A gang member who modelled himself on real and fictional gangsters, was jailed after guns, live ammunition and £152,000 worth of Class A drugs were found stashed at a Bayswater hotel.
Oluwatobi Sunmonu, 26 of Artillery Place, Woolwich, was sentenced to nine years and three months in prison at Harrow Crown Court on Thursday (April 26).
Police arrested Sunmonu after discovering five handguns, one semi-automatic firearm, a silencer, a large quantity of live ammunition, a large number of component parts of ammunition and large quantities of cocaine and heroin during an intelligence-led raid at Queens Hotel on May 20 last year.
Sunmonu's two co-conspirators; Iyisha Levine, 29, of Westbourne Park Road, Notting Hill, and Toni Ferry, 23, of Lamb’s Passage, Islington, were also arrested and subsequently charged.
Detectives found a false driving licence on which Sunmonu used the name Thomas Corleone and a copy of the book The Supreme Team, which details the rise of an organised crime syndicate in New York City in the 1980s, which suggested the gang boss modelled his crime network on fictional and real life gangsters.
Levine and Ferry (Sunmonu's girlfriend) assisted Sunmonu in renting and paying for the hotel room where the drugs, firearms and ammunition were stored.
The group paid in excess of £28,000 to rent the room over one year and five months.
Ferry and Levine played a key part in Sunmonu’s drug enterprise, and would stay in hotel suites for days at a time, preparing and packaging large quantities of Class A drugs ready for distribution.
Officers also discovered a number of firearms had been purchased and delivered to Ferry’s home address in Islington.
Throughout the course of the investigation, detectives uncovered an organised criminal network (OCN) divided into two areas of business - the supply of firearms and ammunition and the supply of Class A drugs.
Sunmonu oversaw the criminality and would purchase firearms and ammunition before distributing them to gangs in a wider criminal network.
Sunmonu and Ferry were both charged with seven counts of conspiracy to enable others to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life, one count of conspiracy to enable others to possess ammunition with intent to endanger life, and two counts of possession of Class A drugs (cocaine and heroin) with intent to supply.
Levine was charged with two counts of conspiracy to possess Class A drugs (cocaine and heroin) with intent to supply.
Sunmonu pleaded guilty to all offences on November 20.
Ferry and Levine denied the charges, but were convicted following a two-week-long trial at Harrow Crown Court.
They were sentenced on April 16 to 13 years’ and five years’ imprisonment respectively.
Detective Sergeant Mark Attridge, from the Met’s Trident and Area Crime Command, said: “This has been a complex and protracted investigation in which my team of detectives worked tirelessly to dismantle this criminal network and bring these defendants to justice.
“Sunmonu was the head of his organisation and compared himself to both real and fictional gangsters as he distributed drugs and firearms across London.
“It became apparent Sunmonu clearly believed that he, as the supplier and not the end user of his drugs and firearms, was somehow not responsible for the misery that he inflicted on the streets of London.
“I would like to thank my detectives who brought these criminals to justice, I am incredibly proud of the contribution they make on a daily basis to keep London safe.”
