Melbourne tradie crooks exposed: Bronson Interlandi, Luke Cintolo and Damian Griscti
Don’t go where these tradies go because most of these tools went to jail for trafficking drugs or even vile child sex crimes.
Outer East
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Everyone needs a tradie in their life. Whether it’s someone working on your extension, a plumber you need in an emergency or your sparkie mate who does a small job for a slab. But not every tradie is on the level.
Take a look at this list of Melbourne sparkies, plumbers, chippies and other assorted tradies whose criminal activities have been exposed.
PAINTER STRIPPED BARE
Painter Luke Cintolo, who formerly ran a thriving painting and design business, was caught with almost 10kg of a deadly party drug linked to overdoses, drink-spiking and sexual assault.
Cintolo busted after police intercepted him during a traffic stop at Highett just before 2pm on January 2 2019.
Police searched Cintolo’s Great Wall ute and seized 270g of “bute” and two tabs of MDMA.
Investigators raided Cintolo’s Carnegie unit and seized more than 9kg of bute from two Refresh branded bottles hidden inside a suitcase as well as an extendible baton, measuring devices and 35ml containers.
Cintolo initially played down his racket telling police he was just a “drug user” and said he didn’t know anything about the bottles — even though they were found under his bed.
‘There’s people out there with keys to my apartment, I’m not the only one,” he said.
Cintolo ran his own painting business with 15 employees before his drug addiction took hold, the County Court heard when he was sentenced to a minimum two years’ jail in September.
PLUMBER COKE LORD
Plumber Bronson Interlandi became the ‘Big Boy’ of a citywide cocaine racket after his snack machine business went bust.
The Hawthorn East dad co-ordinated the Melbourne-wide cocaine delivery racket between November 2019 and June 2020, using two accomplices to distribute the drugs.
The cronies worked on a roster system to take turns picking up customers in the back seat of a car.
They would drive the customers a short distance and do the deal.
The trio sold two types of cocaine products — “normals” and “supers” — for $300-$400 a gram and used hired vehicles and codewords such as “beers” to mask their illicit activity.
Police, who launched an investigation on the crew in October 2019, established Interlandi was the “head of the operation” and was referred to by operatives as ‘The Big Boy’, ‘B’ and ‘Boss’’.
The crew used storage units at Hawthorn and Richmond, one of the crony’s Richmond apartment and a rented office suite “safe house” at Malvern to store drugs and cash.
Police installed cameras and listening devices at various locations and conducted telephone intercepts to snag Bronson and his accomplices in June.
Interlandi pleaded guilty to various charges before the County Court in February.
LUDE LABOURER
Labourer James Kyle Atkins snuck into a young girl’s room and had sex with her after lying to her and her dad about needing somewhere to stay because he’d split from his girlfriend.
Atkins was 20 when he had sex with the girl, who reminded him she was “only 14” as he took her clothes off, in eastern Victoria in 2019.
Earlier in the evening Atkins had messaged her to say he needed to talk because he was having relationship problems, then texted her to ask if he could come to her house as he had split from his girlfriend.
Once at the house Atkins told the girl’s father he needed somewhere to stay, and he was allowed to sleep in the spare room.
Later in the night he went to the girl’s bedroom, saying he wanted to talk about his relationship problems, then lay down beside her and began removing her clothes.
He ignored her when she said she was only 14 and got on top of her, then had sex with her without a condom.
Atkins then lay beside her and messaged his girlfriend before saying he needed to go home to care for his dog.
When the girl said she thought he didn’t have a home he could go to, he replied, “Mmm, sorry about that,” and left.
The next day he texted her to say they could be friends but could not talk.
Atkins’ crime was discovered after the girl told her sister about the incident.
Texts revealed Atkins admitted the intercourse to the girl’s sister, however, when she called him from a police station police station weeks later he denied it, saying he was dating his girlfriend at the time and could go to jail for being with a 14-year-old.
Atkins told police later that month he didn’t have sex with the girl and hadn’t split with his girlfriend.
Atkins pleaded guilty in the County Court in December.
CALLOUS CROOK CHIPPY
Carpenter David Anderson siphoned $543,000 from his dying dad’s bank account and blew it on gambling, legal fees and a new boat.
The Ferntree Gully man kicked off his deceit after he was made power of attorney of his father’s accounts in 2014 after his father’s dementia rendered him “incapable of making reasonable decisions”.
But Anderson’s sister grew suspicious about her brother and his role power of attorney came to an end in April 2016.
