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Sentencing date for group whose drugs operation was based partly in Bedford
EIGHT people who ran a Class A drugs operation that saw the narcotics adulterated and repackaged in Bedford have been jailed.
They include Domenico Masciopinto, 31, formerly of Farrer Court, Bedford, who was been found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to supply a Class A controlled drug, namely heroin and cocaine.
The jury returned the guilty verdicts on Thursday (January 26) after a three-week trial at Luton Crown Court.
Masciopinto will be sentenced along with seven other co-defendants on March 2 at Luton Crown Court. Five of the co-defendants had entered guilty pleas to the same offences in August 2011. Two of the defendants had pleaded guilty to permitting their premises to be used for supplying Class A drugs.
The jury heard how the seven men and one woman ran a drugs supply operation obtaining high purity cocaine and heroin from Bradford, which were then sold on to local mid-level street dealers.
Masciopinto was in charge of the operation with 20-year-old Danielle Digiacomo. 19-year-old Stefano D’Aniello and 27-year-old Michael Capone supervised the trips and took the money to Bradford, where they were supplied by Mohammed Ramzan, aged 31. 39-year-old James Byrne was the taster of heroin and the courier of the drugs back to Bedford. Christopher Kostarz, 35, and Rosaria Kosijer, 33, were on the fringes and allowed their addresses to be used by Masciopinto.
The court was told that on May 12, 2011 the police broke up this operation and seized 1.4kg of cocaine and 1.234kg of heroin, as well as larger amounts of cutting agents such as benzocaine. The operation had been running since at least October 2010.
The estimated value of this large scale drugs operation was in excess of £2million.
Simon Heptonstall, senior crown advocate for Thames and Chiltern Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This was a professional and organised operation.
“It sourced substantial quantities of Class A drugs from an importer in Yorkshire, then distributed them to street dealers in Bedford. At its head was Domenico Masciopinto, a determined drug dealer who was still on licence from a four-and-a-half-year sentence for similar offences.
“He tried to fool the jury by saying that he had only become involved after his life was threatened. He wove that account around his being shot in January 2011.
“In reality that had been the product of rivalry between competing drug networks. Exposed to examination his cynical story was swiftly shot down.
“The impact on the local community of this high level drug dealing is immense. Drugs ruin the lives of those who use them; they damage the law abiding citizens who become the victims of crimes committed to fund drug habits. Masciopinto and his men were motivated purely by money, without a care for the misery on which their potential millions were mounted.
“Thanks to a dedicated and detailed police investigation, followed by robust prosecution, once sentenced these big time criminals shall hopefully not blight the streets of Bedford for quite some time. The CPS and police shall assist the court in depriving them of the proceeds of their drug pedalling.”
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Weather for Bedford
Tuesday 29 May 2012
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Temperature: 12 C to 19 C
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