Police in Australia believe a lawyer who represented some of the country’s most notorious organised crime figures was the victim of a contract killing.

Joe Acquaro was shot dead in Melbourne in the early hours of Tuesday. Investigators believe underworld bosses may have put a price on his head.

The lawyer was well-known in the city’s Italian community and his body was found outside a cafe he owned.

Clients included crime bosses accused of extortion, drugs and arms offences.

A vicious gangland feud that claimed at least 28 lives in Melbourne ended more than a decade ago, but detectives say that underworld tensions still fester in Australia’s second biggest city.