Nigerian man Dirichukwu Patrick Nweke was allegedly orchestrating a cocaine racket from his cell in Villawood Detention Centre.
A day before Nweke's arrest in April, his alleged drug mule, a 60-year-old US man, was arrested at Sydney Airport accused of carrying five kilograms of cocaine.
He had arrived on a flight from Chile.
It's alleged the US man was under orders from Nweke.
Nweke, who came to Australia on a business visa in 2000, didn't need a crony of gun-totting gang members to prop up his alleged key role in the drug syndicate - he had mobile phones.
Police seized several phones from his room at the detention centre.
Organised criminals are using instant messaging services, like those on Blackberry devices, to communicate, police believe.
It's believed Nweke was linked to a criminal syndicate police cracked down on weeks before Nweke's arrest.
Four men from Sydney were arrested after police seized more than 140kg of drugs from a storage facility in Campsie.
It is understood they and Nweke were linked through facilitators used in Australia to allegedly operate a drug network.
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