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Queens Restaurateurs Arrested For Massive Coke Operation
By
Lauren Evans
Published Mar 12, 2015
Modified Mar 12, 2015
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By
Lauren Evans
Published Mar 12, 2015
Modified Mar 12, 2015
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A family of Queens restaurateurs were arrested yesterday for allegedly using their Italian eatery as a front for a cocaine trafficking ring.
A federal investigation found that Gregorio and Eleonora Gigliotti, along with their son, were using Cucino a Modo Mio in Corona as a staging ground for an elaborate cocaine operation, with business as far-flung as Costa Rica, the Post reports.
Investigators apparently found $100,000 and six guns in the restaurant's safe, in addition to $50,000 and a pistol in the Gigliotti's Whitestone home. They later seized two shipments of yucca in October and December, which respectively contained 40 and 15 kilos of coke.
The family is allegedly associated with the ’Ndrangheta organized crime group in Italy, and was overheard last August discussing luggage containing $400,000 in cash.
Gregorio was also allegedly heard in an intercepted phone call with his son discussing killing a man in the style of executions carried out in the movie Casino, in which two brothers are beaten to death in a cornfield.
All three family members face 30 years to life in prison.
Tagged
drug ring
mob
queens
Lauren Evans
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