The 'Italian Stallion' MMA fighter's lucrative side hustle that led police to his door
Pietro Menga's home was raided after he was identified from Encrochat messages discussing the large-scale sale of drugs
An MMA fighter dubbed the 'Italian Stallion' was identified after foolishly talking about his fighting injuries and home gym with criminals on Encrochat.
Police raided the Swinton home of Pietro Menga following a major investigation into an organised crime group. It was established the 37-year-old was directly involved in sourcing large quantities of cocaine for customers across Greater Manchester, which he made commission on.
He was also involved with a crime gang behind the biggest gun-running plot ever encountered by UK law enforcement, whose members were jailed last year.
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Menga first came to the attention of Greater Manchester Police in 2020 after the National Crime Agency infiltrated encrypted messaging platform service, Encrochat, a court heard.
Detectives trawled through thousands of anonymous messages detailing drug deals, firearms sales, and assassination attempts, cross referencing the sporadic personal details which were discussed in and amongst the criminal business deals, police revealed.
Menga, using the anonymous handle ‘wirelessshark’, was having conversations with other criminals, openly discussing the sale and purchase of wholesale amounts of drugs and firearms. But he was identified after he openly chatted about his girlfriend, his knee injuries from fighting, and his home gym.
From the messages on his encrypted mobile phone, a drugs expert estimated the street sale value of drugs that Menga was involved in were worth between £490,000 to £620,000.
Further messages also showed how the MMA fighter was involved with the OCG responsible for a record-breaking firearm trafficking conspiracy, who were all previously jailed for over 200 years.
In one conversation, he refers to the Skorpion automatic machine guns as a ‘tastey bit of kit’ that are ‘always good for a rainy day’.
On January 15 last year, police executed a warrant at Menga’s home address on Mount Street in Swinton and he was arrested. And on Tuesday (April 22), he was jailed for 15 years and five months. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell or transfer prohibited weapons and conspiracy to supply cocaine.
Detective Constable Shiels from GMP's Serious Organised Crime Group said: “Menga, like many criminals before him, thought he was hiding behind a secure communications system. Instead, he created his own evidence trail that has led them straight to jail.
“The level that Menga operated at showed he clearly had an established list of criminal contacts, one which will have been built over several years under the radar, facilitated by the use of Encrochat.
“I hope this result shows that we remain committed to pursuing people who think they are above the law and believe they can evade justice. We will continue to target criminals like Menga by thoroughly examining any evidence and carrying out any necessary warrants across Greater Manchester.”