They are the ‘cocaine babes’ of Sydney’s ritzy eastern suburbs – the glamorous women caught supplying the addictive drug to the Harbour City’s rich and famous.
The day jobs of these genetically blessed (and surgically enhanced) dealers who were busted by the NSW Drug Squad have included reality TV stars, bikini models and Instagram influencers.
Then there was the event planner who became known as the east’s ‘cocaine queen’.
That was until cops swooped and arrested her after surveilling her delivery of almost 600 bags of blow to customers in more than 370 separate locations across Sydney.
While that meant Danielle Tara Hogan had to swap her sumptuous lifestyle of overseas holidays and designer clothes for prison greens and a jail cell, it hardly ended the practice of pretty women peddling narcotics to multimillion-dollar waterfront and beachside addresses.
And while NSW Police have worked hard to crack down on the nefarious trade of cocaine supply by both women and men, their success doesn’t seem to have discouraged others from entering the criminal fray.
Danielle Tara Hogan was known as the ‘cocaine queen’ when the former events manager delivered hundreds of bags of coke across Sydney while being surveilled by police
Police arrest Hogan in 2019 after she was observed under covert surveillance delivering coke in hundreds of deliveries throughout the Harbour City
Just last November, a young woman was dragged into a police van in Sydney’s CBD after being caught in a targeted arrest.
Dressed in a skimpy black top and white shorts, the nubile female suspect was arrested on Hunter St in broad daylight on a Thursday afternoon by an undercover cop posing as an eshay.
Strike Force Northrop is now a pre-Christmas tradition for NSW Police, whose officers gleefully announce the drugs and cash seized during their statewide stings on so-called dial-a-dealers.
It’s a routine effort to stem the illicit trade in a city in the grips of an ‘insatiable’ love affair with cocaine. In the background, drug squads have made significant inroads into large-scale importations with a series of major raids on bikie gangs.
In 2022, they raided a gang clubhouse, seizing bags of cash amounting to $1.2million, as well as luxury cars, Rolex watches, Louis Vuitton sunglasses and 12.5kg of illicit drugs worth $12million, including cocaine bricks stamped with Christian Dior logos.
The same year, a massive 13kg of cocaine worth $5.8million was found inside an air cargo consignment of Capri wafer ice cream cone packets from Greece to Sydney.
A year earlier, Bondi party boy Darren John Mohr, 46, was jailed for a maximum of 32 years over a $150million cocaine importation plot.
The hulking former café owner had conspired to import 500kg of cocaine from Chile to the Sydney fish markets by boat in 2016.
Instagram model Vera Zinger flaunted her luxury lifestyle online and posed in skimpy bikinis – until police stopped her car at Barangaroo in Sydney’s CBD and seized both cocaine and cash
Police arrest a woman in the Sydney CBD after she allegedly tried to sell an undercover cop dressed as an eshay (left) cocaine and officers later found bags of the drug and cash in her car
Police lay out bags of cocaine and cash after arresting a woman as part of Task Force Northrop, the annual pre-Christmas drug crackdown that targets the cocaine party scene
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But amid the big hits, police have worked hard to crack down on the smaller operations.
These include catching the glamorous women who have acted as delivery drivers doing door-to-door drop-offs of bags of cocaine, as well as the women and men engaging in the even more risky business of selling on the street.
The woman apprehended last November on Hunter St in the CBD was carrying both drugs and cash when she tried to sell to the undercover ‘eshay’.
During a search of her vehicle, police allegedly discovered 14 bags of cocaine and more than $6,000 in $50 notes hidden in a compartment.
She was taken to Sydney’s Day St Police Station and charged with six offences: supplying a prohibited drug, dealing with the proceeds of crime, possession of a prohibited drug, driving while suspended, and failing to display P plates.
Her arrest was part of the larger police effort to dismantle dealer operations linked to cocaine and other drugs, which last year took place between November 22 and December 7.
Of these, 64 were charged with supplying a prohibited drug, 44 were charged with drug possession offences, and one person was also charged with domestic violence-related crimes.
