Santos, 26, was among a close-knit group of young men and women drawn into the Illawarra's seedy underworld last year, lured by the thought of quick cash, fast rides and good times.

The group's preferred get-rich-quick scheme centred on breaking into business premises where they knew there would be cash. Pubs, clubs and cafes fitted the bill.

In the last week of May and the first two weeks of June last year, Santos was involved in robbing two licensed premises and planning robberies at two cafes.

He and his mates tried to steal an ATM from The Grand Hotel at Kiama, breaking in in the early hours of May 24, lassoing the machine with a chain and hitching it up to a stolen car to drag it out.

It didn't budge but the chain did, snapping in two.

Another attempt, using a 4WD "snatch strap", also failed miserably.

But the group still got away with almost $1000 cash from the till, and it wasn't long before they turned their attention to their next target - robbing the owners of Wollongong's San Churro Chocolate Cafe.

Santos stole a car for the group and later set it alight.

This was after other co-accused robbed the two owners in the middle of the night outside a home in Haywards Bay.

Less than two weeks later, Santos drove to the Robertson Bowling Club, where he and his friends used a crowbar to jemmy open the door and get inside the premises.

They stole a cash box and ransacked an office.

Peppered among Santos's robbery efforts were crimes that related to his other love: cars.

Designated the group's "wheelman" due to his prowess behind the wheel, Santos stole no less than five cars in May and June, later setting all but one of them alight once they had served their purpose.

Among the cars Santos took for a joyride was a $101,000 Mercedes. It too went up in flames.

Facing the District Court sitting in Sutherland on Thursday, Santos told the court through his lawyer that he had developed "insight" into his offending conduct since being locked up on remand.

"He accepts what he did was driven by a lack of responsibility," his lawyer said.

"He's embarrassed by his behaviour and understands how his addiction to ice influenced his behaviour."

Santos, along with another co-accused, Brandon Gee, will be sentenced in February.