Pizza chef Andrea Corongiu busted with MDMA, coke and cannabis
The career of a renowned pizza chef who worked for an award-winning Melbourne restaurant has gone up in smoke after he was caught hiding a stash of MDMA behind an oven.
A top Italian chef in Melbourne who played the role of “storeman” for a major drug trafficking enterprise with an expected $10,000 reward has been sentenced to at least four years’ imprisonment.
Andrea Corongiu, who had worked at award-winning Italian eatery 48h Pizza e Gnocchi Bar, hid 1.5kg of MDMA behind an oven in his Ascot Vale apartment and police also found small quantities of cocaine and cannabis and $2500 cash in April 2024.
Specialist North West Metro Regional Crime Squad swooped on Corongiu following an investigation into major drug trafficking.
A jury found him guilty in November of trafficking in a commercial quantity of MDMA and he appeared in County Court on Thursday for sentencing.
Judge Gerard Mullaly said Corongiu was certainly not a low-level player in the criminal enterprise and that he expected to receive up to $10,000 for his role.
“You were obviously a person who was trusted, that is, others handed over to you extremely valuable amounts of drugs on the basis you would keep it and to keep the enterprise a secret. “Your role was important in the movement of drugs from source to user. You were in it for the money”.
An Italian citizen, Corongiu is likely to be deported after serving his prison term.
He was sentenced to a maximum of five years and two months’ imprisonment.
