A man who ran a major methampetamine supply ring in Wellington will serve at least seven-and-a-half years of a 15-year jail term.
Paul Rodgers, 40, was sentenced on Friday at the High Court in Wellington on charges which included participation in an organised criminal group and money laundering.
He was arrested in April last year, following a lengthy police investigation into a methamphetamine ring involving Nomads gang members.
Justice Kos said police estimated that in two years, Rodgers made at least $800,000 which he spent on classic American cars, motorcycles and house renovations.
Rodgers' lawyer Noel Sainsbury said his client was genuinely remorseful and his early guilty pleas reflected that.
Justice Kos said Rodgers had been born into the Black Power gang, that at the age of five he had seen his father attack his mother with an axe, and one of his brothers had been murdered by criminal associates.
However, the judge said Rodgers had shown genuine insight into the effects of his offending.
Police welcomed the jail term given to Rodgers. Detective Senior Sergeant Tim Leitch says officers see the impact of large scale drug dealing every day, with people getting into debt and families struggling with family member' addictions.
