4 convicted in NY of smuggling drugs from Trinidad

A federal jury in Brooklyn convicted three former American Airlines baggage handlers of smuggling cocaine and marijuana at John F Kennedy Airport.

The defendants had "turned JFK into a gateway for drug suppliers," Assistant US Attorney Steven D’Alessandro told jurors.

Authorities said the ex-airline workers, Gary Lall of Queens, Anthony Gulston of Brooklyn and Rafael Rodriguez of Hempstead, Long Island, used their positions as airport employees to bypass cargo inspection procedures.

A fourth defendant, Richard Pitcher, of Piscataway, New Jersey, was also convicted of acting as a coordinator between Lall and drug dealers in Trinidad and Guyana. The jury returned its verdict Friday night after deliberating for two days. In November 2003, the feds charged 25 airport employees in a massive conspiracy to import drugs aboard international flights arriving at JFK. With the latest verdict, all 25 defendants now stand convicted, including eight who went to trial.

Lall, 32, who worked for American Airlines from 1991 to the time of his arrest, was described by prosecutors D’Alessandro and Scott Morvillo as the ringleader of the operation.

He faces up to life in prison.

"Gary Lall abused his secured position and the knowledge he gained while working at JFK to turn it into his little playground smuggling bulk shipments of cocaine and marijuana into the US," D’Alessandro said.

The drugs were stashed on American Airlines flights as well as Universal Airlines and North American Airlines.

When Lall learned an incoming shipment of drugs was secreted in a hidden compartment of a container or hollowed-out pallet frame, he would alert a network of accomplices who had access to those flights as baggage or cargo handlers.

Investigators taped Lall’s cell phone and decoded conversations sprinkled with references to "dance floors" (cargo containers), "parties" (a shipment of drugs) and "deejays" (the corrupt airport workers assigned to retrieve the drugs).

The jury returned to court yesterday to order the forfeiture of $26,780 seized from Lall’s Far Rockaway apartment.