Files on murder of ‘Fat Joe’ Versace, believed to be early mafia killing, opened for first time

The 1945 murder of Giuseppe “Fat Joe” Versace was horrific.

His stomach was cut open. He was stabbed in the face, neck and torso. In all, the medical examiner found 91 knife wounds — some inflicted after his death.

Presented to police at the time as the result of an argument over a woman, researchers now believe the murder was an early “hit” by Melbourne’s Calabrian mafia.

Today, after 75 years of being closed under Section 9 of Victoria’s Public Records Act, the criminal trial brief for Joe Versace’s murder has been opened to the public for the first time.