The visit to Italy in February by Mr. A1 Grassby, Minister for Immigration, seems to have been used by an Italian kidnapper to get ransom money to Australia.

The Italian press has made this claim following the arrest of Domenico Barbaro for involvement in the kidnapping last January of l7 year old Pier Angeio Bolis, son of an industrialist of Brescia, in Northern Italy. The ransom paid was $550,000.

The Barbaros, one of the most powerful clans of Calabria, are as feared as their enemies, the Mammoliti, who were involved in the recent kidnapping of John Paul Getty III.

The home town of the Barbaros is Plati, on the slopes of the Aspromonte Mountains. Giuseppe Nicolichia, police chief of Reggio Calabria, has said of the Barbaro clan: "They seem to be honest, but are part of the Aspromonte Mafia."

Plati now has 5,000 inhabitants. It had 8,000 in 1861. A higher proporttion of the inhabitants emigrated to Australia than from any other small Italian town.

It was logical, therefore. for Mr Grassby to visit the town at the beginning of February this vear when he was on an official visit to Italy. It was a visit to the furthest-flung reaches of his electorate. but also a return to. a town where years ago he made many friends as an agricultural extension worker.

He was warned not to go, because Plati has a reputation as a tough town. But he chose to ignore the warning. "The people of Plati are as honest as anywhere else " said Mr. Grassby. They 've given us fine migrants.

Domenico Barbaro is an exception to the rule.

Representatives from Plati travelled to Rome to greet. Mr Grassby when he arrived in Italy.
The townspeople, led by the communist Mayor, Mr Frncesco Catanzariti, turned out in force when Mr Grassby arrived in Plati on February 3, to receive the keys of the town.

Domenico Barbaro

The mayor and vice mayor visited Australia in return for Mr Grassby's visit. Domenico Barbaro was also granted a visa to visit Australia for two weeks from April 4-17. He had emigrated to Sydney with his family as a youngster but had been deported in 1958 as an undesirable.

Back in Plati, Barbaro became a truck driver and communist activist: One of the charges pending against him is for bashing up neo-fascists. In 1963 an amnesty saved him from a prison term for stealing. In the same year, a charge of homicide against him was dropped. His 5O-year-old cousin, Francesco, arrested with Domenico for the Bolis kidnapping, is considered the Godfather of Plati.

Some time ago both were transferred from Plati to Brescia in obedience to a court order which specified that they had to spend an "obligatoty sojourn" in the northern Italian city.
Calabrian police officials suspected that a series of kidnappings in the Brescia areas, including those of eight-year-old Mirko Panattoni, 17-year-old Pier Angelo Bolis and that of the Rossi Vermouth family heir, Luigi Rossi de Montelerli, were due to Calabrian migrants.

They arrested one who put them on the track of the Barbaro cousins, who had been allowed to return to Plati. On May 4, five police from Brescia sought them in Plati. They fled in their Fiat 500 and, cornered, vainly tried to escape by diving into a river. In Domenico's house, the police found the lire equivalent of $200. The numbers on the notes corresponded to those on the banknotes paid for Pier Angelo Bolis' liberation. There was also $1,000 in Australian banknotes.

Next day, it was discovered that although Domenico was unemployed, be had sufficient money to be building a house for the wife he married a few months ago, and that she had put a deposit of $1,300 on a new car.

The Bergamo daily, "II Giornale di Bergamo" has claimed that two other Plati residents connected with trhe kidnapping fled to Australia. Meanwhile Domenico Barbaro, and his cousin, Francesco, proclaiming their innocence, have been transferred to Monza prison.

The Italian press suggested that the major part of the Bobis kidnapping money has been deposited in Australian banks. There is only a slight possibility that its whereabouts will come to light when the Barbaros and their accomplices are brought to trial.