A FORMER Liverpool prodigy who once played alongside stars Jamie Carragher and Michael Owen has been jailed for his role in a massive drug conspiracy.
Jamie Cassidy, now 46, helped Liverpool win the FA Youth Cup in 1996, when the reds beat a West Ham United team featuring Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand.
But he is now behind bars after being jailed for 13 years and three months after admitting his role in a multi-million pound drugs operation.
His brother Jonathan was also jailed.
Paul Greaney KC told Manchester Crown Court heard how Jamie was signed by Liverpool FC as a schoolboy and flourished within the club’s youth set up.
During his teenager years he became one of the top goal scorers in the country and was hand picked along with Carragher to attend the FA’s centre of excellence at Lilleshaw.
The Liverpool man later left Liverpool for Cambridge United and drifted into non-league football.
The court heard how in his 2008 autobiography Carragher said Cassidy would have been a “certain Liverpool regular” but for the injuries that ended his career in top flight football.
Without football to fall back on, Cassidy spiralled into a life of crime alongside his old brother Jonathan, 50, who was today locked up for 21 years and nine months.
The pair used encrypted phones to import cocaine into the UK from South America to flood the streets of Liverpool with the drug.
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Jonathan managed the import business while Jamie was specifically responsible for distributing the drugs to criminals across Merseyside and Manchester.
When police hacked the so called EncroChat network in the spring of 2020 they discovered that Jamie used the handle NuclearDog while Jonathan used WhiskeyWasp.
Narcos plot
Nasar Ahmed, 51, Jonathan’s business partner, used the handle DottedJaw.
The three men sent messages on the Encro network about the movement of drugs and cash.
Jonathan sent images from the Netflix series Narcos on his Encro phone to associates, including stills of infamous drug dealers such as El Chapo.
Jonathan, who had a more senior role in the crew than Jamie, liaised with established brokers in Holland who sold large quantities of cocaine.
The drugs were smuggled into the UK inside adapted vehicles known as “taxis.”
In March and April of 2020 Jonathan was involved in the importation of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Holland into the UK.
The Cassidy gang had their first security scare when one of their associates was arrested by police in Holland.
The man, identified only as Cappie, was being used to deliver large amounts of cash on behalf of Cassidy.
The brothers had been confident their messages about their thriving drug business were secret, until EncroChat warned all customers of a hack in the spring of 2020.
On June 15 Ahmed was arrested by police at his home in the Bury area of Greater Manchester.
On July 8 Jonathan Cassidy spent the day reading online articles about the arrests of well known criminals in Manchester and Liverpool before flying out to Dubai.
When in the UAE he began trying to buy a villa, telling agents his budget was in the region of £2.3m.
He messaged a contractor who was building a bed for him costing around £22,000.
The following day he flew back to the UK, and was arrested as he arrived at the airport.
Fall from grace
When police raided Jamie Cassidy’s home in the Knowsley area of Merseyside on November 5 they found a case summary document for the police investigation into the Cassidy’s gang, an encrypted telephone and machete.
Jonathan Cassidy, 50, and Nasar Ahmed, 51, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to evade prohibition on importation of Class A Drugs,
conspiracy to supply class A drugs and conspiracy to conceal ,disguise , convert or transfer criminal property.
Jamie Cassidy pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and conspiracy to conceal ,disguise , convert or transfer criminal property.
Mr Bromley-Martin KC, speaking on behalf of Jonathan Cassidy, said that his client only used the handle Whiskywasp during March and April of 2020.
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Mr Bromley-Martin made reference to a letter from a prison chaplain to the judge which claimed Jonathan Cassidy was of “good character.”
The court heard that Jamie Cassidy had been a model prisoner and was working with the Samaritans to help other inmates.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
