An Italian made man, located in New York, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for importing more than 50 kilos of cocaine from Costa Rica.
Gregorio Gigliotti, 61, was sentenced in the East District Court of New York for drug-trafficking and firearm-carrying offenses.
The subject used a pizzeria located in Queens as a front to offer cocaine that arrived from Costa Rica, inside containers that transported cassava.
The accused criminals also created a fictitious company called Farm Fresh Export Corp to import cassava from Costa Rica. Thus, they managed to camouflage the cocaine in the containers.
Gigliotti, his son Angelo and his wife Eleonora were arrested in March 2015. The trial, in separate proceedings, started last year.
As important evidence against the Gigliotti, US authorities found a written paper that reported bank movements of more than $ 350,000 and $ 100,000 product of illegal activities.