Bill Parry
CORONA — Police arrested a couple and their son who were accused of using their Corona restaurant and a produce business as fronts for a cocaine operation that stretched from Costa Rica to Queens, according to a Brooklyn federal court complaint.
Gregorio and Eleonora Gigliotti, the owners of Cucino a Modo Mio, on 108th Street in Corona, and their 34-year-old son Angelo, all face life in prison after a federal investigation discovered their stash, court papers state.
Using contacts in Costa Rica, the Gigliottis arranged for shipments of cocaine in containers of yucca to a port in Delaware before having them trucked to their Bronx produce warehouse, court papers say.
Wiretaps of a phone line at their pizzeria revealed that the 58-year-old owner — a reputed associate of Genovese capo Anthony Federicci — sent his wife to deliver a suitcase filled with $400,000 in cash to a drug dealer in Costa Rica last August, according to court papers.
During the past six months, the family received 55 kilos of coke worth nearly $2 million from Costa Rica and in addition to six guns, agents recovered $100,000 from the restaurant’s safe, court papers state.
Appearing in Brooklyn federal court together Wednesday afternoon, the Gigliottais were held pending a bail package presentation.
