How Queensland police smashed drug syndicate that used Fasta Pasta restaurants to shift drugs between Adelaide and Cairns

In 2017 almost 40 boxes were mailed from Adelaide to Fasta Pasta in Cairns. Why? And what was inside those boxes?

Operation Aymara: The crackdown which cut off the flow of cannabis to Cairns.

In the early hours of March 21, 2018, Australian Federal Police and officers from Queensland Police huddled outside three houses in suburban Adelaide.

They had made the trip from balmy Cairns with the singular purpose of smashing a drug exportation syndicate which was introducing cannabis to Queensland addicts and making hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process.

But as with all such operations, greed proved the syndicate’s undoing as shipments and profits grew, drawing the attention of state and federal police.

To get to the source of the drugs, Federal and Queensland police had to go to get on a flight at Cairns Airport and make their way to Adelaide.

Officers would dub the crackdown Operation Aymara, a co-ordinated strike on a cannabis trade which had deep roots in two states and was thought to involve several current and former South Australians.

At the centre of the police attention that morning was former South Australian commercial fisherman Gaetano Del Giglio, the man friends nicknamed “cyclone” because of his constant movement and chatter.

He is accused of being the mastermind behind a drug trafficking ring that was operated out of a Fasta Pasta in Cairns.

He was charged with trafficking in a dangerous drug and perverting the course of justice.

Del Giglio has pleaded not guilty and will go to trial early next year in Queensland.

Also arrested that morning was Anthony Vitale, who this week was found guilty of dealing with the proceeds of crime less than $100,000.

Accused drug trafficker Gaetano Del Giglio, a former South Australian commercial fisherman who was arrested in Adelaide and extradited to Queensland.

During his trial on a more serious charge of dealing with proceeds of crime more than $100,000, of which he was acquitted, prosecutors laid out the complicated web of relationships which stretched the 2600km between Adelaide and Cairns.

During the trial the court heard allegations that between January and September 2017, 39 consignments of cannabis left from Adelaide, addressed to a Fasta Pasta in the centre of Cairns.

Owner of the restaurant, Valentino La Vista, who also started Fasta Pastas in Salisbury and Gawler, said he had no idea what was in the consignments and had been told they contained fishing lures.

An example of boxes sent from Adelaide to Cairns containing bags of cannabis.

The District Court heard allegations that the charismatic Del Giglio had asked La Vista whether he could get packages sent to the restaurant.

La Vista agreed, but told the court he refused Del Giglio’s request to count money in the popular store.

La Vista was not charged with any involvement in the syndicate.

The court heard the packages would be dropped off by courier and then stored in the back of the restaraunt along with the fresh produce, until they were picked up.

Del Giglio cut a distinctive figure in Cairns. Driving round town in his black Nissan Navara ute, he was a whirlwind of conversation.

He made the Fasta Pasta his home away from home, drinking coffees and chatting with any of his numerous mates and associates who would come in to see him.

Del Giglio said he was a professional fisherman and chartered boats, populating his phone with images of hijynx on the high seas.

Police allege that Del Giglio arranged with contacts in his home state of South Australia to ship boxes of hydroponically grown cannabis.

The finished product, a 2.5 pound solid block of cannabis, was placed five to a box in postal packages purchased from Officeworks in Parafield and Gilles Plains.

From there they were sent to the Fasta Pasta in Cairns.

Del Giglio denies giving the drugs to local dealers who pushed it to the streets.

Former Queensland One Nation candidate Dominic Frisone became the bagman for the syndicate, collecting almost $350,000 cash from the sale of the South Australian cannabis.

It was reported in Queensland that his role came to an abrupt end when Del Giglio allegedly assaulted him for looking at his girlfriend.

For his role Frisone pleaded guilty to money laundering charges and was given a two-year suspended sentence in Queensland.

The enterprise came crashing down when parcels started to be intercepted which led to multiple arrests, including the raids in Adelaide.

Dominic Frisone in 2006. He was later given a two-year suspended sentence for his role as bagman in a Cairns cannabis syndicate with ties to South Australia.

Vitale was accused of receiving large sums of money from Del Giglio.

During Vitale’s trial, financial records showed that a total of $113,250 had been deposited into his account, all of which was quickly transferred to different accounts.

Prosecutor Jeff Powell said the transfers had no explanation and that Vitale had only declared a taxable income of $59,000 in total for 2014-17.

Lindy Powell QC, for Vitale, argued that her client could only be guilty if the jury accepted that he had known the money came from a criminal enterprise and was tainted.

By their guilty verdict for the lesser charge of dealing with less than $100,000, the jury accepted that Vitale was not aware that all the money was a proceed of crime, but did have some knowledge of events in Queensland.

The guilty verdict is the latest to come from Operation Ayamara. Vitale will face sentencing submissions at a later date.

Del Giglio is scheduled to stand trial early next year on drug trafficking charges.