Queens Pizzeria Owners Busted for Smuggling 55 Kilos of Cocaine

Queens pizzeria Cucino a Modo Mio was raided by 30 federal agents who arrested its owners and boarded up the place. Husband and wife Gregorio and Ele​o​nora Gigliotti and their son Angelo allegedly used the business as a front to import cocaine from Costa Rica — 55 kilos, worth $2 million, in the last six months alone, reports the Post.

Here's how it worked: Gregorio sent Eleonora to Costa Rica with $400,000 in a suitcase last fall. The drugs were brought to Delaware in shipments of yucca and ultimately brought to the family's Bronx produce warehouse. According to wire taps, Gregorio and his suppliers used cassava and pineapple as "code" words for coke when talking on the phone.

Gregorio allegedly has ties to the Anthony Federicci, the head of the Genovese crime family, and apparently threatened to re-enact violent scenes from Martin Scorsese movies if people didn't pay.

At least some regulars had no idea what was going on. One told the Post: "I’ve eaten there — mostly pizza. It’s a family owned business, you would never expect that. They’ve been here a little over a year and seemed very pleasant."