Joe Ferraro, Carol Law dealt cocaine, MDMA in Bondi
She’s an up and coming real estate industry professional and he’s a buff mechanic. But this golden couple were hiding a big secret – which led to them dealing cocaine and MDMA in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Wentworth Courier
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A muscle bound mechanic and his glamorous real estate industry girlfriend dealt drugs in Bondi to feed their staggering two gram a day cocaine habit.
Waverley Local Court heard on Tuesday Joseph Ferraro, 29, of Strathfield and Rydalmere’s Carol Ka Lo Law, 29, began acting as dial a dealers to fund their expensive addictions.
The pair were both charged with one count each of supplying an indictable quantity of MDMA, dealing with the proceeds of crime and supplying a small quantity of cocaine following their arrest on August 1.
The court heard family and friends of Ferraro, a graduate of inner west private school Trinity Grammar, and Law were “upset and ashamed” as the pair had never before been in an any trouble with the law.
“The situation is recreation became habitual and the habitual became quite expensive,” their lawyer told the court.
“That debt had to be alleviated.”
The police fact sheet states officers witnessed the pair driving suspiciously around Bondi in Law’s silver Toyota Corolla.
The pair picked up a man and after driving around the block, dropped him off again in the bus zone on Campbell Parade around 7pm.
While one set of officers followed the man, the other tailed the car.
When the buyer admitted to police he’d just purchased cocaine for $600 and handed over the two bags, the officers sent a message to their colleagues to pull over the car.
“Police asked questions in relation to their interaction with the male earlier with the accused (Ferraro) stating, ‘he’s just an old friend’,” court documents read.
Once the pair realised they’d been caught, police described their conduct as “extremely co-operative” and “respectful” and they even showed officers exactly where to find the 2.75g of cocaine, 1.38g of MDMA and $2000 in cash hidden in the car.
“I’m not a criminal, we’re moving places and we’re just using this to get new furniture”, Ferraro told police according to the fact sheet.
The court heard the pair had both sought treatment from reputable Bronte based addiction medicine specialist Dr Mark Hardy in the wake of their arrests.
Magistrate Ross Hudson was told Ferraro earns $1300 a week as a mechanic and Law $1000 a week at an administrative role in real estate.
Cocaine in Sydney is known to go for $300 per gram although there have been reports of pandemic induced price hikes.
Magistrate Hudson said he accepted the crime was committed out of “need not greed” as the pair could never have afforded to feed their sizeable addictions on their salaries.
He voiced concerns Sydneysiders had become “desensitised” to drug use.
“They say, ‘oh it’s fine, it happens in Bondi, happens in Double Bay’. I think some people need to go into a small country town and see what happens when a shipment of drugs arrives,” Magistrate Hudson said.
“Children are left unbathed, unkempt, cigarettes in their nappies while their parents are on drugs.
“That’s the real world. In Sydney we sit here in these ivory towers. We are desensitised to it.”
The pair were handed identical sentences for each of the charges.
For supplying MDMA they were convicted and received a 12 month Community Corrections Order.
They must abstain for drug use for six months and continue their treatment with Dr Hardy.
The $2000 cash was forfeited to the crown and the pair were convicted and fined $500 for dealing with the proceeds of crime.
The cocaine supply charge also resulted in a conviction and $550 fine.