Ex-Finks bikie boss Troy Fornaciari was in thousands of dollars of debt when he lashed out at a fellow alleged drug dealer.
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The 35-year-old, known for his distinctive facial ink featuring the words 'Not Guilty' and 'Tuff Luck', arrived at Paul McKiernan's Koonawarra home on May 13 last year.
The pair, who have known one another for six years, talked as they normally would. But things soured when the conversation turned to money.
Fornaciari pushed McKiernan onto his lounge face down before he struck him on the back of the head. McKiernan saw his own blood pooling on his cushions.
He was taken to Wollongong Hospital and treated for a thick laceration which had to be closed with four staples.
Fornaciari returned to McKiernan's home the next day to make amends.
"I apologise for hitting you. I promise it won't happen again," Fornaciari said, according to agreed facts tendered to court.
"We have to work something out with this money."
But Fornaciari quickly looked to turn on his promise, sending McKiernan's brother a barrage of text messages on May 15, threatening to harm his family and get his "Syd boys" to descend upon them.
"[Who] ever is in the house will cop it if that happens to be females kids gran parents (sic) etc IV (sic) got no code," Fornaciari's text message read.
"Needs to be a man an (sic) talk if not Syd boy will come heavy on U all."
McKiernan's brother reported the threats to police, prompting specialised officers to surround Fornaciari's Liverpool unit that afternoon.
He was arrested and his Samsung phone was seized.
Fornaciari initially denied the incident, however pleaded guilty to intimidation, reckless wounding and commercial drug supply on Tuesday.
He sat quietly in the Wollongong District Court dock, wearing a black and white striped Adidas hoodie, where he admitted to his crimes the day he was set to stand trial.
"Yeah, I'm guilty," Fornaciari said.
The month prior to his arrest, Fornaciari had been under investigation by strike force detectives for his involvement in methamphetamine supply across the Illawarra.
A woman who was the alleged mainplayer met Fornaciari after several of her upline suppliers were arrested and she was forced to find new ones.
Fornaciari bought meth from one of his upline suppliers, then onsold the drugs to the woman, according to the agreed facts.
Detectives listened in on tapped calls with several of Fornaciari's associates who became frustrated at his "unreliability" and being unable to contact him to purchase drugs.
"Have you seen Forno yet?" one associate said to another in a phone call.
"No I'm f---ing waiting for him. I'm f---ing still waiting for him. He gave me the same f---ing long story."
The woman met with Fornaciari at Flinders on April 8 to return the poor quality meth she previously obtained from him.
A few days later, tracking devices showed the woman travelled to Liverpool where Fornaciari supplied her with 283.5 grams of meth.
The woman received a message from Fornaciari on April 25 where he demanded payment he claimed he was owed for the drugs.
Fornaciari, who has remained on remand since his arrest, is scheduled to be sentenced on November 2.
Read more Illawarra court and crime stories here.
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Grace Crivellaro
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
