Penn State Frat Coke Ring Suspect Denied Bail After Surrender

WESTBURY, N.Y. – The man accused of leading a cocaine distribution network connected to Penn State fraternity life has been taken into custody.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said Agostino Abbatiello, a 24-year-old from Westbury, New York, surrendered to authorities Tuesday morning.

Abbatiello was arraigned on what officials described as “numerous felonies” and was ordered held without bail, after Sunday said he did not show up for a scheduled arraignment on Monday.

Abbatiello is one of 14 men charged in connection with the alleged fraternity-linked cocaine trafficking operation.

He and his family reside in Westbury, an affluent village community on Long Island.

On Tuesday, a man who identified himself as Abbatiello’s father, Mario, spoke briefly with reporters outside the family’s home after asking that cameras be pointed away.

“I have no comment,” he said, instead deferring to his son’s attorney, whose name he gave as Phillip Misorti. “We have no comment,” he said. 

News Outlet spoke to neighbors Abbatiello family home. One person told said that Abbatiello’s father owns an asphalt business and the family has been well off.

“He had a good job in accounting, his father said he had a nice job in accounting,” he said. “He was doing well.”

Abbatiello had two other siblings around the same age, he added, who may have been a little spoiled. 

“They were all taken care of, spoon-fed,” he said. “They weren’t the kind of kids to take the garbage out or shovel the snow.”

Another said she didn’t know the family well and that they’d moved into a home formerly owned by her late close friend. 

“They are pretty nice people next door, pretty obliging if I need anything,” she said, adding that she was shocked to see the news Tuesday morning.

The cocaine distribution ring allegedly occurred from 2023 through 2024 within off-campus fraternity houses belonging to Delta Upsilon and Sigma Chi.

A criminal complaint alleges Abbatiello was continuing to deal the drug as soon as February of this year. 

Court docs also allege the suspect made tens of thousands of dollars in profit from transactions. 

For example, in one transaction a codefendant told investigators he purchased over $50,000 worth of the drug from Abbatiello through cash and digital transactions.

More alleged purchases of the drug from another co-defendant paid to Abbatiello are listed in the complaint: 

• 500 grams for $18,000 on March 19, 2024
• 1 kilogram for $22,000 around July 12–13, 2024
• another 1 kilogram for $22,000 around September 21, 2024

Investigators say during that March transaction a photo from a co-defendant’s phone allegedly shows “several pledges of Delta Upsilon” who were packaging the cocaine into smaller baggies for distribution.

Pledges within the fraternities were ordered to cut and pack kilos of drugs as part of “indoctrination” rituals, Attorney General Sunday said. 

The complaint alleges Abbatiello used personal debts to draw others into his drug operation, including making one fraternity brother deliver cocaine after he couldn’t repay a $1,500 spring break loan and another sell cocaine after owing him thousands of dollars.

Penn State students made up the majority of the alleged cocaine sales, Attorney General Sunday said. The drug was reportedly being trafficked from Philadelphia and New York.

“We are pleased to report that the most significant members of this cocaine-trafficking organization are accounted for, and will have their fair process in court. These are very serious charges and the next steps will be preliminary hearings,” Attorney General Sunday said.

News Outlet has reached out to Abbatiello’s attorney.