Mobbed-up owners of Queens Italian restaurant busted for smuggling cocaine in yucca containers: feds
BY JOHN MARZULLI NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Published: Wednesday, March 11, 2015, 3:33 PM Updated: Wednesday, March 11, 2015, 4:47 PM A A A

The owners of Cucino Amodo Mio in Queens were busted for smuggling drugs into America, the feds said Wednesday.
The feds have smashed a mobbed-up pizza connection drug operation in Queens.

The owners of an Italian restaurant in Corona and their adult son are charged with importing 55 kilos of cocaine in a shipment of vegetables, it was disclosed Wednesday.

Gregorio Gigliotti, his wife Eleonora and their son, Angelo, own several businesses tied to the drug trafficking, including Cucino Amodo Mio on 108th St. in the neighborhood’s Little Italy section, according to a complaint.

The Gigliottis allegedly are associates of the ‘Ndrangheta organized crime group in Italy and their neighbor is reputed Genovese capo Anthony (Tough Tony) Federici who owns the nearby Park Side Restaurant, prosecutors Nicole Argentieri and James Miskiewicz stated in court papers.

“We prepare each dish with fresh ingredients,” is the motto of Gigliotti’s restaurant where federal agents had a wiretap on the phone and listened in on conversations between Gregorio, 58, and a co-conspirator named “Armando” in Costa Rica allegedly arranging a drug deal last summer.

“Manifests indicated that beginning on or about Sept. 16, 2012 to the present, the defendants imported a total of 37 cargo containers of ‘fresh cassava,’ a vegetable also commonly known as ‘yucca,’ from Costa Rica,” stated Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent Daniel Lamarca.

Angelo, 34, and Eleonora, 54, allegedly traveled to Costa Rica last August where they were overheard discussing a piece of luggage containing $400,000 in cash, which was supposed to be delivered to Armando.

The feds later seized separate shipments of yucca arranged by Gregorio Gigliotti in October and December — one containing 40 kilos of cocaine and the 15 kilos in the other.

Gregorio Gigliotti cooked up some cinematic drama in an intercepted phone call with his son in which he discusses carrying out a real-life killing of a deadbeat just like in the film “Casino” where actor Joe Pesci brutally beats two brothers to death in a cornfield and then buries their bodies.

“Eleonora is a party to certain of these conversations and in response to Gregorio’s threats simply tells (him) not to discuss his plans over the phone,” the prosecutors contend.

Agents found $100,000 and six guns in a safe in the restaurant.

The drug dealing family members face 30 years to life in prison if they are convicted of the charges.

They were held without bail at their arraignment Wednesday afternoon in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Gregoria was wearing a white long-sleeved jersey with “ITALIA” printed on the back.

Is this a joke?

They're drawing association because they LIVE NEXT TO a reputed gangster (who's now retired).

Unless there's evidence of ACTUAL ASSOCIATION (Hey, and criminal association would help) if I was Anthony Federici I'd be SUING THE SHIT out of this newspaper for libel.

Next door neighbour. Christ. Whats next? He might've gone to Dallas once so throw in the Kennedy hit as well eh...

What a joke.



Really hard to believe much of what this article contains with unbelieveably obvious mistakes like this and the crap above.

I know its the Daily but journalism is a joke these days.

Retarded. And talking on the phone in this day and age? Retarded beyond belief.

And if that "Casino" reference is to be believed, that's just more proof of how these guys are as influenced by Hollywood as Hollywood is by them. Life imitates art and all that. 58 years old and the guy thinks it's a fucking movie. It's surprising because he comes from the other side.

And yeah, Tony has as much to do with this case as the guy who folds pizza boxes for these people. Asshole reporters can't wait to implicate people by association. If you're guilty because of who your neighbors have been, I'd be doing life by now .

This article calls Gigliotti a "reputed associated" of Federici.

http://nypost.com/2015/03/11/nyc-couple-accused-of-running-coke-operation-out-of-pizzeria/

Do you have a press release or an indictment that names any unindicted co-conspirators or specifically mentions Tony, Ivy?

I only ask because this is the Post we're talking about. It has nothing to do with you, pal.

I can't find the indictment yet. It's not on the Eastern District website. I don't know one way or the other. Just throwing what the other article said out there.

If the NY Post dont have reason to state Gigliotti as an associate of Federici, ie press release by federal authority or other reasonable evidence, then its pretty low base in my opinion.

I agreee. That's why I asked.

I was reading the Daily News article last night and posted it under NEWS on this forum cuz I did not know what to make of it. Seems like they are "reaching" a bit here calling him an associate.

PB knows WS side I trust him

But still yawn overall , whether it guys from overseas or people here distributing it , there will always be a few crews that deal drugs . It always been a part of CN , too much $ and relationships

this operation was nothing to sneeze on. 15 kilos at 1000 buck a once is well over half a mil. then they intercepted 40 kilos that almost 1.5mill. there getting from costa rica rite next to Colombia so you no its raw. these guys were rolling in the doe. so did they surply other mafia connected guys. they had to be kicking up to some family rent. that much coke not gonna go undetected in the 5 families. lucky the jamican or any queens gangs didn't duck tape and get them.