Model Kirsty Dayment (above) was arrested in 2015 after police raided her beachfront unit
More than $20,000 worth of drugs were seized, including 560g of cocaine, 78 MDMA caps, weed, ketamine and ice. Almost $99,000 of cash and several cars were also seized.
Among those arrested, a 22-year-old man was found driving around the CBD with 14 bags of cocaine and thousands in cash, and a 26-year-old man was arrested in the east with cocaine and cash in a hidden compartment.
A 45-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man were also found driving down Bondi Rd with 24 bags of cocaine, more than $3000 in cash and a knife.
THE ‘COCAINE QUEEN’
In December 2021, glamorous Bondi local Danielle Tara Hogan was jailed for a maximum of three years and 10 months for supplying 580 bags of cocaine in 370 deliveries across Sydney.
The then-26-year-old, who posted photos of her lavish holidays, designer clothes and dinners at trendy beachfront bars despite being unemployed, was the ‘go-to’ dealer supplying ‘bags’ to parties, particularly in the summer months.
She has been variously described as the ‘drugs pin-up party girl’ and the ‘cocaine queen’ of Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Hogan’s high life was upended by her arrest in late 2019 after police had been surveilling her ‘dial-a-dealer’ work for a drugs syndicate.
One of three women allegedly part of the cocaine ring, she was charged after police raided seven properties and seized nearly 1.6kg of cocaine with an estimated street value of $600,000.
Hogan would claim that when she ‘realised’ cocaine was not just a harmless party drug and that it could destroy lives, she tried to quit the syndicate via text – with dire consequences.
‘They threatened me and drove me to my parents’ house with veiled threats towards them,’ a court heard.
Her lawyer said Hogan had never tried cocaine and was dealing drugs for ‘$25 a pop’ because she had no other work and owed $40,000 in parking fines, tolls and other debts.
Danielle Hogan later claimed she had never taken cocaine and had no idea it was anything more than a harmless party drug which she distributed for a miniscule ‘$25 a pop’
Hogan shields her face as she is led by detectives to a police van following her dramatic arrest in 2019 for cocaine dealing in Bondi, where she was a ‘go-to’ courtier for the drug
Hogan led a glamorous lifestyle by the beach despite being unemployed and while secretly dealing cocaine. She was arrested in November 2019 (right) and spent 17 months behind bars
Barrister Jehane Ghabrial told the NSW District Court in 2021 that the female crims in prison had falsely believed Hogan was the east’s ‘cocaine queen’ and had extorted her during her brief time behind bars on remand.
She argued sensational media reports had put ‘a target’ on her client’s back.
Judge Mark Williams SC conceded that ‘being made publicly the pin-up girl for a dial-a-dealer cocaine syndicate led to punishment while she was in’ Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre.
‘Inmates believed she was a wealthy eastern suburbs cocaine queen and they harassed her believing she had access to money or drugs,’ he said.
He concluded that the publicity, Hogan’s attempts to rehabilitate and her guilty plea worked in her favour and sentenced her to three years and ten months’ imprisonment.
Hogan would serve a minimum 17 months with her earliest parole in April 2023.
In early 2024, it was reported that Hogan had joined a exercise-based program for reformed inmates, Confit, and had gone from rock bottom to redemption.
She blamed a decade-long cycle of drug addiction and domestic violence for the offending which had landed her in prison.
Hogan was targeted in prison for her reputation as the ‘cocaine queen’ of the eastern suburbs
THE BIKINI MODEL
Disgraced socialite and bikini model Kirsty Dayment has managed to invoke the ire of two judges in her dealings with the justice system since getting caught supplying cocaine and MDMA from a luxury beachfront apartment with her boyfriend.
In 2015, police stormed the Coogee flat where 33-year-old Dayment and Nicholas James Riganias had 100g of cocaine and 1.36kg of MDMA or ecstasy concealed in a suitcase.
Kirsty Dayment tried to delay her entry to prison but was told by a judge she would give birth behind bars if she were pregnant. She miscarried and was jailed for more than three years
Riganias, 30, went straight to prison and stayed there as Dayment, who was bailed after a brief stint behind bars, delayed and had court hearings adjourned on her serious drug charges.
The woman who once strode the red carpet with A-listers and posed provocatively in fashion magazines eventually pleaded guilty to supplying a large commercial quantity of drugs, and supplying 85g of cocaine.
