A Lake Macquarie tradie who was unable to work after suffering a serious leg injury in a motorbike crash, relapsed into drugs and quickly rose to the top of a major Hunter syndicate supplying kilograms of ice, MDMA, cocaine and cannabis.
Cardiff South carpenter Zak Stewart, now 29, was "distributing misery throughout the Hunter Region" as he directed 11 lower-ranking syndicate members to courier large quantities of drugs and cash from Sydney to Newcastle and across the Hunter, Judge Paul Marr said on Monday.