Paul Belloisi, Cocaine Importation, New York 2023

Brooklyn, NY – A former American Airlines mechanic has been sentenced to 108 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to import and possess cocaine.

Paul Belloisi, 56, of Smithtown, New York, was convicted in May 2023 of all three counts of an indictment charging him with conspiring to possess and import cocaine, and importing cocaine. The case was announced by Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Darren B. McCormack, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI); and Francis J. Russo, Director of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, New York Field Office (CBP).

According to the indictment, on February 4, 2020, American Airlines flight 1349 arrived at JFK Airport’s Terminal 8 from Montego Bay, Jamaica. The aircraft was selected for a routine search by CBP officers from the JFK Airport Anti-Terrorism Contraband Enforcement Team. The officers found 10 bricks of cocaine weighing 25.56 pounds hidden inside an electronics compartment on the underside of the cockpit.

The cocaine was replaced with fake bricks and sprayed with a substance that glows when illuminated with a special black light. CBP officers and HSI special agents placed the aircraft under surveillance from a distance and shortly before it was scheduled to take off for its next flight, they observed Belloisi drive up and pull himself inside the electronics compartment.

Belloisi was confronted by law enforcement who observed his gloves glowing under the black light indicating he had handled the fake bricks. He was also carrying an empty tool bag and the lining of his jacket had cutouts sufficiently large enough to hold the bricks. The cocaine found in the aircraft had a street value of more than $250,000.

The case is being handled by the Office’s International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Robert Pollack and Margaret Schierberl are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Sophia Cronin.

“The defendant abused his insider position at JFK Airport to help smuggle more than 25 pounds of cocaine into the United States in a highly sensitive electronics compartment of an international aircraft,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “This conduct not only furthers the trafficking of drugs that harms our communities, but also poses a serious threat to the security of a vital border crossing in our district and our transportation infrastructure.

“Today’s sentence demonstrates that the government takes these threats very seriously, and those who work in trusted positions at our airports and in other critical industries must know that they face serious consequences for crimes of corruption.”

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