New administrators of the dad’s affairs then discovered “numerous financial irregularities”, including dozens of bank transfers to accounts held by Anderson and other “third parties”
Police investigations revealed Anderson funnelled $542,991 into several bank accounts between June 2014 and April 2016.
He blew the cash on gambling, a divorce and a new boat as his dad lay dying of Parkinson’s disease in a special care facility.
The 44-year-old was sentenced to a minimum two years’ jail and a maximum of three years’ in the County Court in September.
CHIPPY COKE KING
Carpenter Patrick Succar was exposed as a drug kingpin after police found a stack of cocaine, ecstasy, guns and cash at his Reservoir home.
Succar’s card was marked after he attempted to post almost a half a kilo of cocaine to a location in Sydney on December 12, 2018 using the alias ‘James Borg’.
The package was intercepted by an Australian Border Force officer before tapped Succar’s phone then raided his home on February 5, 2019.
They seized another 660g of cocaine, 478 ecstasy tablets, a range of steroids and prescription medications and almost $350,000 stuffed in a sports bag and shopping bag.
Police also discovered more than 2kg of a precursor chemical used to manufacture drugs including meth and an arsenal of guns including a loaded semiautomatic handgun, a rifle and .38 revolver.
The court was told Succar ran a successful carpentry business and he and his partner enjoyed the “finer things in life” when he was sentenced to a minimum three’ and a half years’ jail before the County Court in December.
CRUEL KIDNAPPER MECHANIC
Mechanic Mathew Raku Raku snatched a woman off the street then held her captive and raped her, threatening her with vile acts to try to keep her silent.
Raku Raku grabbed his victim from a Seaford street and threw her into his car about 6pm on August 12, 2019.
He held a screwdriver to her head, locked the car doors, took her phone and told her that if she tried to get out of the car she would be dead, the court heard.
Raku Raku then drove the woman about four hours to Glenthompson while continually threatening her, and stole petrol on the way.
The fiend told his victim she was going to get a bullet in her head and threatened to cut off her tongue, dangle her off the side of a bridge by her feet, break her legs and tie her up by a choker chain and cable ties if she tried to run away.
When they arrived at an empty house Raku raped her despite her efforts to push him off.
The following night in his car he put his hand around her throat and raped her
He made her swear on her life and her family’s life that she wouldn’t tell anyone and he would let her go, repeatedly telling her he would come and torture her if she told anyone.
He drove back to Melbourne and took her to his dad’s house.
The next morning he returned her phone and made her call her dad with a made-up story about where she’d been before he let her go to a bus stop.
The victim told a friend then reported the matter to police.
Raku Raku pleaded guilty before the County Court this month.
SORDID SPARKY
Electrician Damien Griscti tried to groom a 14-year-old girl online, sending lewd images and messages.
The Berwick dad communicated with an undercover cop he believed was a 14-year-old girl from Melbourne named ‘Lily’ between August and November 2019, sending lewd messages and images via social media app KiK
He told Lily that she had a “cute profile picture” and she looked “very young”.
Griscti remarked “cute” when Lily said she was 14.
He called her ‘cutie’, ‘kitten’, ‘princess’ and ‘little one, saying “young hot bodies turned him on” and that he wanted to meet her school friends for “something to do”.
Griscti then told Lily all the vile and lewd acts he wanted to do to her.
He also asked Lily if she wanted to visit him at his work and if she wanted to have a threesome with his girlfriend.
Griscti sent lewd images and asked Lily to perform lewd acts and send images of herself performing lewd acts.
He was sentenced to a 20 months’ jail, with 14 months suspended, before the County Court in September.
BRUTE BOILERMAKER
Boilermaker Ben Woolhouse clobbered a man with a metal pole during a horrific Delahey home invasion.
Woolhouse the raided their victim’s house during the planned attack with three hoods on June 29 last year — despite having no personal connection to the victim
The victim, who heard people talking outside his house about 4.40am, discovered his electricity had been cut when he tried to turn a light on.
The victim opened his front door to see two men at the end of his driveway.
A hood sprayed the house with a fire extinguisher while Woolhouse and another offender climbed the property’s side fence and broke a side window.
Woolhouse and his accomplice climbed into the house but were approached by the victim.
Woolhouse clobbered the victim over the head with a metal pole he’d found at the property, the court was told.
Woolhouse called on his brute mates to help after he was overpowered by the victim.
A second thug smashed an ashtray over the victim’s head and doused him with capsicum spray before the whole gang fled the home.
The court heard the man suffered lacerations to his forehead, and neighbours called police to the scene after hearing the commotion.
Woolhouse was jailed for a minimum of two years and six months before the County Court in February.
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