Two jailed for part in 30-kilo drug plot
Cocaine and cash delivered across the country
TWO members of an East Lancashire cocaine drug gang have been jailed for their part in the conspiracy.
Alexander Hepworth, from Helmshore, and Pasquelino Mazzuca, from Ramsbottom, have been locked up for a combined total of 27 years and 11 months after admitting conspiracy to supply at least 30 kilos of the class A drug.
A court was told how the pair delivered huge amounts of cocaine and cash across the country between April and October 2019, including 10 kilos of heroin supplied to two unknown people in Rawtenstall.
Mazzuca was busted after police found his fingerprints on a batch of tablets at a ‘beauty booth’ in Bury where the multi-million pound drugs ring was based.
TWO members of an East Lancashire cocaine drug gang have been jailed for their part in the conspiracy.
Alexander Hepworth, from Helmshore, and Pasquelino Mazzuca, from Ramsbottom, have been locked up for a combined total of 27 years and 11 months after admitting conspiracy to supply at least 30 kilos of the class A drug.
A court was told how the pair delivered huge amounts of cocaine and cash across the country between April and October 2019, including 10 kilos of heroin supplied to two unknown people in Rawtenstall.
Hepworth, 33, ‘never put himself in a position where he was at risk of getting detected’, whereas Mazzuca, 53, would ‘travel as far as it took to make a sale’, a court heard.
Mazzuca was busted after police found his fingerprints on a batch of tablets at a ‘beauty booth’ in Bury where the multimillion pound drugs ring was based.
At Minshull Street Crown Court on Tuesday, Hepworth was jailed for a total of 16 years and nine months while Mazzuci was ordered to serve a total of 11 years and two months.
The court heard how in 2019, mobile phone messages showed Hepworth directing Mazzuca to collect and deliver large amounts of class A drugs and cash to places as far as Plymouth.
In one message the pair discussed supplying a firearm and ammunition, police said.
The investigation into the conspiracy stemmed from GMP’s Operation Heart - which led to three siblings from the Din family in Bury being jailed alongside 15 others.
In the summer of 2019, police carried out a warrant at the family’s ‘beauty booth’ off Oram Street.
They found 2000 MDMA tablets with Mazzuca’s fingerprints on the packaging.
This triggered the launch of Operation Bolognese and led to the arrest of Mazzuca, of Holden Avenue, Ramsbottom, in October.
He denied any involvement when interviewed but messages about ‘passwords’ on his phone linked him to Hepworth.
The password ‘diamond’ was used for a £70,000 sale of what investigators believe to have been 10 kilos of heroin supplied to two unknown people in Rawtenstall.
Hepworth, of Alden Road, Rossendale, was arrested and found with two encrypted EncroChat phones - however this was before these devices could be unlocked.
All evidence came from Mazzuca’s phone and detectives found messages discussing tens of thousands of pounds worth of drugs.
The pair were brought back into custody in February 2020 and charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine, conspiracy to supply heroin, possession of ammunition and possession of a firearm for sale or transfer.
Mazzuca was also charged with possession with intent to supply MDMA.
On May 5, after one day of a Crown Court trial, both men pleaded guilty to the conspiracy to supply of at least 30 kilos of cocaine, which was accepted by the prosecution.
Speaking after the sentencing hearing, Detective Constable Chris Chinnery, of GMP’s Serious and Organised Crime Group, said: “Today’s result is very satisfying after a rigorous investigation into the roles that these two men played in the supply of class A drugs into Greater Manchester from across the region and further afield.
“When looking through the array of messages that Hepworth and Mazzuca exchanged with each other it is clear that they operated in a manner where they thought they could never be caught for their illicit activities.
“However they couldn’t have been more wrong.
“Hepworth never put himself in a position where he was at risk of getting detected and tried to make as much money as he could through Mazzuca’s willingness to travel as far as it took to make a sale, which ultimately saw him leaving fingerprints on a batch of drugs which was able to unravel this particular conspiracy.
“What they both had in common was their disregard of the law, of the legitimate means of making money that the rest of decent people in society abide by and ultimately their greed for making money no matter the illegality of their enterprise.
“It is another two men off the streets of Greater Manchester who wish to profit from the desperation of those who ruin their lives becoming reliant on class A drugs, and we are prepared to do all we can to continue removing such offenders from our towns and cities.”