Drug trafficking boss Paul Ngo jailed for more than 18 years
The lavish lifestyle of a Melbourne crime boss who drove around in a flashy Lamborghini thanks to the million-dollar takings of his drug trafficking ring has finally come undone.
Police & Courts
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A Melbourne crime boss whose drug trade netted $1.9m in less than four months splurged it on a Lamborghini, million-dollar home and gambling.
Paul Ngo even forked out $66,000 to slap personalised plates on the $551,000 car.
The Maidstone father told his sister he was working at Cha Time, a bubble tea outlet.
Instead, he was unemployed and the ringleader of a commercial drug trafficking enterprise, dealing in ice and heroin in Melbourne’s west.
Fronting the County Court on Friday, Ngo was jailed for 18 years and eight months.
The court heard Ngo, 34, was juggling 11 bank accounts with $1.1m in transactions going through a business established using his young daughter’s name. A further $584,000 landed into his personal accounts. He had another almost $200,000 in cash stored at an associate’s home.
Ngo’s lavish spending, in particular on a home in Avondale Heights for $1.01m, led the National Australia Bank statutory compliance team to inspect his finances.
In September 2018, the AFP swooped on Ngo and four of his lackeys, seizing more than $20m in assets relating to the syndicate’s criminal operations, including Ngo’s Lamborghini Huracan and 2013 Mercedes Benz A45 sedan.
A black Toyota Prado parked at a co-conspirator’s home was found to have a secret compartment containing more than 4kg of methamphetamine and 2.5kg of heroin.
A loaded black .38 Smith and Wesson revolver, a gold 9mm Browning handgun and ammunition was also uncovered in the concealment.
County Court Judge Kevin Doyle said Ngo got “substantial enrichment” from his drug business.
Ngo pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiring to traffic commercial quantities of methamphetamine and heroin, plus dealing with proceeds of crime. Co-conspirator William Do, of Maribyrnong, was jailed for 13 years.