An American Airlines Mechanic Was Smuggling Cocaine into the US: Here's How He Did It

A former American Airlines mechanic convicted of scheming to smuggle more than $250,000 worth of cocaine in the belly of a passenger plane has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison.

Paul Belloisi, 56, was caught trying to retrieve the drugs from a jetliner after it landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City following a flight from Montego Bay, Jamaica, on Feb. 4, 2020.

But customs officers beat him to the stash during a random search of the plane, where they found 10 bricks of cocaine hidden in an electronics compartment beneath the cockpit, according to the local U.S. attorney's office.

Authorities replaced the 25-plus pounds of narcotics with fake bricks that were sprayed with invisible ink, then watched as Belloisi drove up and pulled himself into the compartment shortly before the plane was set to take off.

Law enforcement officers confronted Belloisi and used a special black light that caused the gloves he was wearing to glow, revealing that he had handled the fake bricks.

Belloisi, of Smithtown, New York, was also carrying an empty tool bag, and his jacket lining had cutouts large enough to hold some of the bricks, officials said.

Following a weeklong trial in 2023, jurors convicted Belloisi of two counts of conspiracy and one count of importing cocaine.

American Airlines wasn't accused of any wrongdoing.

Belloisi's sentence was imposed imposed Friday in Brooklyn by U.S. District Judge Dora Irizzary, leading U.S. Attorney Breon Peace to warn airport workers that they "face serious consequences for crimes of corruption."

Peace said Belloisi's conduct not only encouraged drug trafficking but also posed a "serious threat to the security of a vital border crossing in our district and our transportation infrastructure."

Defense lawyer David Cohen said Belloisi planned to appeal.

"Given Mr. Belloisi's personal history, as well as national and district-wide statistics, this was an excessive sentence, far beyond what is necessary to achieve the goals of sentencing," Cohen told Reuters on Friday.