Slain Melbourne gangland lawyer Joe "Pino" Acquaro's family has paid tribute to their "butterfly" at a crowded funeral service.
Mr Acquaro was gunned down as he walked to his car after closing his Gelobar cafe in Brunswick East near the corner of Lygon Street on Tuesday last week.
His body was found hours later by a rubbish-truck driver.
Hundreds of family, friends, clients and colleagues packed into St Mary Star of the Sea - including former client and extortion accused, Rocco Arico - and spilled on to the front steps.
Mr Acquaro's brother Massimo and fellow lawyer Michael McNamara gave words of remembrance and his estranged adult sons Alessio, Alfredo and Adriano gave readings during the traditional Catholic ceremony, according to the order of service.
Earlier in the morning, his family arrived in a convoy of Rolls Royces.
His partner Marisa Di Liso arrived before Mr Acquaro's family and was not a formal part of the ceremony.
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Mr Acquaro's mother Anna paid tribute to her son in the order of service booklet with a poem, which when translated from Italian read: "My small butterfly. I will see you again one day. Caress your wings, your beauty will soothe the sadness strangling my soul."
Following the funeral, Mr Acquaro was buried in Yarraville.
Mr Acquaro had increasingly focused on his Gelobar cafe since taking it on about five years ago.
However, the criminal lawyer had represented a raft of prominent gangland figures in Victoria and had been warned by police there may be a contract on his head.
He had strong ties within the Calabrian community and had been president of Melbourne's Italian Chamber of Commerce and the Reggio Calabria Club.
A week on from his death, police said they are looking for a light-coloured "ute-like" vehicle seen driving with its lights off on Barkly Street in Brunswick East about the time of the shooting, which happened just before 1am.
Victoria Police's gangland squad, Purana Taskforce, which was set up in 2003 in response to the city's underworld war, is assisting in the murder investigation.
