It could be the stuff of movie plots.

Except, it’s not.

It’s the extraordinary set of circumstances that police uncovered during an intense eight-month investigation into drug trafficking on the NSW South Coast.

This sophisticated syndicate didn’t work in grams or ounces when it came to deals – they preferred to count drugs by the pound and profits by the million.

And sitting at the top of the tree was Luigi Fato, the network’s kingpin.

Now 64, Fato came from humble beginnings, starting his working life as a bricklayer at the Port Kembla steelworks before joining the family business growing vegies for their local supermarket.

Few details of Fato’s journey from brickie to multi-million dollar dealer were revealed in court this week, however it is known he married at 24 and had three children (one of whom would go on to be charged for helping him in the syndicate) before his wife left him in the mid 1990s, around the same time he had a failed business venture.

What is known is that by the time police began monitoring Fato’s movements in 2013, he was able to access large quantities of drugs in quick time.

While the sting involved hundreds of hours of covert and physical surveillance, it centred on undercover police operatives, who became acquainted with Fato in July 2013.

At their first meeting, Fato boasted of being able to get 20-30 pounds of cannabis for the buyers and even supplied his home phone number on a napkin.

A month later the undercover cops paid $66,700 for 23 pounds of cannabis leaf in an exchange that took place in the ACT.

Fato received only $5,000 from the deal, but was keen to do more business with the buyers – and change the type of drug.

In September one of the undercover officers met Fato at his farm at East Lynne, near Batemans Bay, where he purchased $84,000 worth of methamphetamine.

Around the same time, Fato and fellow syndicate members began growing their own cannabis crop at a friend’s farm at Crowther, north of Young, aiming to secure even larger deals with their new buyers.

Police allege between July and October 2013, Fato recruited the help of Griffith wine maker Marcello Casella, one of three brothers behind the country’s largest family-owned winery, Casella Wines, to help grow the crop.

It is alleged Casella provided finance and equipment for the venture, together with the services of Casella Wines irrigation expert Andre Turner.

(Casella and Turner are facing charges over the allegations. Their cases are still before the courts).

The first cannabis crop failed to take, however a second planting proved fruitful enough that police discovered 2700 healthy cannabis plants when they raided the property on February 12, 2014.

Fato was arrested the same day, an hour and 40 minutes away in Gundagai as he and another syndicate member were preparing to sell 9.4 kilograms of methamphetamine to the undercover police officers.

He was charged with a litany of offences stemming from the investigation, but eventually pleaded guilty to five charges in total; two counts of large commercial drug supply (both methamphetamine sales); and one count each of drug supply (the cannabis leaf), cultivating a commercial quantity of a prohibited plant, and knowingly directing the activities of a criminal group.

The later charge related not only to what Fato had done to date, but also what he apparently planned to do in the future to expand the enterprise.

The court heard Fato had become involved with an “international criminal with very good connections” and had been funneling money to him – some $76,000 at the time of his arrest.

He planned to use this connection and others he had acquired through unknown means to begin importing MDMA and “pills” from places like Greece and Italy and had openly discussed the idea with the undercover officers.

In handing Fato an 18 year jail sentence on Wednesday, Wollongong District Court judge Paul Conlon said it was abundantly clear that Fato had been in charge of the operation.

“I’m satisfied he played a very significant role [as principal] in the drug activities of this criminal group,” Judge Conlon said.

“It was a highly organised operation with the offender [Fato] responsible for organising those involved in their respective roles.”

Judge Conlon noted a psychologist who had interviewed Fato for the proceedings found he had very little understanding of how his actions might have affected others.

Judge Conlon said it appeared Fato had made many “self serving” comments to the doctor and rejected suggestions he was sorry for what he’d done.

“It’s a little difficult not to draw the inference that any regret has arisen out of the fact he was caught and not for the wrongfulness of his actions,” Judge Conlon said.

Fato will be required to serve at least 12 years behind bars before becoming eligible to apply for parole in 2026.