Convicted drug trafficker Saverio Zirilli claims to be the victim of a police fraud but a court has rejected his belief it would be an injustice for him to spent another day behind bars.
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Zirilli is serving a 26-year prison sentence after admitting he was involved in major ecstasy imports and an attempt to bring cocaine to Australia.
But he says the only reason he was caught for that was because his barrister, gangland snitch Nicola Gobbo, tied him to the 15 million pill tomato tins ecstasy bust.
Zirilli applied for bail in Victoria's Court of Appeal last month, where he is challenging three drug trafficking convictions.
His application was refused on Friday, with judges finding his appeal's prospects at success was nothing more than "reasonable".
Zirilli's barrister Mark Gumbleton had told the court the appeal case was strong.
His involvement in any criminal activity can be entirely traced back to tips Ms Gobbo gave her Victoria Police handlers, he said.
She told officers about the involvement of the Italians - "the boys from Griffith" - alongside her client Rob Karam and fellow trafficking big-gun Pasquale Barbaro in the 2007 import of ecstasy from Italy.
Police surveilled Zirilli for more than a year, uncovering two separate drug plots before his arrest in August 2008.
"Properly analysed, everything that occurred ... was derived from intelligence provided by this officer of the court performing the impermissible joint role as an agent for the executive," Mr Gumbleton argued.
"To leave this guy in custody for another day is to continue the same injustice, the same fraud, that has been perpetrated on him and this court by the executive."
The judges noted Zirilli still has nine years of his minimum sentence to serve before he's eligible for parole.
Granting bail would see him released during a non-parole period on charges where the prospect of appeal is "no more than reasonable", Justices Mark Weinberg and Stephen McLeish said.
Zirilli's case is due to return to the appeal court in November.
Australian Associated Press