Trimbol, Robert

Robert Trimball was born March 19, 1931 in a family of Italian immigrants who came to Australia from the southern part of the Italian region of Calabria . In 1952, Trimball married Joan Quaestead in Sydney, and then moved to his parents' house in Griffith (New South Wales). A few months later, Robert and Joan moved to their rented house, where they raised four children. ^[1] He rented a nearby garage and worked as a mechanic, working in his own business to restore body painting, until in 1968 he declared himself bankrupt with debts of A $ 11,000.

After the bankruptcy, Trimbol still lived in Griffith and was engaged in the repair of pinball machines, having managed to achieve financial prosperity. In 1972, he opened The Texan Tavern Restaurant and The Texan Butchery Butcher Shop. ^[3] In 1973, he sold both enterprises to partner Giuseppe Sergi. By this time, Trimbol's welfare had grown significantly and he was able to pay off debts formed after bankruptcy.

Engaged in legitimate business, Trimbol was able to earn a fortune of more than 2 million Australian dollars, while earning himself a reputation as a major drug lord. Many locals call his house “Grass Castle”, which indicates Trimbol’s place in the illegal marijuana trade.

Trimbol invested in many facilities and enterprises, including farms, cars, speedboats , several clothing stores, a liquor store and a wholesale wine business. He later added a trucking company and a supermarket to his empire. He also bought a plot of land to grow oranges and grapes.

Soon, Trimbol took control of the trade in marijuana grown in New South Wales and earned the nickname "godfather", which speaks of his leadership qualities and Italian origin. He also earned the nickname "Ozzy Bob, ”allegedly given to him by New Zealand drug dealers, but actually called him that way in the Italo-Australian community because of the strong Australian Trimbol accent.

Robert led the organization of marijuana pickers in New South Wales, located significantly above Griffith, past and in County Balranold , where he then crossed the border down to Melbourne.

Donald Bruce Mackay (1933-1977) was born and raised in Griffith (New South Wales), where he ran his family's furniture business. From 1973 to 1976, he ran three times from the Australian Liberal Party to the national parliament and state legislature, but to no avail. Concerned about the growing drug trade in his city and learning about the large marijuana crop in nearby , Mackay handed over to the Sydney police information about the crop, which led to the arrests of five people of Italian descent, four of whom were later convicted. ^[four]

Unfortunately for Mackay, in the trial of the arrested men, his name was read out during the evidence, which allowed him to be identified as an informant. On July 12, 1977, an unknown person attempted to lure Mackay into . The caller said that he wants to make a large order of furniture. Mackay, busy with other affairs, sent an employee to Jerilderi who found no one there. ^{[4] [5]}

On July 15, 1977, Mackay disappeared from the Griffith Hotel car park after drinking with friends and his body was never found. At Mackay’s disappearance site, his locked wagon had blood stains on the door, wheel rim, mudguard and tire, as well as Mackay’s car keys and three 0.22-inch (5.6 mm) cartridge cases. It is believed that Mackay was killed and Trimball acted as the customer of his murder. ^{[4] [6]}

Mackay’s disappearance prompted the Commission, known as the Royal Woodward Commission, ^[7] to investigate the crime.

A few months later, the Commission reduced the list of suspects to six people, including Robert Trimbol himself, James Frederick Basley, George Joseph, Gianfranco Tizzone and two well-known Trimbol partners. The head of the Royal Commission, Woodward, stated: “I have named Trimbola as being associated with the production of marijuana in Griffith, and also as the head of the operation in Euston. He, if not the “main man” regarding the production of marijuana in the Griffith region, then one of them is closely connected with Antonio Sergi at the same enterprise. ”

In connection with the disappearance of Mackay, Woodward discovered that “getting rid of Mackay was the result of an organized plan. It was destroyed by an organization that, it seems to me, existed in Griffith. I’m sure that making an appointment with Mackay at Jerilderie was part of an ambush plan and getting rid of him. ” A year later, the New South Wales Supreme Court officially declared Donald Mackay "alleged dead." No further action was taken. Trimbol and his partners were free and could do their business as usual.

