Ex-Finks bikie Troy Fornaciari jailed for almost five years for drug supply, wounding offences

He’s one of the state’s most instantly recognisable criminals, care of his penchant for facial ink. But you won’t be seeing Troy Fornaciari’s colourful mug out in public anytime soon.

Ex-Finks bikie Troy Fornaciari was sentenced in Wollongong District Court on Tuesday.

A colourful ex-bikie who sold sub-par drugs to a Sydney meth dealer and bashed a mate over money has been jailed for almost five years.

Former Finks Illawarra president Troy Albert Fornaciari, one of the state’s most instantly recognisable criminals whose elaborate face ink includes the words “Tuff” and “Luck” tattooed on his eyelids, fronted a Wollongong court for sentencing on Tuesday after pleading guilty to drug and wounding offences last year.

Court documents revealed detectives were initially surveilling another known Illawarra drug dealer in April 2022 when they uncovered Fornaciari’s role as the woman’s upline supplier.

Officers watched on as the woman purchased a total of 238 grams of meth, worth some $56,000, from the 40-year-old in a three-week period.

During that time, she was repeatedly overheard whinging to a friend about the poor quality of the meth, and Fornaciari’s less-than-stellar customer service.

Meanwhile, Fornaciari, an intermittent but long-term drug user who the court heard had relapsed during the pandemic, was in debt to his own upline supplier in Sydney.

Troy Fornaciari being searched by security at Bali Airport in 2017.

He turned to a mate for help, asking for cash while visiting him one day in May.

When the conversation got heated, Fornaciari hit the man in the back of the head, leaving him with a concussion and a 3cm gash on his scalp.

He apologised the following day, but the man went into hiding, leaving his brother to deal with an increasingly hostile Fornaciari.

“It looks very guilty a grown man hiding like schoolgirl (sic) …. when I do find him, [whoever] else is in the house will cop it. If that happens to be females, kids grandparents etc, I’ve got no code,” Fornaciari told the victim’s brother in a text message.

Fornaciari was arrested at an apartment in Liverpool in May 2022 and has been in custody on remand ever since.

During his sentencing on Tuesday, the court heard Fornaciari’s distrust in authority had materialised at an early age when emergency services had failed to respond to his father having a fatal heart attack, believing the triple-0 call was a hoax.

Troy Fornaciari was sentenced to four-and-a-half years jail.

A psychological report noted Fornaciari’s childhood was further marred by trauma, and by the time he was 18, after a brief but unsuccessful stint at basic army training, he had ensconced himself in a circle of anti-social peers, leading to his involvement in outlaw motorcycle gangs and a life of crime.

Fornaciari’s legal team suggested he had the ability to change his violent ways in the future with the help of positive outside forces, however Judge Andrew Haesler was not convinced, given his lengthy criminal history.

He sentenced Fornaciari to four-and-a-half years jail, with a non-parole period of three years and one month.

Fornaciari will become eligible to apply for parole in June 2025.

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