Blooms are capital in D.C. A ‘Staten Island Hustle’ that got reality TV star 4 years in pokey
A Staten Island man who starred on a reality TV show about small businessmen looking to make big money on far-fetched ideas is headed to the slammer for running an illicit side hustle.
Adolfo LaCola, 54, a former cast member on CNBC’s “Staten Island Hustle,” was sentenced to four years in prison Monday by a Brooklyn Federal Court judge after pleading guilty to cocaine trafficking and money laundering charges.
While the show was airing in 2018,
LaCola — an ex-music industry executive who once worked with the Wu Tang Clan — was bringing cocaine into the U.S. from Mexico and laundering the proceeds, according to federal prosecutors.
Several of LaCola’s partners in the cocaine business were also serving as informants for the Drug Enforcement Administration, prosecutors said.
He was caught on recorded phone calls talking about cocaine sales, and was seen on camera handing 100 grams of coke to a DEA confidential source — and telling the source that there was more where that came from, according to court papers.
He also agreed to launder $100,000 in drug money for the informant, telling the man in a recorded conversation that he and a co-defendant would take a 10% cut, the feds said.
Arrested in 2019, LaCola had his bond revoked after the feds discovered he was discussing his case with his co-defendants and telling them to secretly contact him on a new phone.
He also allegedly showed up at the workplace of a DEA informant after his arrest and demanded drug money owed to him, the feds said.
LaCola pleaded guilty in September in front of Brooklyn Federal Court Chief Judge Margo Brodie.