NEWS: The Age 28 May 03: Pensioner led trafficking ring

Pensioner led trafficking ring
May 28 2003
By Dan Silkstone

A 72-year-old East Bentleigh pensioner directed a trafficking ring that shifted $850,000 worth of marijuana from Adelaide to coastal NSW during 2000.

Daniel Corsetti, a grandfather of five who suffers from diabetes and arthritis, was sentenced in the County Court yesterday to four years' jail with a minimum term of two years and six months.

Judge Joe Gullaci said Corsetti, then aged 70, had been the "prime mover" in the conspiracy to transport 111 kilograms of the drug to NSW in the legitimate steel cargo of two truck drivers.

"You had contact with all the co-conspirators during the 10-week period . . . telephone intercepts demonstrate that you are the man who gives direction to others," Judge Gullaci said.

Four other men were also jailed after joining Corsetti in pleading guilty to a charge of conspiring to traffic a commercial quantity of drugs.


Lorenzo Caliendo, 38, of Athelstone in Adelaide, received a minimum sentence of three years. Judge Gullaci said Caliendo had sourced the marijuana from local growers and parcelled it for transportation.

Eight bundles, each weighing about 14 kilograms, were sent to Sydney between June and August 2000 and received by the group's warehouseman, 35-year-old former snooker champion Daniel Giminez.

Giminez, who had represented Australia in his sport, was jailed for a minimum of two years and three months.

From Sydney, the marijuana was passed to a coastal distribution network led by Steven James Tibbey, 43, of Blue Bay, NSW, and Denis William Jenkins, 55, of Toowoon Bay, NSW.

Tibbey, who received a minimum two-year sentence, and Jenkins, who will serve at least 18 months, passed the drugs to smaller local dealers known as Tooty, Hoot, Nando and The Cowboy.

Judge Gullaci said the men had operated "a systematic commercial business of trafficking cannabis".

From: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/05/27/1053801391540.html

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