Mick Gatto’s son-in-law Danny Awad jailed for 10 years over cocaine hidden in printers
Underworld figure Mick Gatto joined UFU boss Peter Marshall, Collingwood legend Paul Licuria and dozens of others in writing character references for his son-in law, but that wasn’t enough to reduce Danny Awad’s prison sentence over a $12 million cocaine haul.
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A judge has given “limited weight” to a raft of character references from a who’s who of Melbourne heavy hitters, jailing Mick Gatto’s son-in-law to 15 years over a $12 million cocaine haul.
Danny Awad — the husband of Gatto’s daughter Sarah — told his hysterical family to “relax” as he was led from the County Court dock to start his jail term.
Awad, 41, and his mate John Tambakakis, 35, were each jailed for 15 years, but will be eligible for parole after 10 years.
The pair was found guilty of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of cocaine that had been imported inside printers from Mexico in May 2017.
Judge Mark Dean condemned the men over their lack of remorse for their “well-resourced, planned and carefully executed” crime.
“Our society must be protected from people like you,” Judge Dean said.
“You were both motivated by the enormous profits to be made.”
He said Awad and Tambakakis had “no concern whatsoever for the enormous social damage” their crimes could cause.
The sentence comes after the Herald Sun revealed Gatto, the state’s militant fire union boss Peter Marshall and former Collingwood footy star Paul Licuria were among 35 people to offer glowing character references for Awad in the hope of reducing his sentence.
Mr Marshall, the national secretary of the United Firefighters Union and a long-term friend of Gatto’s, said Awad was a “respectful husband”, “doting dad” and “a good role model” for his young relatives.
He said the crimes committed were “contrary to the Danny I know”.
Licuria, who went to Redden Catholic College in Preston with Awad, detailed in his reference how their 29-year friendship had helped him with struggles after his football career.
The two-time Copeland Trophy winner said the pair did early morning training sessions four days a week, adding how he had always found Awad to be “polite, genuine and a caring man”.
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Judge Dean labelled the character references “impressive”.
But he added: “Evidence of good character is to be accorded limited weight in cases such as this.”
A jury had heard over a 26-day trial how 15kg of pure cocaine had been secreted inside five Xerox laserjet printers.
Awad and Tambakakis were never charged with importing the major haul.
Federal police swooped on them soon after they unpacked the consignment in a warehouse at Airport West.
Outside court, Sarah Gatto was shielded by friends and family and did not comment.