Conn. jet used in celebrity drug bust

DANBURY — The crime was like something out of a B-movie.

Drug smugglers, including celebrity attorney Todd Macaluso, planned to use a private jet based out of Danbury Municipal Airport to move more than $13 million worth of cocaine through Central America.

But as they were ready to take off, federal agents tipped off by a confidential informant moved in.

Macaluso, made headlines in 2011 when he successfully defended Casey Anthony against allegations that she murdered her 2year-old daughter in Florida. Anthony was found not guilty after a trial that captivated the nation.

Two years ago, Macaluso, 55, and his co-conspirators were arrested just before taking off from Haiti for Ecuador, where they were going to pick up the drugs. The cocaine was bound for Honduras, and eventually the U.S.

A San Diego, Calif., resident, Macaluso was found guilty of participating in the international drug ring after a trial last year. He was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.

The attorney, according to court documents, had agreed to use a Falcon 10 jet rented from the Danbury-based Maule Group to transport 1,500 kilograms of cocaine — the limit of the plane’s cargo capacity — from Ecuador to Honduras.

The jet had been kept at Danbury Municipal Airport before it was confiscated by federal authorities. He had agreed to serve as the pilot for the trip in exchange for more than $150,000, court documents state.

While no drugs had been transported, federal agents confiscated the aircraft.