The matriarch of a mobbed-up family charged with trafficking drugs through their Italian restaurant in Queens has been found mentally unfit to stand trial.
Eleonora Gigliotti, 55, has suffered from mental illness for many years preceding her arrest in April 2015 on drug charges with husband Gregorio, and son Angelo, according to her lawyer.
Brooklyn Federal Judge Raymond Dearie said Thursday that the husband and son can proceed to trial this July and he awaits a re-evaluation of Mrs. Gigliotti’s mental condition in four months.
The judge ordered a mental exam after Gigliotti’s lawyers informed him that she was spitting on guards at the Metropolitan Detention Center, claimed her cellmate had poisoned her, and appeared severely depressed.
Federal prosecutors allege that the Gigliottis were smuggling large amounts of cocaine hidden inside shipments of yucca delivered from Costa Rica.
The Gigliottis allegedly have ties to Genovese crime family figures and the 'Ndrangheta organized crime group in Italy.
During the investigation, Mrs. Gigliotti was picked up on a wiretap urging her husband to assault a relative they suspected of stealing money from them. “Have someone grab him at night. ... Bring him here and bang him up over here,” she said, according to court papers.
Thanks to John Marzulli.
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