A Victoria man who has admitted to being a part of a cross-Canada drug trafficking ring is being sent to a federal penitentiary.

Ricco Zanolli was sentenced Thursday afternoon to 10 years behind bars for violent and drug-related crimes he committed in Newfoundland and the Yukon.

The 22-year-old sat quietly through most of the hearing, and turned down an offer to speak, before being sentenced by Yukon Supreme Court Justice Ron Veale.

The 10-year sentence was agreed to as part of a plea deal Zanolli made with Crown lawyers in both jurisdictions.

Earlier this month, he pleaded guilty to a dozen charges. Those include drug trafficking, working for a criminal organization, money laundering, intentionally and carelessly discharging a firearm, extortion, assault with a weapon causing bodily harm and setting fire to a jail cell.

Just before Christmas 2009, Zanolli came to Whitehorse to collect a drug debt.

When he could not find the man he was looking for, he has admitted to threatening the man's roommate, demanding the money and eventually extorting $11,000 from the roommate's father on Christmas Eve.

On Boxing Day, even after receiving the cash, Zanolli assaulted the roommate with a knife and later threatened his father.

That was not the only altercation Zanolli was involved in during his visit to the territory.

The same day he collected the extorted money, Zanolli has admitted to getting into an argument with another man and shooting him in the forearm.

The court has heard that an angry Zanolli fired his handgun in the man's direction, hitting him, leaving the bullet lodged in the wall and causing nerve damage.

Zanolli was prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm following a separate drug conviction in B.C. in 2008.

The RCMP's emergency response team arrested Zanolli hours after the Boxing Day attack near Policeman's Point on Lake Laberge.

Shortly after being charged by the RCMP in Whitehorse, more charges were laid against Zanolli by a police force on the other side of the country.

In January 2010, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary charged the man with drug-related offences as part of a cross-Canada drug-smuggling bust.

Newfoundland police arrested nearly a dozen people, mostly from the B.C. area, and confiscated kilos of cocaine and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The majority of those charged are still before the court and their identities are protected under a publication ban.

Zanolli transported a large amount of money from Newfoundland to Victoria, Veale said in his ruling.

The money was vacuum-sealed and wrapped in black duct tape. Some of it was glued to the bottom of a suitcase under the zippered lining.

Yukon lawyers have said the man's visit to the territory in 2009 appears to have been unrelated to the east coast group.

Zanolli has been bouncing back and forth between the Whitehorse Correctional Centre and a correctional facility in Newfoundland since he was first charged in Whitehorse.

His time in the territory's custody has not been without incident.

Weeks after arriving at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre, Zanolli was charged with making threats against corrections officers and setting fire to his cell.

After getting into an argument with guards over wearing a shirt, Zanolli became angry. He refused to leave his cell and eventually had to be pepper-sprayed, the court heard.

Following the scuffle, Zanolli has admitted to threatening to stab a guard and putting out a contract on him.

The arson charge stems from an incident four days later, when Zanolli lit his clothes on fire in his cell's sink.

Zanolli has claimed the blaze was a protest after corrections staff had not responded to his request to call a lawyer.

Zanolli was raised by his father and stepmother after his mother died when he was six years old.

He spent most of his formative years in youth detention for a variety of offences.

When released from custody, Zanolli has said, he would like to get his high school diploma and become a personal trainer.

While he agreed with the 10-year sentence, Veale said he was initially reluctant to grant the lawyers' the request for 2:1 credit for the time Zanolli has already spent in custody.

In the Yukon, those in custody are generally given a credit of 1.5:1, which treats the remand inmate the same as a convicted offender, the judge said, adding that good behaviour is not necessarily required during that remand time.

"However, considering the conduct of Mr. Zanolli in the Whitehorse Correctional Centre, this court would normally award 1:1 or 1.5:1 credit for remand time,” he said.

In Newfoundland, a 2:1 credit for remand time was common at the time of these offences.

In the end, the judge agreed to give Zanolli a 2:1 credit for the time he has spent in custody. That means he has about six years left on his sentence.

Veale pointed out that Zanolli had been seeking a plea agreement since the spring of 2010.

"It is not a last-minute pleas bargain, but one that has been thoroughly considered by the Crown and one that saves a considerable amount of court time in both Newfoundland and the Yukon,” he said.

Under the agreement, Zanolli will be eligible for parole in 18 months.