Drug conspirator lived life of luxury
THESE are the Italian sports cars a drugs supply conspirator from Widnes seemed to be living the high life with and took to social media to boast about.
Paul Ferraiolo, 42, of Fox Bank Close, was sentenced last week to four years and six months in prison for conspiracy to supply cocaine.
He is one of 17 people so far sent down for a total of 120 years behind bars as part of Operation Dreadnought.
The Widnes man liased with the leader of a Warrington-based organised crime group and later supplied a kilo of cocaine to another conspirator in a pub car park in the town.
However, when the other conspirator was arrested by police in Halifax in West Yorkshire while travelling to Middlesborough, cocaine was recovered in a sports bag beneath the front passenger seat of the car he was driving – and Ferraiolo’s DNA was among that discovered on the bag’s drawstring.
Following the sentencing, Cheshire police released pictures seized during the investi
● gation which showed his collection of sports cars, with the criminal pictured posing in a grey Lamborghini.
Another shows a red Ferrari, with an image from Snapchat showing the Lamborghini with the caption ‘tucked up nice’ on the drive way.
Police struck at his Fox Bank ● Close home last year as they smashed their way through his front door when they executed a dawn raid.
Speaking last week after the sentencings, Detective Chief Inspector Mike Evans from Cheshire police’s Serious And Organised Crime Unit said: “Let this be a warning to other organised criminals out there, Cheshire is and always will be, a very difficult place to operate.
“I want the public to be reassured that protecting our local communities by pursuing organised criminals will continue to be at the forefront of our priorities.
“We know there are people in our community who are living in fear of these criminals and we’re aware there are residents who know gangs are operating in their area. To those who engage in what they see as casual drug use, or show apathy towards it, I would highlight the misery these groups bring to the streets of Cheshire in order to maintain their profit margins.
“I hope successful operations like these reassure the public that we do act on information you provide and by continuing to come forward you can help protect your community and disrupt serious and organised crime.”