MEET YOUR WAITERS FROM THE HEROIN CAFE

HEROIN and coffee were on the menu at a cafe that served Melbourne's most
vulnerable customers. Drug addicts of all ages received old-fashioned
service and under-the-table deals.

Charging between $30 to $200 a hit, the Northcote cafe was a home away from
home for anyone wanting a cup of coffee with their cap of heroin.

Three mild-mannered, middle-aged men took the orders.

The drugs were hidden in empty Coca-Cola cans, behind a sink, in the fridge
and under the espresso machine.

Some customers were offered credit or discounts for the heroin, which was
divided into different sizes in the kitchen. An order for "half a glass"
was code for half-gram quantities.

County Court Judge Russell Lewis yesterday heard that anybody who entered
the cafe would be offered a deal. "They were prepared to sell it to anyone
who was prepared to pay the price," prosecutor John Saunders said.

Guiseppe Rocca, 54, of Northcote, and Franco Cima, 56, this week pleaded
guilty to one charge each of heroin trafficking between January and June
last year.

The cafe's waiter and cleaner, Giovanni Folino-Gallo, 53, of Coburg,
pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting the men between March
and June.

Judge Lewis was told police started watching the cafe at 539 High St in
January last year.

Heroin dealers and users visited the coffee lounge and usually approached
Cima or Rocca.

If they were unavailable, Folino-Gallo, who only became aware of the deals
in March last year, would sometimes be approached.

The heroin would be retrieved from its hiding places and money would change
hands and be placed in the till, for collection by Rocca.

Some witnesses told police they saw people pay $30 for a can of Coca-Cola.

It was alleged buyers would usually leave the cafe with the heroin.

Judge Lewis heard Rocca had established a system where "customers" were
given free cups of coffee while they waited for their heroin.

This was to stop people walking out after a few minutes and alerting police
to the covert deals.

Judge Lewis heard about 30g of heroin was sold a week.

However, he was told that the three men were not in the venture for money.

Defence barristers argued their clients were not selling to anyone who did
not want to buy and that the addicts who visited the cafe would have got
their drugs elsewhere.

Mr Saunders, however, submitted the men were motivated by greed.

"We have got a shop that does not do much more than act as a front for
selling heroin," he said.

The men were interviewed by the Mill Park police district support group
after heroin was sold to undercover officers.

Judge Lewis said heroin was a scourge in the community and that thousands
of young people were dying from their addictions.

Rocca, Cima and Folino-Gallo were remanded in custody for sentencing today.