The patriarch of a reputedly mobbed-up Queens pizzeria sobbed and dabbed his nose with a tissue Tuesday as a judge sentenced him to 18 years in prison.
Gregorio Gigliotti begged the judge to give him “life” if he would only allow his wife and son to go “home.”
“I ask that when you sentence my wife and son, you show them mercy,” Gigliotti, 61, blubbered as he addressed sympathetic-looking Brooklyn federal Justice Raymond Dearie.
Gigliotti’s wife, Eleonora, and son Angelo still face sentencing for their part in the scheme, which transported an estimated 120 kilos (265 pounds) of cocaine through their Queens pizzeria, Cucino a Modo Mio.
“My wife is not well, and my son is a hard-working family man,” the alleged Genovese crime family associate told the court through tears. “Please show them mercy and don’t make them pay for my mistakes.”
In between sobs, the father also managed to say, “I’m not organized crime.”
A jury convicted Gregorio and Angelo in July of smuggling two shipments containing more than $1 million worth of cocaine from Costa Rica hidden inside the box flaps of yucca shipments.
The men then commissioned family members including Eleonora to deliver cash to dealers and ship the drugs to a family-run warehouse in the Bronx.
The Gigliottis stored their drug proceeds and a collection of weapons and ammunition in the Corona eatery, prosecutors said.
Eleanora, who had previously been found unfit to stand trial, copped to conspiracy charges in January.
Gigliotti had faced up to 35 years behind bars.
Before Dearie handed down his 18-year sentence, defense lawyer Elizabeth Macedonio asked the jurist to sentence her client to 15 years, noting he was a “hard-working and dedicated individual who got mixed up in alcohol abuse and gambling.”
“He’s more than willing to take the lion’s share of the responsibility for this,” Macedonio continued. “He would fall on his sword for his family.”
Dearie agreed that Gigliotti, who immigrated to the US from Italy as a young man, was a “hard worker.
“What strikes me here is the incongruity,” the judge said. “You weren’t some fat cat sitting in a hotel suite. You were successful, and you just decided to add one more business to your roster of successful businesses.
“And all because of money, the root of all evil,” Dearie concluded before handing down his sentence. “And look where it got you.”
Macedonio said she would appeal and asked the judge to recommend Gigliotti be sent to prison in Danbury, Conn., in the hope he could be near his wife if she was ultimately sent to the women’s penitentiary near there.