A crook jailed for his role in a botched cash-in-transit robbery in his own backyard was previously caged over an international drugs plot.
Spencer Benjamin was last week jailed for eight years for his part in a supermarket ram raid and a cash-in-transit robbery in Chinatown last July.
The bungled raid was carried out in a car with registration plates borrowed from a car Benjamin had hired in his own name – prompting him to come straight to the attention of detectives.
He was today beginning to come to terms with another long jail stretch after being locked up for a decade in 2000 over cocaine supply.
In 1999, Benjamin was under the watch of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) over meetings with a mystery man at a Pizza Hut restaurant in central London.
The man turned out to be Venezualan drug lord, Ivan di Giorgio, who was said to be acting on behalf of the feared Colombian Cali Cartel.
On one occasion Benjamin was seen handing over a satchel to the South American, and at a second pizza parlour meeting a Wade Smith bag was passed to di Giorgio.
Police suspected cash was being handed over in return for drugs.
When police finally raided di Giorgio’s London home, he jumped out of a first floor window in a doomed attempt to escape. When he appeared in court he needed a walking frame.
Bizarre shopping spree
Spencer Benjamin, 43, jailed for eight years for two robberies
The police waited a little longer for Benjamin, allowing him to return to Liverpool .
The Toxteth dad went into hiding, but then decided to go on a bizarre shopping spree.
Undercover police officers witnessed an astonishing 10-day spending bonanza as the net closed in. He spent thousands of pounds kitting out a flat above a shop in Lodge Lane, which he would use as his “safe house”.
He spent £580 on new carpets, £1,250 on a TV and video recorder, £540 on a hi-fi system, £245 on blinds and £755 on a double bed and headboard. Each time he used cash and gave bogus names when asked.
The bill came to more than £3,000.
He was arrested, and told detectives: “I’m innocent. I have got no involvement in drugs and I am not saying any more. I have no involvement in anything.
“I told you, I’ve no involvement with drugs whatsoever.”
Benjamin claimed to be legitimately employed as an “area manager” but the court heard that he was the Liverpool end of an international drugs chain.
He lived in a £120,000 house on a new estate in Halewood , holidayed in Mexico and wore a £10k Rolex Ebel watch.
His unemployed girlfriend cruised around Liverpool in a Honda Jeep.
Det Supt John Kerruish of Merseyside’s major crime unit co-ordinated the inquiry.
‘Benjamin organised Liverpool end of the operation’
Spencer Benjamin, jailed for his part as the Liverpool contact for the drugs syndicate Cali Cartel
At the time he said: “The problem that we faced was that at this stage we had not fully identified exactly who di Giorgio was, but it was becoming apparent that he was working for the Cali Cartel.
“As far as we are concerned, Benjamin was the organiser for the Liverpool end of the operation.
“We regard his conviction along with that of di Giorgio’s as particularly significant in the on-going fight to stem the tide of class ‘A’ drugs coming into Merseyside.”
Benjamin pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine, and was jailed for ten years.
Di Giorgio was given a 20-year sentence after being described in court as “a very major player…in control of operations in this country”.
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/