Pubdate: Thu, 26 May 2005
Source: Sentinel And Enterprise, The (MA)
Copyright: 2005 MediaNews Group, Inc. and Mid-States Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://sentinelandenterprise.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2498
Author: J.J. Huggins
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

DAD DETAILS RAID BY DEA

FITCHBURG -- The father of a suspected drug dealer said he was "floored" 
when he found out his son allegedly had a package full of the chemical used 
to make Ecstasy shipped to his home Monday morning.

Gary Iannuzzi, 54, believes his computer-whiz son, Andrew, 26, likely used 
the Internet to find the drug supplier that sent him a container of Gamma 
Butyrolactone (GBL) to his home in Fitchburg.

The substance ended up at Gary Iannuzzi's house at 50 Parker St., which is 
located in a suburban neighborhood full of single-family homes with 
sprawling lawns. "He's smart, he can do anything he wants with a computer," 
Gary Iannuzzi said during an interview in his living room Wednesday 
afternoon. "We're somewhat (angry) that he would put this house at risk."

British police raided a drug laboratory in London last month and recovered 
a list of addresses of customers, according to Gardner Police Det. Lt. 
Gerald J. Poirier. One of the addresses was Gary Iannuzzi's, so British 
authorities contacted the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.

The DEA then collaborated with the United States Postal Inspectors, and 
they allowed a shipment of GBL to pass through the mail and end up at Gary 
Iannuzzi's home.

"The package was delivered here and the DEA agent was dressed as a 
mailman," said Gary Iannuzzi.

He said his wife Darlene answered the door around 10 a.m. Monday morning 
and signed a form to receive the package, which had her stepson's name on 
it. Several agents returned a short while later with an arrest warrant for 
Andrew Iannuzzi and then began searching the house.

Gary Iannuzzi was at the Oak Hill County Club at the time, where he works 
as a greenskeeper, and his wife called him and told him what was happening. 
Gary Iannuzzi left work and returned home, while DEA agents searched the 
house looking for his son.

They didn't find Andrew Iannuzzi at the Parker Street house, but they 
arrested him later that day after raiding his home at 5 Meadowbrook Lane in 
Gardner, according to Poirier.

Andrew Iannuzzi works a steady job at a computer company in Chelmsford, 
drives a sports car, and lives in a nice condominium with his girlfriend 
and their 6-year-old son, according to Gary Iannuzzi.

His face resembles his father's with tan skin and dark brown eyes. Gary 
Iannuzzi said his son graduated from high school in Gardner with good 
grades, but he was plagued by a heroin addiction that kept him from 
reaching his full potential.

"His SATs and everything were way up there, he could have gone to any 
college he wanted to," he said. "But we couldn't leave him alone at college 
or he would have come home in a box."

Andrew Iannuzzi stole from family members to feed his habit, got arrested 
several times, and went in and out of treatment while growing up, Gary 
Iannuzzi said. But Andrew Iannuzzi was eventually able to retain a somewhat 
normal lifestyle with a job and a child, said Gary Iannuzzi.

DEA agents, along with the North Worcester County Drug Task Force searched 
Andrew Iannuzzi's home Monday and allegedly found a half-liter bottle of 
GBL, along with illegally obtained prescription narcotics, stun guns and 
explosives, according to Poirier.

Poirier said Andrew Iannuzzi likely used the explosives to make fireworks 
for entertainment.

Gary Iannuzzi said his son made headlines when as a teenager he learned to 
make a pipe bomb from the Internet.

Police found out about the bomb and sent a bomb squad to where his son 
lived in Leominster at the time, and they detonated it outside the home, he 
said. Although Andrew Iannuzzi does not live with his father, Gary Iannuzzi 
said it is not uncommon for him to have mail delivered to the Parker Street 
address. Andrew Iannuzzi has often used the home for a mailing address to 
receive items like computer parts and cigarettes, his father said. But 
there was one suspicious package that arrived once, according to Gary 
Iannuzzi. The package was addressed to Gary Iannuzzi's youngest son, who 
had no idea what it was or who sent it.

"It was a small shampoo bottle," Gary Iannuzzi said. "I opened it and it up 
it smelled like a cleaner of some sort ... but low and behold, it was that 
stuff (GMB)."

A few days later, Andrew Iannuzzi came by and picked it up, he said. Andrew 
Iannuzzi is charged with possession of a class A drug with intent to 
distribute, possession of a class A drug (subsequent offense), possession 
of a class B drug with intent to distribute, possession of a class E drug 
with intent to distribute, possession of an inferno machine and possession 
of an electric stun gun, according to Poirier.

Andrew Iannuzzi's parents divorced when he was a toddler, and he spent most 
of his childhood living with his mother and stepfather, sporadically 
visiting his natural father, Gary Iannuzzi said.

At the age of 14, Andrew Iannuzzi began smoking pot, and it led him to 
heroin by the time he was 15-years-old, Gary Iannuzzi said. He lived with 
his grandparents - Gary Iannuzzi's parents - for several years while 
battling his addiction.

His grandmother, Theresa Iannuzzi, said she is devastated by what has 
happened to her grandson.

"I'm very, very broken-hearted and disappointed, because he's a very 
intelligent person, and I just wish he would channel that intelligence into 
something positive," she said while sitting in her wheelchair insider the 
Parker Street home. "I'm always taking care of him. I've always loved him." 
Gary Iannuzzi said his parents "suffered" while they put up with his son's 
drug habit.

"Typical heroin family," he said. "All the stories that go along with it." 
He said he is hopeful, though skeptical, this latest arrest will help his 
son finally end his drug problem.

"He's been on programs, He went to rehab, he went through all kinds of 
treatments," Gary Iannuzzi said. "Where does it end?"
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