JFK Airport Mechanic Who Put Cocaine In Cockpit Convicted: Feds

QUEENS — A former mechanic at John F. Kennedy Aiport was convicted Tuesday after he tried to import 10 bricks of cocaine through the cockpit of an airplane in 2020, prosecutors said.

The former American Airlines mechanic Paul Belloisi, 55, was convicted of conspiring to possess and import cocaine after officials found over 25 pounds of cocaine hidden inside an airplane cockpit on Feb. 4, 2020, said Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The cocaine had a street value of about $285,000 to $320,000, the U.S. attorney said.

The aircraft was chosen for a Customs and Border Protection routine search when officers found the bricks on the underside of the airplane cockpit stationed at JFK Airport, Peace said.

To catch the culprit, the cocaine was replaced with fake bricks and sprayed with a substance that glows when illuminated with a special light, prosecutors said.

Officials were surveilling the airplane and watched Belloisi head to the electronics compartment, where he then exited and displayed glowing gloves, which indicated he was touching the bricks, Peace said.