Sentence extended for pickpocket ringleader

A man jailed for four years for controlling a team of pickpockets on the Tube has received a further 16 months in prison after failing to pay back more than £90,000 earned from his criminal enterprise.

Apostolos Nasto, jailed in 2009 after a British Transport Police (BTP) investigation, received a further jail term at an Enforcement Hearing at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on February 15.

A confiscation hearing last year established that Nastos had generated £182,626 from the pickpocketing ring he organised. The court ruled he must pay back £98,000 of this from his assets, but he has so far failed to pay any of the money back except £7,762 cash recovered from his home during his arrest.

Detective Constable Steve Down, of BTP’s Economic Crime Unit, said: “Nastos has failed to pay back the vast majority of the money he earned from unsuspecting members of the public who became victims of the pickpockets he controlled.

“He had no legitimate income but had access to hundreds of thousands of pounds he made from a highly organised pickpocketing ring that he controlled.

“I hope this further jail sentence will send a clear message that wherever possible, the courts will push to recover stolen assets and those who fail to pay the money back will be punished.”

Nastos, from North London, was convicted in April 2009 of directing the activities of numerous female pickpockets over a period of two years; housing them, checking on their activities, paying court fines and even paying for them to flee the country when they were faced with prison.

BTP detectives were able to piece together Nastos’ role in directing the women through extensive analysis of his financial transactions, investigation into his known associates and using undercover surveillance footage of him associating with known pickpockets.