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Prosecutors have welcomed the conviction of a drugs gang boss who plotted to supply heroin and cocaine in Bedford while on licence from a previous jail sentence.
Domenico Masciopinto will be sentenced in March after being convicted of two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs by a jury at Luton Crown Court.
The Crown Prosecution Service said the 31-year-old, formerly of Farrer Court, Bedford, was part of a gang which supplied "mid-level" street dealers in the town.
The jury which convicted Masciopinto heard that the drugs network, involving seven men and a woman, obtained high purity cocaine and heroin from Bradford before it was adulterated, repackaged, and sold on in Bedford.
Police broke up the network on May 12 last year when they seized 1.4kg of cocaine and 1.2kg of heroin, as well as larger amounts of substances used to "cut" the drugs.
Simon Heptonstall, Senior Crown Advocate for Thames and Chiltern Crown Prosecution Service, said: "This was a professional and organised operation.
"It sourced substantial quantities of Class A drugs from an importer in Yorkshire, then distributed them to street dealers in Bedford. At its head was Domenico Masciopinto, a determined drug dealer who was still on licence from a four-and-a-half-year sentence for similar offences."
Mr Heptonstall added that Masciopinto had tried to fool the jury by claiming he had only become involved after his life was threatened.
The prosecutor observed: "He wove that account around his being shot in January 2011. In reality that had been the product of rivalry between competing drug networks.
"The impact on the local community of this high level drug dealing is immense. Drugs ruin the lives of those who use them - they damage the law-abiding citizens who become the victims of crimes committed to fund drug habits.":Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder
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