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Woodside man who smuggled 50kg of cocaine through his family restaurant sentenced to 20 years

Restaurant

June 23, 2017 By Christian Murray

A Woodside man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday for smuggling more than 50 kilos of cocaine from Costa Rico to his family’s Italian restaurant in Corona, according to federal prosecutors.

Angelo Giliotti, 36, was convicted last July along with his father, Gregorio Giliotti, for participating in a long-running cocaine importation scheme. His father was sentenced to 18 years in prison in April.

Meanwhile, his mother, Eleonor Gigliottti, who was also involved in the drug-trafficking operation was sentenced to 7 years in prison last month.

According to the charges, law enforcement officials intercepted and seized about 55 kilograms of cocaine that had been hidden in boxes of cassava and shipped to the Gigliotti’s Corona-based Italian restaurant, Cucino Amodo Mio at 51-01 108th Street.

The Gigliottis were arrested on March 11, 2015, and when police executed a search warrant for the restaurant they found seven guns, various gun paraphernalia, a handwritten ledger showing the movement of more than $350,000, and $100,000 in cash.

“The defendants used their family restaurant in Corona as well as a produce importation company, to import over 50 kilograms of cocaine worth millions of dollars from Costa Rica. The prison sentences imposed on the defendants put an end to the transnational drug trafficking they conducted behind the disguise of local businesses,” Acting United States Attorney Bridget Rohde said in a statement.

Gigliotti is also facing 10 years of supervised release after he serves his prison term.

Gigliotti

 

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