Yeah, boring stuff in Capeci's column this week. And the thing you have to keep in mind about the alleged link to Tony is that the Westside is the most homegrown family today. Just look at the membership charts. That's not to say that there aren't a few guys from the other side who have their patch. But they're few and far between. And a joint venture with 'Ndrangheta in a neighborhood pizzeria would be very out of character for both Tony and the family as a whole. But time will tell. If I'm wrong I'm wrong.

Not saying the op was small , just that it's not shocking

They should just legalize the shit so the govt controls it as it will never end

Then use the $ to actually treat and help people

Between invoking the "pizza connection" and making sure we knew that his shirt read "Italia" on the back, its hard to know what, if any, part of this article to take seriously. Also, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Federici had as little to do with these mouth-breathing mutts as possible. Maybe they were sampling too much of their product, and it made them stupid and sloppy. It felt like you were reading about a bunch of reckless teenagers selling drugs in Boise, Idaho or something

I think that someone in that last bust involving Ndrangheta and the gambinos may have flipped or pointed the feds in their direction.

This doesn't have to be connected to any of the 5 families. A lot of foreign crime groups operate and thrive in new york.

Absolutely, and as a whole they outnumber the Italians in every borough except Staten Island.

True about foreign crime groups but they have to distribute it and that's where the local wise guys come into play. There are some CN that to this day make $ in drugs , it's never gonna end , just legalize , regulate and help people . At some point I'm sure this will be done but not in my lifetime lol

It would make sense for these italian guys to distribute their drugs through lcn contacts just due to familiar community ties, access and what not, however its not always necessary. If these people have lived and operated in new york for any significant time they probably would have become familiar with the gang landscape and could have made ties to other drug trafficking organisations and street gangs.

I'm sure the Ngandhata has a lot of customers other than Italians as well

100% Agree. Every study shows treatment is the way to go. And it is cheaper than prison.

What's the latest on this? Was he in with the 'Ndrangheta clan?

Surprised no one posted there yelp reviews.

a little update

Mob-connected matriach Eleonora Gigliotti ordered held without bail after she allegedly orders beatdown
BY JOHN MARZULLI NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Friday, April 17, 2015, 10:21 PM A A

The matriarch of a mob-connected family charged with using their Italian restaurant in Queens to facilitate drug trafficking schooled her husband on the art of a beatdown, the feds said.

Brooklyn Federal Judge Sandra Townes ordered Eleonora Gigliotti held without bail Friday and appeared shocked by the woman’s chilling instructions.

In the secretly recorded phone call, Eleonora is allegedly discussing a planned assault on a relative who supposedly stole money from them.

“Hurting him in front of his kids, Grego, we’re going to look bad,” she allegedly said.

“Have someone grab him at night and he’ll learn.”

Then she allegedly added, “Bring him here and bang him up over here.”

The judge said she initially thought Eleonora was trying to dissuade her husband from violence.

“But as I read the transcript, she was actually advocating violence,” Townes said.

Townes overruled an earlier decision by a magistrate judge to release the 54-year-old woman on $4 million bail. Eleonora faces a minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life, and the judge believed she may have been plotting to flee to Italy before her arrest.

The Gigliotttis and their son, Angelo, are charged with conspiring to import 55 kilos of cocaine from Costa Rica, concealed in containers of yucca.

They own the Cucino a Modo restaurant on 108th St. in Corona, and also have reputed ties to Genovese crime family figures and the ‘Ndrangheta organized crime group in Italy, according to court papers.

“Gotta be strong,” Eleonora Gigliotti said to family members in the courtroom as she was led out, giving them a thumbs-up sign.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Argentieri described the defendant as a sophisticated drug trafficker. “She is not a mule,” the prosecutor said, referring to a low-level smuggler of drugs.

I thought Tony was retired? Isn't it rom's now?

Even Rom is semi-retired. The entire article was a reach to tie 'Ndrangheta to an American crime family. The journalists are worse than the Feds these days.

Lol

Since its only coke not crack and her being a women she get only a few years. Probaly deported. It wouldn't surprise me they had to be kicking up to some capo in queens to protect them from the other wolves. Like that auto body guy who paid asoro the second he went to jail he gets robbed. So that really still exists today.

Fine, but it had nothing to do with Rom, Tony or the Westside. If it did, the Feds would have been tripping over themselves to charge them. The way parts of Queens looks today, they might have had Dominican partners. Who knows?

I just came across this site a few days ago and I think that it is amazing. Kudos to all of the people who contribute to this forum.

The guy from Parkside is retired? If he is, he still caries an awful lot of clout in and around the neighborhood(s). He and the guy who used to have the concession for Café on the Park, were extremely well connected in Queens politically especially to the Office of the Queens Boro President.

I have a tough time believing that he had anything to do with another organization importing and distributing drugs. The guy is old school and this venture lacks any real degree of sophistication. He also has a stellar reputation in and around Spaghetti Park, where at least one drug dealer was hung years ago. People look up to the guy.

A heard that people that get paroled in NYC are explicitly not allowed to visit three restaurants, Rao's, Parkside and another one that has slipped my mind.

Anyways, this forum is fantastic....

Well, the articles have mostly mentioned Genovese captain Anthony Romanello as possibly financing the operation. Romanello, of course, is the guy who was said to have taken over from Federici.