually living at the Dollhouse strip club in Kings Cross.
Pasquale Timothy Barbaro
Someone who once attended one of his lavish parties at his mansion described it to Vice magazine:
‘He had posters of classic Hollywood mafia characters and kept obsessively showing me his Instagram page. He kept comparing what we were doing with (Instagram playboy) Dan Bilzerian’s posts, and he was sending private messages to Ariana Grande saying he was going to take her out when she was in Melbourne. He was getting a lap dance, surrounded by burly dudes, but he wasn’t present, he didn’t care, he wasn’t satisfied.’
In 2015, Barbaro barely survived an assassination attempt as several bullets were fired at him. But barely a year later, the ‘evil life’ caught up with him and he was gunned down on a Sydney street.
‘Pasquale’ the curse
After his death, former associates of Pasquale started describing him as ‘a dog’ and believed he was a rat working with the local police.
Immediately after his death, revenge p**n images of his girlfriend, Chantel Bapista, started appearing online. It’s believed that Pasquale was supposed to be going to her house later on that night, but obviously he never made it.
Chantel Bapista (left), girlfriend of Pasquale Barbaro
About six months after Pasquale’s murder, his brother Rossario committed suicide. He couldn’t deal with his brother’s murder and, described as ‘Pasquale’s shadow’, he spiraled into a deep depression.
The Barbaro family seems to have very bad luck with anyone they name Pasquale to the point where they believe the name is cursed. Pasquale “Peter” Barbaro, 58 was shot to death in 1990. He was once the boss of the Canberra Mafia.
Pasquale ‘Peter’ Barbaro
Another Pasquale “Pat” was gunned down in Melbourne in 2003 during a mob turf war. He was gunned down with notorious crime figure Jason Moran.
Pasquale ‘Pat’ Barbaro
Yet another Pasquale, also a one-time boss, was arrested trying to import 4.4 tons of ecstasy into Australia in tins of tomatoes. He is currently serving life in prison.
Pasquale Barbaro who is serving life in prison for the world’s biggest importation of ecstasy.
Aware of his bloodied family history, now it seems the ‘evil life’ is catching up with Ricardo Barbaro.
Police seem to be closing in on him as they announced Friday morning that they had found Miss Price’s car in Diggers Rest, about 30 mins drive NW of Melbourne. Though Ricky Barbaro is still yet to be found.
