DRUG DEALER'S ROAD TO JAIL PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS

Marcello Ruggiero bought himself a BMW automobile, a Harley-Davidson
motorcycle, a commercial property and a house with the proceeds from
the drug network he built in Quebec's northern communities.

But the dealer also appears to have had a selfless
side.

Ruggiero, 41, a former heroin addict, purchased a house in the Quebec
countryside he hoped would one day offer drug users better therapy
than he ever got.

Yesterday, Ruggiero pleaded guilty in Quebec Court to seven counts,
including trafficking, operating a criminal organization and
possession of goods acquired through criminal means.

And all his goods - including the would-be therapy centre in St. Felix
de Valois, about 65 kilometres northeast of Montreal - were seized by
the courts.

Judge Martin Vauclair also sentenced the Terrebonne resident to 42
months in jail on top of the 151/2 months he has already spent behind
bars since his arrest in May 2005.

Ruggiero, a stocky man with short-cropped hair, sat in the prisoner's
box yesterday, mouthing messages to his wife sitting in the courtroom.

The drug network, which had been operating for about seven years,
reached into 12 northern villages. It was broken up after a six-month
investigation by officers from the RCMP, the Surete du Quebec, the
First Nations Chiefs of Police Association and the Kativik Regional
Police Force.

Ruggiero had 46 people working with him, the court heard yesterday,
including 23 Inuit pushers scattered throughout Nunavut territory and
northern Quebec's Nunavik region.

Every week, two kilograms of marijuana would be packaged in plastic
bags and sent via Canada Post on airplanes to the North. For every
gram that sold for $50, $20 went to the dealer and $30 to Ruggiero,
for a three-month profit of $1.6 million.

Crown prosecutor Nancy Perrault said Ruggiero also sent a small amount
of cocaine to his dealers as a "tip" for their work.

The Crown and the defence struck a deal whereby Ruggiero would plead
guilty and agree to hand over his goods, estimated to be worth about
$1 million.

Four of the key Inuit dealers have already been sentenced to between
24 and 30 months in prison. Fourteen other people involved in the ring
are to appear in Quebec Court on Oct. 10.