News Service from House Harris

NSW: Man wanted for double murder questioning flees country

SYDNEY, May 12 AAP - A "person of interest" over the brutal stabbing deaths of two Sydney brothers has left Australia, with police powerless to stop him.

Mario, 52, and Albert, 56, Frisoli were stabbed to death in their Rozelle home, in Sydney's inner west, some time after 7pm (AEST) on Wednesday, May 6.

Albert Frisoli's former business partner Guiseppe Di Cianni is one of a number of persons of interest in the investigation, Detective Inspector Peter Bailey said.

Accompanied by his son Robert and an unidentified woman, Mr Di Cianni left Sydney on Tuesday on a flight bound for Italy via Bangkok.

"His departure was quite sudden," Insp Bailey told AAP.

"We made approaches to speak to them and clearly he (Guiseppe) left the jurisdiction before we could.

"He is one line of inquiry along with a number of others. We will clearly continue to examine his involvement with the (Frisoli) brothers."

Police understand Mr Di Cianni is due to return to Australia in about three months, with media reporting he said he was visiting Rome to undergo cancer treatment.

"He is a person of interest (but) he clearly hasn't been identified or charged so he is free to leave the country," Insp Bailey said.

The Di Cianni's jetted out of Sydney just hours after tearful relatives of the Frisoli brothers made a plea for public help to find the pair's killer.

Mario's daughters Shannon, 20, and Erica, 17, together with the men's sister Margaret Frisoli, sobbed as they spoke lovingly of the pair.

They were at a loss to explain why anyone would want to hurt them.

"He never stood the wrong way with anybody. He never did anything. He was very gentle and kind to everybody. Everybody loved him," Erica said of her father.

Albert Frisoli, a property developer, had been embroiled in a complex Supreme Court battle with Mr Di Cianni.

In the legal action filed in July 2006, Mr Frisoli sought to have a company under Mr Di Cianni's directorship, AIAN Investments, wound up and liquidated.

Mr Di Cianni had filed a cross-claim and the matter was next scheduled for mention on June 15.

Detective Inspector Peter Bailey on Tuesday confirmed the Frisoli brothers' business affairs formed part of their investigation.

"We are investigating anything to do with both brothers, all their associates, their business dealings and their personal lives," Insp Bailey said.

Detectives are also using an Italian-speaking Sydney radio station to appeal for help.

Insp Bailey said it is believed there was only one killer, that it was possible only one of the brothers was the intended victim, and that the second man may have happened upon the crime.

A team of 12 detectives working on the case has recovered a "kitchen-style" knife from the scene which police believe was used in the stabbings.

Insp Bailey said the killer fled the scene on the night, running through a nearby park to George Street before making a short stop behind a fence to either hide or change clothes. He then left George Street in a vehicle.

Police are appealing for anyone who may have seen a suspicious vehicle or person in the area on the night of Wednesday, May 6, to contact them.

The family's brushes with violence date back to 1958 when the Frisoli brothers' father Nick shot dead his brother over a business disagreement - an act for which Mr Frisoli senior spent 10 years in prison.

In 1998, Nick Frisoli went missing and his body was found more than a week later in the Murrumbidgee River near Wagga Wagga.