29 October, 2015. 16:05
CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Betoota’s favourite father and son fugitives Gino and Mark Stocco have been caught by NSW Police near Dunedoo in central western NSW.
It is believed they were intercepted while travelling back to their hometown of Betoota, in Western Queensland, where their extended family was waiting.
The pair, two of Australia’s most wanted men, were surrounded on a property at Elong Elong on Wednesday after eight years on the run in rural NSW and Victoria.
We regret to inform the greater Stocco family that they will be unable to make this weekend’s Stocco Family Reunion at the Betoota Freemason Hall.
The town’s mayor and first cousin of Mark, Councillor Keith Carton, spoke to The Betoota Advocate today.
“It is very unfortunate that uncle G-G and Mark won’t be able to make this year’s hit out,”
“We usually love to get on the cans and have a good old fashioned catch up around this time of the year,”
“Mind you those two haven’t been able to make it for a while. Seven years to be exact… Either way we are glad they are still alive,”
“They wouldn’t have last much longer I don’t think. Us Stocco’s aren’t equipped to handle the bush like Naden would. I mean we aren’t fair-skinned, but we aren’t black,”
“Both G-G and his son are far too woggy to keep living on the road like that. Air-conditioned blackfullas we used to call ’em”
Gino was born in Betoota, one of twelve sons to Porl and Vita who moved moved to the region from their family home in Italy in 1955.
He worked in cane harvesting and farm work and did seasonal fruit-picking in Victoria on and off for two decades, before starting an itinerant life, stealing and defrauding from rural residents.
In the early 2000s, his son joined him and both are accused of stealing and vandalising property across Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia.
They were arrested on Wednesday about 25km north of Dunedoo, in central west NSW.
Councillor Keith Carton has requested that anyone who was owed money by Gino and Mark to stop calling his mother’s landline.
