Illawarra drug maiden Natascha Consigli locked up for role in meth, pot business

An Illawarra woman fulfilled a variety of roles in an underworld drug operation that funded her and her lover’s lifestyle, a court has been told.

Natascha Consigli leaving Wollongong District Court. Picture: Dylan Arvela

A drug maiden – whose lifestyle was funded by dirty money earned through servicing larges swatches of southern NSW with illicit substances – has copped her punishment.

Natascha Consigli, 48, walked into Wollongong District Court on Wednesday four months on from pleading guilty to two counts of supplying an indictable quantity of drugs and dealing with the proceeds of crime – namely nearly $1 million in cash.

The former Wollongong Council worker did not walk out, however, with Judge Andrew Haesler sentencing her to two years and six months behind bars.

Court documents stated Consigli lived at an address on Antrim Ave, Warilla with her partner – who is co-accused and still before the courts – throughout the offending period in 2021.

Investigators tapped three phone numbers used by Consigli’s partner and intercepted calls with a Bathurst-based drug deal relating to the supply of 562.2g of meth and 897.2g of pot.

The police were able to establish Consigli, who the co-offender often referred to as ‘the girl’, was across the drug dealing given she was on several calls and sometimes delivered the illicit substances to customers.

Natascha Consigli outside Wollongong Courthouse in December, 2022. Picture: Dylan Arvela

The documents stated investigators tracked Consigli and the co-offender between September and December, 2021, supplying ice on no fewer than 99 occasions with the total weight coming to more than 1.4kg.

Police set up surveillance equipment at a storage facility in Albion Park Rail which was used by Consigli, who was recorded one evening in November, last year, counting bundles of $100 notes.

In December, 2021, Consigli was in the storage unit packing money into boxes where she was heard telling her partner “I miss playing with it” and “It makes me happy”.

The documents stated the drugs operation came crashing down nine days later when police arrested Consigli at an address on Wentworth St, Port Kembla.

Police searched that address and seized $3600 in cash while another $3230 was locked at a Warilla home.

Natascha Consigli could be eligible for parole in July, 2024. Picture: Dylan Arvela

The storage unit was also searched, with police locating $943,000 and 2.92kg of cannabis.

“It is abundantly clear she lives a lifestyle that was in part funded by the supply operation of which she was involved,” Judge Haesler said upon sentencing.

“She play some role in the management of the operation, but she was subordinate to her partner.”

The court heard Consigli experienced borderline personality disorder and an “obsessive need to avoid rejection and abandonment”

A specialist’s report indicated this made her “predisposed” to the offending with her partner who she linked up with when the two were in drug rehabilitation.

Consigli will serve a non-parole period of one year and three months, meaning she could be eligible for parole in July, 2024.

Her co-offender remains in custody on remand and will appear in Wollongong Local Court later this month.