NYC Man Offered 'One-Stop-Shop' For Drugs, Money Laundering: Feds

NEW YORK CITY — A Staten Island man aspired to be a "one-stop-shop" for drug trafficking and money laundering in New York City, authorities said.

Adolfo LaCola, 54, received a four-year sentence Monday in federal court.

His prison term caps an investigation in which an informant implicated LaCola in an ambitious drug dealing scheme.

"The defendant aspired to be a one-stop-shop for narcotics trafficking and narcotics traffickers," a prosecutor's sentencing memorandum states. "His intention when beginning this enterprise was to become a multikilogram cocaine dealer here in New York City. But he also sought to serve as a launderer for the individuals he sold his cocaine to – as well as other traffickers."

But while authorities cast LaCola as a big fish — and quickly sent out a release touting his sentence — his own attorneys painted a portrait of a "low-level" player. LaCola had no prior criminal record who only got involved in order to fund his "dream job" of a legal marijuana venture in California, they argued.

"He stupidly thought he could make fast money off a cocaine deal and get back the money he loaned to his friend by arranging the money laundering connection," his attorneys wrote in a sentencing memo. "He thought he would then be home free for California and the legal cannabis market. He risked everything and lost it and has had nothing but that to dwell on since being remanded over the last two years."

A DEA and IRS probe into drug trafficking in the city brought LaCola to authorities' attention in 2018. LaCola told a DEA informant that he could regularly secure 10- to 15-kilogram shipments of cocaine from Mexico and launder up to $300,000 a month through a business, authorities said.

LaCola's attorneys argued that LaCola only became involved after bottoming out in other business ventures. A friend had pressed him to get involved in cocaine dealing, according to court documents.

"Mr. LaCola had rejected this proposal for some time and sought to stick to legitimate business but when Mr. LaCola returned to New York and the friend could not pay back on the loan, Mr. LaCola agreed to get involved in the activities underlying these offenses," the document states.

Attorneys for LaCola pressed Judge Margo K. Brodie to impose a sentence below the five years or more called for by sentencing guidelines.

Brodie ultimately imposed four years.