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Lorenzo Bocchini, former Italian rugby star, jailed for six years for joining family in illicit drug trade- claims being gay led him to drug dealing

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"109460728"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><h6><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;1a0101&semi;"><strong>Gay rugby star who joined family&&num;8217&semi;s Breaking Bad-inspired &&num;8216&semi;chemsex&&num;8217&semi; ring  is jailed for six years<&sol;strong> <&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;1a0101&semi;"><strong>36-year-old Bocchini was c<&sol;strong><strong>aught with over &dollar;410&comma;000 in batches of narcotics and cash&comma;  in 2016   <&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><strong><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;1a0101&semi;">Initially the former rugby prop claimed  was holding them for his brother&comma; Alessandro&comma; and his wife&comma; Justine<&sol;span><&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;1a0101&semi;"><strong>Cops discovered the trio dyed crystal meth blue in the style of Walter White in &&num;8216&semi;Breaking bad&&num;8217&semi;&comma; <&sol;strong><strong>then used an Uber driver as a courier to deliver &OpenCurlyQuote;T-bags’ around London<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;1a0101&semi;"><strong>He pled guilty to several drug related charges including possession of crystal meth with intent to supply<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;1a0101&semi;"><strong>Alessandro Bocchini&comma; 43&comma; and his wife Justine&comma; 36&comma; jailed six and four years after admitting series of drug offences<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p id&equals;"ext-gen61" class&equals;"author-section byline-plain">&NewLine;<div id&equals;"articleIconLinksContainer"><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mol-img-group floatRHS">&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"imageCaption"><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-125474" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;01&sol;lorenzo-bocchini&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Lorenzo Bocchini&period;jpg" width&equals;"634" height&equals;"475" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Lorenzo Bocchini has been jailed for six years after Judge James Curtis concluded he was part of his family&&num;8217&semi;s drugs ring<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"imageCaption">An Italian rugby star who family&&num;8217&semi;s Breaking Bad-inspired &&num;8216&semi;chemsex&&num;8217&semi; ring which used an Uber driver to deliver drugs has been jailed for six years&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;As events unfolded&comma; Lorenzo Bocchini&comma; who received a medal of honour in 2009 after saving people from an earthquake&comma; was caught with batches of narcotics a stack of cash when police stormed an Airbnb-rented apartment in London’s Little Venice on July 7 last year&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The South African born rugby star was inspired by the TV show &&num;8216&semi;Breaking Bad&&num;8217&semi;&comma; it turns out&comma; to build his own crystal meth lab at his London home&period; Lorenzo Bocchini cooked batches of narcotics at his hi-tech base in London&&num;8217&semi;s Little Venice after being inspired by fictional drug baron Walter White&period; He even dyed the crystal meth blue&comma; just as the dealers do in the TV series&period; When police stormed the Bocchini&&num;8217&semi;s laboratory they found  a cache of drugs worth &dollar;369&comma;000&comma;000 &comma; another &dollar;40&comma;500 in cash and a stun gun&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"mol-para-with-font"><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-125470" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;01&sol;allesandro-bocchini1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Allesandro Bocchini1&period;jpg" width&equals;"585" height&equals;"849" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Lorenzo&&num;8217&semi;s brother&comma; Alessandro&colon; Investigators found &dollar;15000 worth of drugs in his home&period; Sentenced to serve six years behind bars after admitting a series of drug offences<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"mol-para-with-font">The 36-year-old former prop&comma; who played for Italian club sides L&&num;8217&semi;Aquila and Viadana between 2000 and 2010&comma; has admitted a series of drugs offences including possession of crystal meth with intent to supply&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Initially Lorenzo had claimed he was holding the drugs for his brother Alessandro&comma; 43&comma; and his sister-in-law&comma; Justine&comma; 36&comma; who supplied crystal meth to the chemsex scene in south London&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The pair was arrested in October 2016 after a police raid uncovered hoards of meth&comma; MDMA&comma; and &dollar;15&comma; 000 at their Bayswater home&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Officers discovered that they had dyed the crystal meth blue&comma; just as the fictional drug baron Walter White did in the TV show &&num;8216&semi;Breaking Bad&&num;8217&semi;&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Police say the Bocchini family accrued millions of dollars running a drugs enterprise that used an Uber driver as a courier to deliver &OpenCurlyQuote;T-bags’ around London&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Lorenzo&comma; a former rugby prop who played for Italian club sides L’Aquila and Viadana between 2000 and 2010&comma; claims he was merely a &OpenCurlyQuote;custodian’ of the drugs &&num;8211&semi; but Southwark Crown Court heard he was closer to the supply chain&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Prosecutor Grant Vanstone said&colon; &OpenCurlyQuote;The crown will say that because of the amount of cash recovered&comma; the value and extent of the drugs found in the &lbrack;Little Venice&rsqb; premises&comma; that Mr Bocchini clearly must have been close to the source of supply&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyQuote;Given the values involved&comma; that amount of drugs isn’t left with somebody unless they are a trusted individual&period;’<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"mol-para-with-font"><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-125472" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;01&sol;justine-bocchini1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Justine Bocchini1&period;jpg" width&equals;"595" height&equals;"863" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Lorenzo&&num;8217&semi;s sister-in-law Justine&comma; received a four year jail sentence after admitting a series of drug offences with her husband&comma; Alessandro Bocchini<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"mol-para-with-font">Detective inspector Stephen Payne told the court the defendants &&num;8216&semi;lived a high-roller&comma; Breaking Bad lifestyle&comma; not really knowing what to do with the cash&period; They even seemed to adopt the Breaking Bad signature of dying their crystal meth blue&period;&&num;8217&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Mr Vanstone said the drugs involved are used in drug-fuelled orgies&comma; adding&colon; &OpenCurlyQuote;What we say is that the amounts and types are the types of drugs that are used in particular parties&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyQuote;They