A gang leader who flooded the streets with drugs and plotted to “give someone a leggy” with a shotgun instead shot himself in the foot after cops found a selfie showing his missing tooth.
Michael Riccio, 37, from Allerton, Liverpool, went by the name “LeadFern” on the secret chat network EncroChat, dealing hefty amounts of narcotics and firearms to crooks all over Britain. He was running his dodgy dealings through EncroChat, dubbed the “WhatsApp for criminals”, until French cops cracked the code in 2020.
After the breach, a treasure trove of messages between villains was handed over to British police, helping them connect the dots and trace the crooks behind the cryptic usernames.
(Image: Liverpool Echo)
But Riccio, who had been living it up overseas before returning to Britain when Covid-19 hit, dropped clangers in his messages that made the police job easy. At Liverpool Crown Court, the jury heard how blunders like mentioning his birthday and pals bringing up his dad’s death anniversary on May 1, 2020, tied him to the LeadFern moniker.
He reportedly dished out his mum’s home address and sent a snap of himself in bed, toes peeking out from under the duvet, from his own home. His mates apparently saved his number as ‘Little’, his nickname, while he once sent a selfie to show off a missing tooth on May 4.
Holly Menary, prosecuting, laid it out for the jury at the trial that wrapped up in May this year: “Members of the jury, if there was any doubt remaining in your mind that Michael Riccio was the user of the handle LeadFern then perhaps this should give you some clarity,” reports the Liverpool Echo.
Riccio, who fessed up to being part of a crime syndicate, owned up to his role in a massive coke and smack plot but insisted he wasn’t the only one using his handle, claiming others used it for sourcing and supplying arms. But Judge Gary Woodhall wasn’t having any of it when Riccio rocked up for sentencing today, Monday, November 4, telling him it “defies common sense and logic for this phone to be used by multiple users”.
The judge laid down the law: “I am satisfied on the basis of evidence this was your phone and your handle.”
During the trial, the court heard how Riccio’s menacing texts were filled with talk of “Glocks, shottys, shotguns and causing harm with those firearms”, and included phrases like “needing a shotgun to give someone a leggy”. Ms Menary explained it meant: “In other words, to shoot them in the leg.”
The jury was exposed to several dodgy communications intercepted by police in spring 2020, which detailed dangerous dealings over Glock and CZ semi-automatic pistols with some bloke called ‘FearlessCheetah’.
Riccio, who was dressed in a blue Under Armour top and had dark brown hair, was handed a 20-year sentence for the firearm offences and an additional 15 years for the drug conspiracy, totalling a hefty 35-year sentence.
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