A New Zealander named as a major heroin dealer in the notorious Mr Asia syndicate faces another jail term after he admitted involvement in Australia's second-largest importation of ecstasy.
Once the Mr Asia headlines faded Jimmy Shepherd retreated to south Sydney and stayed out of trouble for more than a decade.
However,the 62-year-old found himself on the wrong side of the law in January 2000 when he teamed up with another Mr Asia gang survivor, Hans "Bumbles" Czajkowski in a bid to cash in on the Sydney dance party scene.
Australian Federal Police tailing drug importers spotted the pair at a supermarket carpark where they collected seven rolls of foil wrapping. They were photographed loading the rolls into a van.
The rolls contained more than A$1 million ($1.13 million) worth of ecstasy tablets destined for dance parties as the city geared up to host the Olympic games.
Shepherd and Czajkowski, 56, realised they were being watched and sped off, running traffic lights and dodging oncoming traffic.
But they could not shake police and were arrested soon afterwards.
They initially pleaded not guilty to attempting to possess a commercial drug importation -- a charge carrying a lengthy jail sentence.
Last week they changed their plea to guilty when appearing in the Sydney District Court, a move which qualified them for a discounted penalty.
They will be sentenced later this year.
Shepherd and Czajkowski got out of jail in the late 1980s and lived modestly in suburbia before the lure of a A$9m ecstasy haul proved too hard to resist.
When the Mr Asia ring was busted in the late 1970s, a royal commission heard about A$1m in cash was traced through Shepherd's lawyers, companies and bank accounts in one year.
