Feds: Drug lord's 'narco subs' fueled lavish life of champagne foot baths

An Albanian drug kingpin with a lavish lifestyle was sentenced for plotting with a Detroit-area businessman to build a cocaine-smuggling submarine that helped power a multimillion-dollar narcotics operation.

U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood sentenced Ylli Didani, 48, to 25 years in prison following a three-month trial in 2025 featuring testimony and court documents rife with details about maritime drug trafficking and photos of Didani posing alongside mounds of cash.

A federal jury convicted Didani of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and conspiracy to distribute cocaine aboard a vessel subject to United States jurisdiction. The case illustrates the growing problem of so-called “narco submarines,” low-profile, semi-submersible vessels increasingly used by drug traffickers for their ability to avoid detection by authorities.

“Today’s sentencing marks a definitive victory in our ongoing mission to dismantle transnational criminal organizations that profit from the scourge of dangerous drugs in our communities,” Marty Raybon, director of field operations for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol in a news release posted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Michigan’s Eastern District. “This sense of collective vigilance remains our strongest tool in protecting our communities and securing our borders.”

Fancy cars and fizzy foot baths

Trial evidence showed Didani led an international drug-trafficking ring with ties to the U.S., South America and Europe, the attorney’s office said. Prosecutors said Didani and other unindicted co-conspirators planned and financed distribution of cocaine from Michigan and other locations.

A federal sentencing memo painted Didani as one of the Detroit area’s most prolific and creative criminals in modern times whose riches allowed him to splurge on coastal properties, fancy armored vehicles, bulletproof jackets and champagne foot baths. He was arrersted in 2021.

Didani arranged for shipments of cocaine from South America to Europe, the attorney’s office said. While the cocaine was destined for Europe and not the U.S., it was financed by a Detroit-area business executive, with money funneled through local banks.

In 2019 and 2020, the attorney’s office said, authorities seized more than 4300 kilograms of cocaine – with a street value exceeding $100 million – that Didani’s organization had loaded onto five container ships bound for international ports.

Evidence also showed Didani conspired with the business executive to design an underwater vessel that could transport up to 1,000 kilograms of cocaine at a time to Europe. Equipped with a modem and GPS antenna, the underwater drone would attach to the bottom of a commercial container ship and then be remotely released off the European shore for pickup by a fishing boat controlled by the organization.

What is a narco submarine?

Such vessels are called narco submarines, semi-submersible craft used to ship narcotics across sea waters. Hermetically sealed and powered by diesel or gas engines, they’re painted in ocean colors to avoid detection.

Authorities first encountered what was believed to be an underwater smuggling vessel in 1988, according to a report by London private intelligence firm Grey Dynamics. The 21-foot vessel was empty when authorities found it in Boca Raton, Florida, the organization said.

While such vessels have been used mostly to ship Colombian cocaine to Mexico or Central America, InsightCrime, a think tank studying organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean, said recent data suggests narco subs “are growing in number, reach and sophistication.”

Authorities seized 25 narco submarines in 2024, up from 19 in 2023 and 15 the year before, the group said. A record 38 interdictions were made in 2018, it said, more than the previous six years combined.

The craft vary from manned vessels that can haul up to 8 tons of cocaine to remote-powered canisters, or “torpedoes,” with a capacity of up to two tons, InsightCrime said.

The latter is what federal investigators said Didani had in mind.

“This sentencing sends a clear message that no drug trafficking organization is beyond our reach,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Joseph Dixon.

Didani’s case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and the Internal Revenue Service, with assistance from the Farmington Hills (Michigan) Police Department.

“We thank our partners for sinking this operation and bringing justice to a foreign national who was poisoning our friends abroad,” said U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. of Michigan’s Eastern District.

Contributing: Karol Suárez, Louisville Courier Journal