Seven years after Woodward’s Royal Commission, media pressure led authorities to conduct a new investigation into Mackay’s death, which was entrusted to coroner Bruce Brown.

The investigation also heard evidence showing that the lights in the parking lot were broken before the appointed time for the meeting with Mackay, indicating a deliberate attempt to ambush him, and that Mackay was afraid for his life after he learned that the information he had been given to the police the harvest in Kolymbali led to the conviction of four people. The estimated cost of marijuana seized by the police due to information from Mackay exceeded Australian $ 25 million.

The evidence was also presented of a man named Patrick Joseph Keenan, who made a statement to the police that when he went into a barn in the Griffith area, he found inside Antonio Sergi with several women packing large quantities of marijuana in plastic bags.

Judicial evidence, including ballistic evidence, showing that three shots, from which at the place of Mackay disappeared left 0.22 caliber shells, were fired from the same weapon - the French Unique gun. Blood and hair samples found at the scene were also compared with Mackay samples.

According to the results of the investigation, Coroner Brown stated that the murder case was almost completed, but he could not publicly reveal the identity of both main accused in accordance with Section 19 of the Coroners Act.

On May 5, 1981, police recorded a conversation between Trimbol and his partner, Dr. Nick Paltos, about the imminent arrest for conspiracy to kill Mackay. Soon Trimball fled to the USA, then moved to France and, finally, left for Ireland, avoiding customs checks and changing his date of birth on the departure card. In Ireland, Trimbol was arrested and detained pending extradition . Thanks to lawyers, Robert managed to avoid extradition, as the Irish government refused to extradite him to Australia and he was released. The Australian government appealed the decision of the Irish court, but Trimbol retained his freedom.

Australian Federal Police intercepted Paltos' telephone conversations, which discussed the unsuccessful attempt to extradite Trimbol and mentioned the large amounts of money that Robert spent on his defense, explaining that the efforts to extradite the “godfather” from Griffith were unsuccessful largely due to the efforts of Irish lawyer Patrick MacInty, who became famous for protecting members of the IRA .

Trimbol fled from Ireland to Spain, where he died in a hospital on May 12, 1987 at the age of 56. His body was returned to Australia, the funeral took place in Sydney, where he was buried in the Pine Grove Memorial Park in Mincinbury on May 25, 1987.

He was twice married. The first wife is Joan Cuested (married in 1952). The second wife is Anne-Marie Presland (married in 1979). ^{[8] [9]} Four children, all from the first wife: Guyel Joan (born 1954), Glenda Julie (born 1955), Robert Kenneth (born 1956) and Craig Granger (1959 R.). ^[one]

Trimbol was the central character of the crime-drama mini-series on the Nine Network television network, where he was played by actor . The widow of Trimbola was unhappy with the way she was portrayed in the series and was going to sue the television crew. ^[9]

• Bottom, Bob. Shadow of Shame: How the mafia got away with the murder of Donald Mackay . - Sun Books, 1988 .-- 226 p. - ISBN 9780725105587 .
• Minuti, Diego, Antonio Nicaso & Paulo Monotero. Ndranghete: Le filiali della mafia calabrese . - Monteleone, 1994 .-- 242 p. - (Saggi (Vibo Valentia, Italy) (V. 3)). - ISBN 9788880270119 .
• Moor, Keith. Crims in Grass Castles: The True Story of Trimbole, Mr Asia and the Disappearance of Donald Mackay . - Australia: Viking Press , 2009 .-- 384 p. - ISBN 978-0-670-07381-8 .

• Dyster, Barrie. Trimbole, Robert (1931–1987) (Russian) // Australian Dictionary of Biography : dictionary . - Canberra : National Center of Biography at the ANU , 2012 .-- T. 18 . - ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7 .