Police found drugs with a street value of £200,000 when they raided the Little Venice home of an ex-professional rugby player.
Lorenzo Bocchini, his brother Alessandro Bocchini and his sister-in-law Justine Bocchini, were inspired by the hit television series Breaking Bad and supplied hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of crystal meth into the south London drugs scene.
The family gang were convicted after a lengthy investigation by a specialist Met unit, with Lorenzo appearing at Southwark Crown Court for sentencing on Thursday (November 17) which was subsequently adjourned until December 1.
Lorenzo had previously pleaded guilty to six counts of possession with intent to supply a variety of drugs including crystal meth, cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy), mephedrone (meow meow), amphetamine (speed) and another designer drug named 4-cl-alpha-pp.
The 36-year-old is the third member of the same family convicted under the police operation.
When police from Lambeth’s dedicated Omega team raided his home in Warwick Avenue in July this year they found drugs with a street value £200,000 including MDMA and crystal meth - some of which had been dyed blue in an apparent bid to copy the cult television show Breaking Bad.
A home "lab" was found with evidence of drying out - a key stage in the process of preparing crystal meth it to be sold on the streets, the Met Police said.
Officers also seized £33,000 in cash and a stun gun during the raid.
An associate of Lorenzo who was in the flat at the time and believed to by high on crystal meth, jumped from the flat’s third floor window, breaking his leg in the process.
The other major players caught in the Operation Mako sting was Lorenzo’s brother Alessandro Bocchini, 45, and his wife Justine Bocchini, 33.
The couple, who live in Porchester Crescent in Paddington and have two young children, were jailed. Alessandro Bocchini got six years and Justine Bocchini got four years.
They had both previously pleaded guilty at Inner London Crown Court to a string of drugs offences including possession with intent to supply crystal meth, designer drug mephedrone, ecstasy and cocaine.
Both were also convicted of possession of criminal property.
The Bocchinis claimed to run a high-end lighting company but footage captured on their own home office’s CCTV camera just hours before their arrest in November 2015 showed them counting through thousands of pounds of cash loose in carrier bags - profits they had made from supplying drugs.
Police who arrested them seized crystal meth, ecstasy and more than £12,000 in cash.
Both husband and wife denied any involvement in the possession or selling of drugs in police interviews.
But photographic evidence from Alessandro Bocchini’s phone showed a kitchen table laden with crystal meth in a preparation phase prior to sale.
In addition, a financial investigation uncovered £100,000 of drugs money going through the couple’s bank accounts in the six months prior to their arrest.
Numerous messages on both their mobile phones also referenced code names for drugs supply, and the chasing of drugs debts owed.
After the case progressed to Inner London Crown Court, the pair pleaded guilty to all the offences they had been charged and were sentenced on October 24 and 25.
A mini cab driver who the Bocchinis used as a courier to deliver the crystal meth and other drugs all over the capital was also brought to justice by the Met’s Omega team.
Samson Mebrahtru, 42, was convicted of conspiracy to supply class A drugs, possession with intent to supply crystal meth, possession of khat, and possession of criminal property, and given a suspended prison sentence at Inner London Crown Court on October 24.
Lorenzo Bocchini was an ex-Heineken cup professional rugby player.
Detective Constable Matt Clark, from the Omega team, led the investigation, and said: “The Bocchini family were making significant profits selling highly dangerous and addictive class A drugs.
“What we uncovered was the wholesale supply of crystal meth and other drugs, focusing on the "chemsex" scene in south London.
“The use of crystal meth within this scene is hugely damaging and we believe there are strong connections to drug deaths, rape and child sexual exploitation, links which continue to be investigated.”
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