[1] The clan also operates in the northern Italian regions of Lombardy (notably in Buccinasco, near Milan),[2] Piemonte and overseas in Australia, in particular in the Griffith, New South Wales area.
It was his son Antonio (born in 1920) who founded the Nigru branch of the cosca, while through the marriages of his daughters Elisabetta and Serafina, the 'ndrine Perre Maistru and Papalia Carciutu developed.
The feud lingered on until 1978, when Domenico Barbaro was killed in Perugia, after serving 26 years in prison for the murder of Francesco Mammoliti in 1954.
[12] The arrest of Giuseppe Barbaro in 2001 led to the discovery of a complex underground fortress in the mountains in Platì that had been used by the local clans for decades.
[14] However, following the major anti-mafia operations, the 'ndrina began to change its style: no murders, no sensational actions, and starting a massive reinvestment in construction, clubs and restaurants.
From that moment on, the Barbaro 'ndrina started to have three strongholds; one in the heart of the Aspromonte in Calabria, one in Corsico and Buccinasco in the Lombardy and one in Volpiano in Piedmont.
[16] On November 3, 2009, 17 arrests were made in the Milanese area in the operation called "Parco Sud" of the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Finanza.
[17][18] On February 22, 2010, Tiziano Butturini, former mayor of the Democratic Party of Trezzano sul Naviglio, in the province of Milan and president of "Tasm di Amiacque", public companies for the management of water resources, Michele Iannuzzi, municipal councilor of the political party "The People of Freedom" and Andrea Madafferi owner of the "Kreiamo" real estate company were accused of building corruption and of association to the Barbaro criminal organization.
[19][20] On 23 January 2018, an operation by the Guardia di Finanza that began in 2013 blocked drug trafficking between Colombia and the Lombard towns of Corsico, Assago, Buccinasco and Trezzano sul Naviglio headed by the Barbaro 'ndrina with the help of its branch the Papalia 'ndrina.
[21][22] On 23 October 2018, an operation by the Corsico's carabinieri against drug trafficking from Milan and Como ended with 14 people arrested.
[15] Francesco 'Little Trees' Barbaro was named as a member of the Calabrian mafia by the Woodward Royal Commission, held following the disappearance of anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay in 1977.
The Commission alleged Little Trees made a fortune from "activities associated with cannabis cultivation" and, along with Robert Trimbole and his brother-in-law Antonio Sergi (also born in Platì in 1935), was part of an organisation "comprised almost exclusively of persons of Calabrian descent, based in Griffith and Sydney, which engaged in the illicit cultivation, trafficking and distribution of cannabis" between 1974 and 1977.
[27] Another Pasquale Timothy Barbaro was gunned down and killed on November 14, 2016 in Earlwood, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney Australia.