A south west London drug dealer who used character names from hit US TV show The Wire to front his operation has been jailed.
Raphael Castillo, 29, from Camberwell, led a well organised drug ring in which dealers from London rented houses in Yeovil, Somerset to supply class A drugs such as crack cocaine and heroine.
Castillo, who was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison at Bristol Crown Court yesterday March 30, was discovered using fictional criminal names after an intelligence led police operation.
“He fancied himself as a gangster figure and registered a vehicle in the name of Marlo Stanfield and a phone in the name of Avon Barksdale, both fictional drug dealers from US TV series The Wire,” said DC Richard Grierson, who led the investigation.
“They were extremely well-organised and while we don’t know the value of drugs they’ve supplied, we believe it will be substantial in terms of quantity and value.”
During a raid on Castillo’s home in Vestry Road officers seized a large quantity of luxury goods, including a £7,300 Rolex watch, a Fendi backpack worth £2,500, trainers worth in excess of £1,000 as well as around £3,000 in cash was also located within a speaker in the boot of his car.
Castillo, who pleaded guilty to the charges, is thought to have amassed a haul of over £71,000 but has been ordered to pay back £12,775 as part of a confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The Wire was a long-running TV crime drama that aired in the US between 2002 and 2008 and saw Avon Barksdale and Marlo Stanfield run a drug dealing network in and around the Maryland city of Baltimore.
The Met, along with Avon & Somerset Police, urge anyone with information on drug dealing in their area to call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
