Drug case cracked with trail of evidence

More details tonight on the crimes of reputed cocaine kingpin Nick Nero. Nero and his co-conspirators were convicted this week of trafficking in cocaine for the benefit of a criminal enterprise. Prosecutors say it was a sophisticated drug trafficking network that was cracked when Nero left a trail of evidence.

The trail that led to Nick Nero began in February 2012 when police followed brothers Frank and Angelo Alessio into a St. Catharines warehouse where they found the 110 kilos of cocaine.

Wiretaps indicated that Nick Nero owned the drugs.

When police raided the Niagara-on-the-Lake condo he shared with his girlfriend Tawnya Fletcher they found a highly secure Blackberry device used by the military and a post-it note with a password. That password was the investigators access into the device and its thousands of emails. Prosecutors say the emails detailed an ongoing and overarching conspiracy to import, possess and traffic large amounts of cocaine.

A ton of cocaine was brought into Canada every month.

The Blackberry identified Nick Nero and his criminal conspirators. The wiretaps pointed a finger at his girlfriend Tawnya Fletcher.

The Blackberry messages indicated that days before he was arrested, Nick Nero sold 30 kilos of cocaine at more than 38-thousand dollars a kilogram. And when police raided the couple’s Yorkville condo, they found a million dollars in cash, hidden in four bags in the closet.

Martino Caputo and Alfonso Inclima are awaiting their sentence along with Nero. Prosecutors say these men were at the top of Nero’s criminal pyramid.

Prosecutors say that Alfonso and Inclima negotiated on behalf of Nick Nero with Mexico’s top cocaine bosses. They tested the drug for purity and he stored and received the drugs when they came into Canada.