{"id":109106,"date":"2026-01-22T22:10:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T22:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/109106\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T22:10:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T22:10:27","slug":"love-you-kadeem-co-defendant-of-staten-island-caterer-bids-farewell-to-family-learns-fate-in-drug-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/109106\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Love you, Kadeem.\u2019 Co-defendant of Staten Island caterer bids farewell to family, learns fate in drug case"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 At a sentencing hearing Thursday for convicted drug dealer Kadeem Lewis, he exchanged final goodbyes with family members who packed one side of the courtroom. <\/p>\n

\u201cLove you, Kadeem,\u201d shouted a woman from the gallery. <\/p>\n

Lewis, 35, pleaded guilty recently to criminal sale of a controlled substance<\/a> in connection with a high-profile wiretap investigation in 2022 and 2023, carried out by the NYPD\u2019s Narcotics Bureau Staten Island. He was sentenced by Justice Mario F. Mattei to nine years in prison and five years of post-release supervision. <\/p>\n

The investigation, prosecutors allege in court documents, ultimately became centered around Ettore Mazzei, 63, a once prominent caterer and property owner on Staten Island. <\/p>\n

\"EttoreIn this May 22, 2024 photo, Ettore Mazzei is led out of the 120th police precinct in St. George by NYPD narcotics detectives. (Owen Reiter for the Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say Mazzei moonlighted as a crime \u201ckingpin\u201d who oversaw a network of drug dealers and carried out financial crimes targeting non-profits and unsuspecting individuals. His case is headed toward trial in the coming months. <\/a><\/p>\n

Following Lewis\u2019 guilty plea in December in state Supreme Court, St. George, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon issued a statement saying in part: <\/p>\n

\u201c…under no circumstances will my office allow dangerous drug dealers to sell death-dealing substances without consequence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defendant eyed in NYPD stakeout<\/p>\n

Based on evidence collected through a lengthy wiretap investigation and stakeouts of Mazzei\u2019s business<\/a> and apartments on Bay Street, NYPD detectives identified Lewis as a cocaine supplier for the drug network, according to recent court proceedings. <\/p>\n

In one instance, detectives watched Lewis show up to the catering business in a luxury sedan, then enter and exit the building with Mazzei and other individuals, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

There were no surveillance photos of Lewis possessing narcotics or making any direct exchanges, which his attorney noted during an evidentiary hearing last year. <\/p>\n

Lewis, a Clifton native who recently moved to the New Jersey suburbs, was sentenced Thursday as a second felony offender. <\/p>\n

In 2016, he pleaded guilty to a gun charge stemming from what police described as a fight between two groups of males in the Park Hill section of Clifton.<\/p>\n

Recently married, lawyer notes<\/p>\n

Multiple generations of Lewis\u2019 family attended the hearing Thursday. As he was led into the courtroom by officers, he gave them a wink. <\/p>\n

Defense attorney Michael Cirigliano noted during the proceedings that his client had just gotten married, and that his wife and newborn child were in attendance. <\/p>\n

The defendant, who was calm and cordial with the judge at his appearance, declined to say anything before being sentenced. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 At a sentencing hearing Thursday for convicted drug dealer Kadeem Lewis, he exchanged final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-109106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}