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- A judge sentenced former American Airlines mechanic Paul Belloisi to 9 years for smuggling cocaine.
- Police found cocaine worth $250,000 in the electronics compartment of an American Airlines plane.
- Belloisi's attorneys argued the sentence was overly harsh.
A former American Airlines mechanic nearly managed to smuggle 25 pounds of cocaine into the United States worth a quarter of a million dollars — until the flight was marked for a random search.
A federal judge in New York sentenced Paul Belloisi, 56, to nine years in prison Friday for charges of conspiracy to possess and import cocaine.