Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1248303
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 MAY 2020 NEWS GUNS, GOLD, CARS AND POWER JOSEPH Brignone stepped in- side the courtroom as an unem- ployed man, but the list of cars he owned belied his supposed modest living. Arrested by police on 25 April while driving a Mitsubishi Pa- jero, Brignone, 31, was charged with the illegal possession of drugs, weapons and money laundering. He has pleaded not guilty and the compilation of evidence is ongoing. Along with Brignone, the po- lice also arrested his sister, An- nalise Brignone, 34. Lengthy searches carried out at two Bormla residences and garages in Fgura and Marsas- kala yielded drugs, weapons, thousands in cash, and several cars and motorbikes presuma- bly bought with the proceeds of the drug business. Among the cars were two Mercedes E63 AMG – luxury cars with powerful engines that can be bought second hand at a rough €60,000 each. Power and tops: cocaine, can- nabis, synthetics and heroin Police sources told MaltaTo- day that Brignone and his cous- in, Josef Zammit, nicknamed Marozz, ran a major drug sup- ply ring in the south-east. Zammit, 28, was arrested by the police on 10 May and has been charged with the illegal possession of drugs, weapons and money laundering. He was also charged with having sex- ual activity with a minor – his 15-year-old girlfriend. Zammit has denied the charg- es and the compilation of evi- dence is ongoing. Both from Bormla, the cousins were allegedly the major suppli- ers of cocaine, cannabis, heroin and synthetic drugs in Cotton- era, Żabbar, Fgura, Żejtun and Marsaskala, according to the sources. In court, it emerged that Brignone was under police surveillance for weeks, with a source saying it was important to follow the movements of the cousins to be able to track down the properties they operated from. The pair flaunted their wealth on social media, peppering their statuses with the words 'power' and 'tops'. Brignone's Facebook page runs under the name 'Brignone Power'. Over here he flaunted the power of his two Mercedes cars, going as far as posting short video clips of himself rev- ving up the engine and putting it to test on the streets. Cars and gold: 'Welcome home' A week before his arrest, Brignone proudly 'welcomed' his new grey Mercedes to the collection. "Welcome home to your sister #E63 #V8 #Anoth- erOneToTheList," he wrote on Facebook, to applause and well wishes from friends. But his audacity was also on display when he posted a photo on Facebook posing with a rifle at home, and a short video on Instagram of himself shooting at a road sign with a pistol while driving one of his cars. The shooting incident is now under investigation by the po- lice. In a handful of years, Brignone went from owning a Renault Megane to driving top-of-the- range cars that no person on unemployment benefits could ever afford. A parallel story also played out on social media. Brignone's cousin, Marozz, also flaunted his wealth on his Facebook wall. Zammit owns a 2007 sec- ond-hand black Corvette Z06 worth almost €40,000 and can be seen posing with a BMW 5-Series and an Audi A5 on sep- arate occasions. In other flashes of wealth, Zammit "welcomed home" an 18-carat gold Rolex watch with 24-carat diamonds, to which Brignone proudly replied: "Pro- set kuginn top." Zammit also flaunted a gold bracelet, which he claimed was worth €3,500 with his nickname embossed on it. A mugging: 'Sleep in a hotel… you, poor souls' At Brignone's house in a Bormla alley, police also found the place wired with CCTV cameras. Last January, Brignone sus- tained facial injuries when he was assaulted and robbed at his house by a group of people. Thousands in cash and gold were stolen. He reacted to the robbery by taking to Facebook, mocking his aggressors for being able to "sleep in a hotel" on the back of someone else's misfortune. "You thought that you would leave me emptyhanded because you stole the gold and money… as if, you, poor souls," he wrote defiantly. But the man is not alien to trouble. In 2018, Brignone and his father Emanuel alleged that a kiosk owner, Joseph Ellul, had tried to kill them when he drove his vehicle towards them in two separate incidents. The police have hit a major drug supply network in the south-east but social media tells the story of an unemployed man, who 'graduated' from owning a Renault Megane to two Mercedes cars worth €60,000 each in a handful of years. KURT SANSONE reports The arrests 25 April, Saturday Joseph Brignone, 31, and Annalise Brignone, arrested in Bormla after a police chase. Police find drugs, firearms, a machete and in cash; drugs include 1kg cannabis, 2kg synthetic drugs and cocaine. Several cars and motorbikes confiscated. Searches are carried out at two Bormla, a garage in Fgura and another in Marsaskala. Joseph Brignone is charged with illegal possession Welcome home gifts: both Zammit (left) and Brignone (right) would boast on Facebook of their latest acquisitions Joseph Brignone Josef Zammit 'il-Marozz'