On her talent page, Dayment described herself as an actor, model, dancer, film and stage crew member, and photographer.
She said she had featured in Ralph and FHM, appeared on the TV series White Collar Blue, modelled for lingerie store Bras N Things and fashion brand Roxy, and also took part in ‘many bikini shoots for magazines’
Due to be sentenced in December 2016, Dayment sought an adjournment, saying she had post-traumatic stress disorder.
In March 2017, she said she was three months pregnant. Judge Sarah Huggett warned her to be prepared to give birth in prison.
Then in April 2017, she turned up at court and said she’d had a miscarriage, and asked for a further adjournment. Judge Huggett gave her 13 days.
Kirsty Dayment enters Downing Centre Court in March 2017 to seek a further adjournment to delay her inevitable incarceration and is told in no uncertain terms that she is headed for prison
Dayment (right) described herself as an actor, model, dancer, film and stage crew member and photographer with years of experience and vast talents in linguistics
Her Honour apologised to Nicholas Riganias for the delay, who was appearing via AVL from Long Bay jail and keen to have his sentencing over and done with, saying, ‘I’m sorry, but it is what it is.’
Dayment returned to court to be taken off in handcuffs to a prison van.
Dayment’s lawyers objected that their client’s guilty plea on the MDMA charge might be a miscarriage of justice because the drug was ‘found in the premises’ of the apartment leased in Riganias’ name.
But Judge Huggett responded that Dayment’s ‘fingerprints were all over the packaging which contained the MDMA and the elastic bands’.
She sentenced Dayment to a maximum five years and six months’ jail, with a minimum three years and three months, making her eligible for parole in July 2020.
In 2021, Dayment pleaded not guilty to a charge of custody of a knife in a public place and was found not guilty and the charge dismissed.
In April 2023, she returned to Downing Centre to plead guilty to driving with a suspended licence and was fined $300.
The following month, she was convicted of driving while suspended and received a six-month disqualification and $750 fine.
Dayment, now aged about 43, said she could do could do n, Canadian, New Zealand, English, Californian, New York, French and Indian accents, and was ‘sporty and competitive’
When Dayment was arrested again for a driving offence, a no-nonsense magistrate warned her she was ‘selfish’ and risked going back to jail if she reoffended
In August 2023, Dayment appeared before Magistrate Jacqueline Milledge at Waverley Local Court after she had been caught driving in Bexley, in southern Sydney, in an unregistered vehicle.
Dayment told the court that, far from her previous glamorous beachside lifestyle, she was now living ‘in her car’.
And on the night of the offence, she had been sleeping ‘in a park’, although she was no longer engaged in drugs and was ‘trying to rebuild her life’.
Magistrate Milledge was unimpressed and warned Dayment she could be heading back to jail next time.
She read out the litany of driving charges against Dayment and described a sentencing assessment report about Dayment’s limited insight into her offending as one of the worst she had seen in ‘a long time’.
‘You’re just somebody that’s lived your life the way you wanted to live it… your selfish, self-centred attitude has come across in this report,’ the magistrate said.
Dayment was issued with a two-year community correction order and had 200 hours of community service imposed – with a strict proviso.
‘Miss one hour of community service… [or] drive while disqualified… you and I will meet again,’ Magistrate Milledge said, adding: ‘Very likely the next time, you will be incarcerated.’
THE REALITY STAR
One-time Beauty and the Geek runner-up and former Penthouse model Jordan Finlayson fell into the grip of a $5,000-a-week drug habit and spent years in her early 20s attending cocaine-fuelled parties.
It all came to a head when the former reality TV star, who appeared on BATG as a ‘beauty’ back in 2011 – was caught dealing drugs in 2019.
Finlayson sold ‘H balls’ (heroin), ‘eyeballs’ (meth) and GBL to an undercover NSW Police officer over three months in 2019.
She made about $40,000 from dealing in total, but most of it was spent on heroin, GBL, Xanax and marijuana to fuel her ‘daily’ drug use.
She pleaded guilty to drug supply charges and was sentenced to a maximum of two years and three months in jail for drug dealing, but was released in September 2021.
