Fall guy or drug lord? Missing cash stash mystery as Adelaide business owner Domenic Pellicone admits role in interstate cannabis ring

An Adelaide fruit and veg business owner was running kilograms of cannabis to Darwin in return for bundles of cash – but mystery surrounds the last $156k he received.

Easily manipulated and naive, a “fall guy” in a large cannabis syndicate received $156,000 in tainted money while under police surveillance – only for the cash to disappear, a court has heard.

Domenic Pellicone, 60, was charged with trafficking large commercial quantities of cannabis from Adelaide to Darwin.

The fruit and veg business owner pleaded guilty to those charges shortly before going to trial.

During a hearing earlier this month, David Edwardson KC said his client’s hands were tied and he was left taking the fall for a larger syndicate.

“As is often the case, sadly, people who get caught are often not the ones that should be in the dock and he’s very much one of those people,” Mr Edwardson said.

“He is easily manipulated, has limited insight, but his hands are tied, he’s got nothing out of it literally.”

The court heard he drugs were packed inside pallets of other goods which were then sent to the Northern Territory by truck.

On the return voyage, large amounts of cash would be hidden in pallets of legitimate goods for pick up in Adelaide.

While police in South Australia and the Northern Territory were closely monitoring the operation, mystery surrounds what happened to $156,000 intercepted and then repackaged by police.

On May 19, 2020, police monitored Pellicone as he organised for a pallet to be shipped to a recipient named “Ben” in the Northern Territory.

When the pallet arrived in Darwin three days later NT police found 21.76kg of dried cannabis in 48 separate bags.

That same day a pallet of potting mix, which had been sent from the same “Ben” in Darwin, was seized at a shipping depot in Cavan.

Inside the potting mix were three heat sealed bags containing a total of $156,410.

The packages were opened, the money photographed and the serial numbers noted, before it was resealed and returned to the pallet.

The pallet, and the money, was picked up by Pellicone in Adelaide.

In June, two other pallets were intercepted and found to contain 2.53kg and 2.97kg of cannabis.

Court released images of a shipment of cannabis, seized on route to Darwin from Adelaide. Picture: District Court

Court release images of a shipment of cannabis, seized on route to Darwin from Adelaide. Picture: District Court

In Darwin, Benjamin Bailey, who had been receiving the pallets, was arrested. Bank records showed he had transferred $10,000 to Pellicone in March 2020.

On June 15, 2020, Star Group officers arrested Pellicone as he was driving on Port Wakefield Rd at Greenfields.

In the weeks prior to his arrest Pellicone had been seen at a house in Sellicks Beach which was later found in the early stages of being turned into a hydroponic lab.

The $156k was not recovered during raids of multiple properties as part of the operation.

“All I’m putting to Your Honour is that you can’t sentence him, with the greatest of respect, on the basis that he’s gone off on a frolic of his own, for his own ends, to make significant profits,” Mr Edwardson said.

“That’s not the true story and plainly it can’t be the true story because $156,000 has gone missing.”

Pellicone will be sentenced in November.