are sex parties that use a range of various drugs in order to facilitate and improve sexual behaviour&period;’<br &sol;>&NewLine;Bocchini has admitted one count of possessing 813g of crystal meth and seven counts of possession with intent to supply drugs including 1&comma;354 MDMA tablets and 34&period;9g of cocaine&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Earlier&comma; the other members of the family drug manufacturing and distribution enterprise&comma; brother Alessandro Bocchini and his wife Justine&comma; were jailed for six and four years respectively after admitting a series of drug offences&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;An investigation revealed the couple had paid &dollar;123&comma;000 of drugs profits into their bank accounts in the six months leading up to their arrests&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Detective inspector Stephen Payne&comma; of Omega squad&comma; said&colon; &OpenCurlyQuote;It was like the &OpenCurlyQuote;Breaking Bad’ scenario&period; These were professional people who made a choice to go into this venture&period; They were not career criminals but were looking for an opportunity to make money out of nothing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"mol-para-with-font"><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-125483" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;01&sol;justine-bocchini-counting-takings-inside-the-familys-drugs-ring1&period;png" alt&equals;"Justine Bocchini counting takings inside the family's drugs ring1&period;png" width&equals;"569" height&equals;"366" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Justine Bocchini is seen counting proceeds of the family&&num;8217&semi;s drugs enterprise<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"artSplitter mol-img-group">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mol-img fff-pic">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"image-wrap">&NewLine;<div id&equals;"share-pictures-3" class&equals;"share-pictures-overlay">Other items that were recovered include driving licences&comma; some wallets and foreign cash&period;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"mol-para-with-font">In mitigation Bocchini claimed he fell into London’s gay chemsex scene after the career-long experience of hiding his sexuality from teammates due to homophobia in the game&comma; before dealers then enlisted him as a minder for their safe houses&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The former rugby star claimed London’s chemsex scene made him feel &OpenCurlyQuote;euphoric’ after he lived a &OpenCurlyQuote;double life’&comma; never daring to even kiss a man before an earthquake in L’Aquila&comma; Italy&comma; brought his rugby career to an end in 2009&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The former prop forward received a medal of honour for &OpenCurlyQuote;services to humanity’ after helping to rescue victims from the rubble said he fell on hard times after moving to London in 2010 and began a minimum wage job at a fast food outlet in London&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He then began going to chemsex parties and taking drugs as he sought to meet people in the &OpenCurlyQuote;gay capital of the world’&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"artSplitter mol-img-group">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"splitLeft">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mol-img fff-pic">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"image-wrap">&NewLine;<div id&equals;"share-pictures-5" class&equals;"share-pictures-overlay"><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-125486" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;01&sol;driving-licences-some-wallets-and-foreign-cash-all-recovered-during-the-raid3&period;png" alt&equals;"driving licences&comma; some wallets and foreign cash all recovered during the raid3&period;png" width&equals;"569" height&equals;"422" &sol;><&sol;div>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"share-pictures-overlay"><strong>Seized&colon; Driving licences&comma; some wallets and foreign cash&comma; seized by police during the raid on the Bocchini homes&comma; last summer<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"share-pictures-overlay"><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-125488" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;01&sol;cash-that-was-seized-by-police-during-the-raid-on-the-family&period;png" alt&equals;"Cash that was seized by police during the raid on the family&period;png" width&equals;"570" height&equals;"592" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Drug money&colon; Some of the cash that was seized by police during the raid last summer <&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"artSplitter mol-img-group">&NewLine;<p class&equals;"imageCaption">Bocchini pled guilty to several drug related offenses including possession of crystal meth with intent to supply&period; The South African-born defendant claims to have never taken drugs during his rugby career as it would have resulted in a two-year ban&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"mol-para-with-font">Dealers noticed his beefy frame and recruited him as a minder for drug safe houses they rented through Airbnb&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Giving evidence at Southwark Crown Court&comma; Bocchini said&colon; &OpenCurlyQuote;In Italy homosexuality is not tolerated at any level&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyQuote;I was living a double life&period;’<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"mol-para-with-font"><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-125489" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;01&sol;lorenzo-bocchini1&period;png" alt&equals;"Lorenzo Bocchini1&period;png" width&equals;"741" height&equals;"875" &sol;><strong>Lorenzo Bocchini &&num;8216&semi;the euphoria of being in the gay capital of the world led me into the drug dealing scene&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"mol-para-with-font">He continued&colon; &OpenCurlyQuote;We had an event &lbrack;in Italy&rsqb; were there was a couple of gay boys there&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyQuote;Some of my own players were beating these boys for the fact that they were gay&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyQuote;I hadn’t had a sexual relationship because of homophobia in rugby&period;’<br &sol;>&NewLine;He described London as &OpenCurlyQuote;the gay capital of the world’ and said at chemsex orgies &OpenCurlyQuote;I always felt better felt euphoria &&num;8211&semi; the depression disappeared’&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyQuote;We had the parties often many different drug dealers would come through&comma;’ he added&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyQuote;I was a big guy they knew I could look after them &&num;8211&semi; they knew I would keep their stuff safe for them&period;’<br &sol;>&NewLine;Bocchini claims he was merely a &OpenCurlyQuote;custodian’ of the huge drugs cache found at his apartment in Little Venice&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyQuote;In a way it was a Godsend to get arrested and get my life back on track&comma;’ he said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Judge James Curtis jailed Bocchini after concluding that he had been dealing drugs from his &&num;8216&semi;Aladdin&&num;8217&semi;s cave&&num;8217&semi; of narcotics in Little Venice&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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