Smuggling Cocaine Under The Cockpit: A Former American Airlines Mechanic Receives A Nine-Year Sentence

NEW YORK: A former mechanic for American Airlines was found guilty of participating in a conspiracy to smuggle cocaine and was given a nine-year jail sentence. In February 2020, Paul Belloisi was apprehended trying to take cocaine out from under the cockpit of an American plane flying from Jamaica to New York. Paul Belloisi, 56, of Smithtown, New York, was found guilty of conspiracy to possess cocaine, planning to import cocaine, and importing cocaine in May 2023. This week, US District Judge Dora Irizarry sentenced him.

It Was Found Hidden In An Electronics Compartment

Before he was apprehended in early 2020, Belloisi reportedly worked as an “inside man” for more than 20 years as an American mechanic. 10 bricks of cocaine, weighing about 11.6 kg, were found hidden in an electronics compartment beneath the cockpit of American Airlines flight 1349, which was arriving at New York JFK International (JFK) from Montego Bay (MBJ), on February 4, 2020, during a routine inspection by CBP officers from the JFK Airport Anti-Terrorism Contraband Enforcement Team.

Officers marked ten false bricks with a special chemical that glows beneath the black light & waited for the courier to arrive in order to apprehend whoever was scheduled to pick up the illicit consignment. Then Belloisi was seen driving up to the plane and getting inside the electronics section. When the police closed up on him, they discovered that he was carrying an empty tool bag, a big jacket having cutouts to hide the cocaine, and fluorescent gloves in the dark. It appears that the cocaine discovered in this specific cargo was worth more than $250,000 on the black market, and it’s impossible to estimate how many shipments went undetected before Belloisi was apprehended.

There Is No Doubt That It Was Intentionally Conspired

David Cohen, the former mechanic’s attorney, has stated that Belloisi will appeal his conviction. However, Judge Irizarry has denied his request for an acquittal, stating that there is no doubt at all that Belloisi knew regarding the cocaine & “intentionally conspired & helped in its importation.” Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI), Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Darren B. McCormack, stated that the conviction might “send a message to anybody attempting to take advantage of the aviation industry.” It should be mentioned that the cocaine was concealed in a very delicate area, which might have compromised the aircraft’s safety.

In a recent instance of “insider” smuggling at JFK which made headlines, four US flight attendants could spend up to five years in prison for using the TSA’s Known Crewmember (KCM) lane to smuggle $8 million in narcotics revenues. Though Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is thought to have a significantly bigger smuggling problem than JFK, the latter will undoubtedly see its fair share of illicit activity as a major international airport.