Bumbling drug lord Rocco Arico launches appeal against convictions
FAILED drug lord Rocco Arico wants out of jail — and has unleashed his lawyers in a bid to overturn a swag of convictions.
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FAILED drug lord Rocco Arico believes he’s been hard done by and wants out of jail.
The bumbling crook has unleashed his lawyers in a bid to overturn a swag of convictions, including extortion.
Arico, 38, was found guilty in February of drug dealing and standing over an incompetent minion who dobbed on him to police. He was jailed for 14 years and faces deportation on release.
In paperwork lodged with the Supreme Court, he complains that Judge Geoffrey Chettle stuffed up the trial and should have excluded evidence supplied by rat Arthur Vouthas and his wife over video link.
He also claims evidence about a gun found in his motor scooter unfairly prejudiced him.
His trial heard a series of blunders brought him undone.
Arico broke the golden rule of crook survival when he lost his cool, threatening the rat on a hot phone.
Vouthas told police Arico had embarked on a campaign of terror against himself and his family after he bungled a drug deal.
The dealer told police he received $350,000 worth of cocaine from Arico in 2010 but had it ripped-off by notorious bikie Toby Mitchell in a deal-gone-wrong.
When he falsely claimed he was behind the 2011 shooting of Mitchell outside Doherty’s Gym, Arico demanded the dealer pay him $110,000.
Phone taps later caught the notorious criminal threaten the dealer’s brother-in-law, hurt his wife and shoot-up his family members’ homes.
At one point, another of Arico’s minions was heard telling his boss that Vouthas “has gotta go in the boot”.
Arico quipped: “You should never joke like that”.
But Judge Chettle accepted Arico knew it was no joke.
He was later found with a 45-calibre pistol stashed in a motor scooter at his apartment building.
Judge Chettle said Vouthas would spend the rest of his life in fear of reprisals.
“I realise I’ll spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder. I blame myself for this,” he stated in a victim impact statement.
Judge Chettle said Arico had shown absolutely no remorse for his actions and had continued to lie to psychologists who assessed him.
“You are a drug dealer and a stand over man,” he said. “You were a complete outlaw at the relevant time.”
A jury found Arico guilty of extortion, intentionally causing injury and trafficking methamphetamine last year.
Then another jury found him guilty of possessing a gun and a drug of dependence in a separate trial. The Court of Appeal will assess his application at a date to be fixed.