9237079668?profile=originalBy Gangsters Inc. Editors

Angelo Gigliotti (photo above) was sentenced to 20 years in prison today for his role in a Calabrian Mafia-connected cocaine trafficking ring. The 36-year-old had been found guilty following a two-week trial in July 2016, along with his father, Gregorio Gigliotti, who already got 18 years behind bars. His mother, Eleonora Gigliotti, also participated in the family-run drug-trafficking operation, and received a 7-year sentence in May.

The family business was busted after a long-term investigation by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI, in coordination with law enforcement authorities in Italy, into a transnational cocaine trafficking operation involving the Calabrian Mafia known as ‘Ndrangheta.

In the months from October to December 2014, federal law enforcement officers intercepted and seized approximately 55 kilograms of cocaine that had been hidden inside cardboard boxes that contained cassava and sent from co-conspirators in Costa Rica to the defendants in New York.

To facilitate their operation, they used their family-run Italian restaurant in Corona, Queens, Cucino Amodo Mio, as well as a produce importation company, Fresh Farm Export Corp., that was incorporated in 2012 to provide a cover for their drug-trafficking operation.

On March 11, 2015, the day the defendants were arrested, federal law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Cucino Amodo Mio and recovered one 12 gauge shotgun, one loaded .357 magnum Trooper revolver, one loaded .22 caliber Colt pistol, one loaded .38 caliber Charter Arms revolver, one 9 mm Keltec pistol, one .762 Czech pistol, one .38 caliber Derringer that had a defaced serial number, ammunition magazines, loose ammunition, two handgun holsters, brass knuckles, a handwritten ledger showing the movement of more than $350,000, and more than $100,000 in cash.

“The damaging effects of drugs aren’t limited to those individuals who abuse them—negative consequences often befall family members and friends, while businesses and government entities frequently incur the economic costs associated with drug abuse and prevention programs,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney. “To say the threats posed by the illegal drug trade know no boundaries would be an understatement, and yet there are those among us who dare to draw the line a little closer to home.”

“This [family] trafficked cocaine across the globe, and used their own family-run restaurant as a front for their criminal activities,” said ICE-HSI New York Special Agent-in-Charge Angel Melendez. “HSI uses its multifaceted investigative authorities with its partners to pursue and dismantle drug trafficking organizations whether it’s a small family run operation in New York or a large cartel operating in South America.”

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