Former La Porchetta chef Anthony Natale pleads guilty to trafficking large commercial quantity of drugs

A former Highpoint La Porchetta chef is feeling the heat after he was busted in a drugs and money laundering operation for a suspected crime boss.

Former La Porchetta chef Anthony Natale pleaded guilty to trafficking a large commercial quantity of drugs. Facebook.

A former Highpoint La Porchetta chef who trafficked meth and MDMA and laundered more than $2 million in crooked cash for a drug syndicate has been jailed.

Anthony Natale, 29, was sentenced in the County Court on Wednesday to a minimum ten years and three months jail time after pleading guilty to trafficking a large commercial quantity of drugs.

Natale was a key cog in the crime syndicate which allegedly smuggled 300kg of cocaine via a Papua New Guinea to Queensland “black flight” in August 2018.

The court heard the cocaine haul was flown in from PNG to North Queensland on a Cessna.

It’s understood the cocaine was loaded in a vehicle and driven to Melbourne for distribution.

The syndicate leader, who has suspected ties to Calabrian Mafia members who are in turn allegedly linked to Colombian drug cartel players, is alleged to have co-ordinated the cocaine shipment under his “direction”.

Victoria Police teamed with the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, Australian

Federal Police and the Queensland Joint Organised Crime Taskforce to cobble the gang’s drug operations shortly after the PNG coke run.

Investigators mobilised phone intercepts, wiretaps and physical surveillance to track syndicate members including Natale and the alleged kingpin.

Police covertly tracked Natale as he moved a stack of MDMA and meth and laundered $2,047,950.

Natale, who also pleaded guilty to knowingly deal with the proceeds of crime, met an undercover cop at Bunnings Maribyrnong on October 2, 2018.

The covert operative handed a $5 note to Natale with a prearranged serial number known in criminal circles as a “token”.

The court heard this was a “commonly used” money laundering networks practice for “individuals to identify each other”.

Natale, who offended between October 2018 and March 2019, then handed the cop $200,000.

Investigators watched as Natale moved $1,462,950 between Dreux Bar Ascot Vale and Keysborough via multiple deliveries.

Investigators also recorded multiple conversations between the alleged kingpin and Natale.

“Don’t drive around with that shit …,” the alleged kingpin told Natale shortly after a drug deal.

“I know it doesn’t mean much, but what happens is they catch you with a kilo and then they

go we found 600 glad wrap bags.”

Police also recorded Natale and the alleged kingpin discussing how to launder cash.

The syndicate, which sourced drug manufacturing supplies from China, prepared drugs for sale at a gang member’s Melbourne home.

The court heard Natale visited the drug house 23 times between January and February, 2019.

Natale and the alleged kingpin also discussed their varied drug quality.

“You put the shit ones on their own, then you keep the green ones on their own, the AAA,” the alleged kingpin said.

“Then you keep the gold ones on their own, you understand?”

Police raided the drug house where they seized 169kg of MDMA, 7011 MDMA tablets and 24kg of meth divvied up in vacuum sealed packages on March 1, 2019.

Natale, who trafficked between January and March 2019, was linked to the drug haul.

Natale handed $385,000 to another undercover cop posing as a money launderer at Central East Shopping Centre Braybrook on March 9, 2019.

Natale, who previously worked at La Porchetta Highpoint, was eventually arrested at his Pascoe Vale home on July 26, 2020.

Judge Mark Gamble jailed Natale for a maximum 16 years and six months.

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