NYC airline mechanic smuggled $250K worth of cocaine using plane: court documents

NEW YORK (PIX11) – A former American Airlines mechanic was sentenced on Friday to nine years in prison for conspiring to import $250,000 worth of cocaine using the compartment under the cockpit of the plane.

Paul Bellosi, 56, a former mechanic at JFK International Airport, was convicted in May 2023 after a one-week trial, the United States Attorney’s Office Eastern District of New York said.

“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,” United States Attorney Breon Peace said. “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.”

According to court documents, in February 2020, American Airlines flight 1349 arrived at JFK Airport’s Terminal 8 after a scheduled flight from Montego Bay, Jamaica. The aircraft was selected for a routine search by Customs and Border Patrol officers. Officers found 10 bricks of cocaine.

The bricks weighed 25.26 pounds and were found inside the electronics compartment on the underside of the cockpit. According to court documents, the cocaine bricks were replaced with fake bricks and sprayed with a substance that glows when illuminated with a special black light.

Officers then placed the aircraft under surveillance from a distance, and shortly before it was scheduled to take off for its next destination, Bellosi was observed walking up to the electronics compartment, court documents stated.

Belloisi was then approached by law enforcement officers, who used a black light to detect he had removed the fake bricks. Belloisi was also carrying an empty tool bag, and the lining of his jacket had cutouts large enough to hold the bricks, court documents show.

Matthew Euzarraga is a multimedia journalist from El Paso, Texas. He has covered local news and LGBTQIA topics in the New York City Metro area since 2021. He joined the PIX11 Digital team in 2023. You can see more of his work here .

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