‘I’m deeply sorry for all the hurt and pain I’ve caused to those involved,’ she wrote to a judge in requesting parole. ‘My actions let everyone down.’
However, in 2023, Finlayson admitted to a fresh string of drug charges amid a meth-fuelled meltdown after she was caught drug driving.
Court documents revealed she was high on meth when she crashed her car into a road barrier just before 4am on February 7 that year.
Cheerleader, reality star and model Jordan Finlayson has been arrested for dealing cocaine, driving under the influence of methamphetamine, and falsifying documents
In 2023, Finlayson admitted to a fresh string of drug charges amid a meth-fuelled meltdown after she was caught drug driving
When police arrived, they found the former NRL cheerleader unconscious in the driver’s seat of her white Toyota Yaris.
Officers observed she ‘began acting erratic [sic]’ and leant over to the passenger seat to say ‘hey, babe’ to the vacant seat.
Police noted Finlayson appeared confused, became visibly upset and distressed, and had difficulty standing as she was transferred to an ambulance stretcher.
Finlayson told authorities she had consumed alcohol but could not answer questions because she was so upset.
When she was taken to Ryde Hospital for medical treatment, she ‘absconded from hospital’ without providing a urine sample, according to police facts.
A sample of her blood was sent for analysis and returned a positive result for gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and methylamphetamine, or ice.
Police bundle Finlayson into a police van after arresting her when she was found unconscious in the driver’s seat of her white Toyota Yaris after crashing it while high on meth
Released on bail under strict conditions which required her to report to police three times a week, Finlayson was later discovered to have falsified four medical certificates in order to avoid her reporting obligations.
The documents were accepted as legitimate until police were granted access to her phone and discovered different font sizes on the fabricated documents.
Finlayson would later plead guilty to driving a vehicle with drugs in her system and four counts of using a false document to influence exercise of public duty.
In another incident on May 20, 2023, an Uber driver attempted to wake Finlayson after she fell asleep in the back of his car on a journey to Maroubra.
Jordan Finlayson (second right) was the runner-up on 2011’s Beauty and the Geek but her life went downhill after the reality TV show when she became addicted to cocaine and meth
Finlayson entered rehab in mid-2024 while awaiting sentencing for her drug driving and falsifying documents charges from the previous year
The driver eventually called police who found an ‘ice’ pipe in a small plastic bottle with a clear substance.
Tests later confirmed it to be more than five grams of gamma-butyrolactone – often used as a substitute for GHB.
Two months later, Finlayson was caught driving in Darlinghurst with ice in her system after being pulled over for a random breath test.
Last year, a court was told Finlayson was residing at a rehab facility as she awaited sentencing on the drug driving charge.
THE INSTAGRAM MODEL
Vera Zinger was an Instagram model who flaunted her luxury lifestyle online and loved to pose in skimpy bikinis.
But behind her carefully curated image of a woman spruiking swimwear and gym supplements, Zinger was moonlighting as a cocaine dealer, and on November 29, 2019, police pulled her over at Barangaroo, near Sydney’s CBD.
Inside the 23-year-old’s car, officers found bags of cocaine and $2,150 in cash. She was taken into custody.
Just days after her arrest, Zinger shared photos with her 87,000 followers of herself walking up the stairs to Bronte baths in Sydney’s east during a swimwear shoot.
Aside from promoting swimwear and gym supplements, Vera Zinger was moonlighting as a cocaine dealer. When police swooped in Barangaroo, they found drugs and cash in her car
Zinger pleaded guilty to one count of dealing with the proceeds of crime and two counts of supply prohibited drug and was sentenced to 13 months’ jail to be served in the community
And Zinger’s arrest did not discourage her from staying online, posting travel snaps of herself draped against ancient monuments and tourist attractions in Italy, Greece and the Middle East.
She was charged with deal with proceeds of crime and two counts of supply prohibited drug and pleaded guilty.
In March 2020, she was sentenced at Downing Centre Local Court to 13 months’ jail, to be served in the community by way of an intensive corrections order.
Along with the corrections order, Zinger was fined $3,950 and ordered to undergo psychological treatment and counselling.