The owner of a pizzeria in Queens will spend the next 20 years in prison after he got busted for smuggling 55 kilos of cocaine from Costa Rica through the restaurant.
DNAinfo reports that Angelo Gigliotti of the shuttered Italian restaurant Cucino a Modo Mio in Corona was convicted for bringing millions of dollars worth of drugs into the country through yucca shipments. His mother Eleanor was sentenced to seven years last month, and his father Gregorio could get up to 18 years behind bars.
In fall of 2014, the Gigliottis brought the cocaine to the U.S. via their restaurant’s sister produce business. They used words like “cassava” and “pineapple” as codes for cocaine. Regulars were quoted as saying that they didn’t realize a drug operation was happening under their noses.
When the family was arrested, authorities found brass knuckles, a shotgun, loaded revolvers, and more than $100,000 in cash at the restaurant.