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Friday, May 3, 1996
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Federal agents break up drug ring
DEA arrests more than 150 in operation
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Federal agents wrapped up more than 150 arrests yesterday designed to break up a coast-to-coast Mexican-Colombian cocaine smuggling ring that revealed new sophistication and distribution by growing Mexican gangs.
Code-named "Zorro II," the operation was the first to arrest Mexican drug couriers and dealers and Colombian traffickers in this country from ring managers down to street-level crack cocaine dealers, Drug Enforcement Administration officials said.
disclosed until they were completed yesterday.
Arrests began in February, but their link to the overall investigation by 10 federal and 42 state and local law enforcement agencies was not
Beginning last September, agents traced cocaine produced by Colombia's Cali cartel as it was driven by Mexican couriers across the U.S.-Mexican border in California, Arizona and Texas to the stash houses of wholesalers in Los Angeles. From there, the cocaine was distributed to Colombian street dealers in the Washington Heights section of New York City and in Richmond, Va., and to Mexican dealers in the West, in Texas and in Chicago, DEA agents said.
Undercover agents, informants and more than 90 court-authorized wirespat were used to track the cocaine and identify ring members.
"We have surgically removed an entire operation," said Mike Horn, chief of DEA special operations. "We took out not just the top people — the cell managers and major wholesalers — but we also attacked the violent local organizations. We took everything."
Horn said the ring moved cocaine
"We have surgically removed an entire operation. We took everything."
mike horn Chief of DEA special operations
Mike Horn
with a wholesale value of $100 million during the eight-month investigation. He said the arrests would only disrupt, not halt, the smuggling because the Mexicans and Colombians have other similar rings operating in this country.
Some of the Mexicans in custody are associates of the Arellano-Felix brothers gang in Tijuana, one of four major Mexican gangs, said Theresa Van Vliet, the Justice Department's
narcotics section chief. The four gangs have emerged, known as the "Mexican Federation," as second only to the Cali cartel in the distribution of cocaine in this country, DEA officials said.
The Mexicans began as transporters of Colombian cocaine across the Southwest border, but they are now taking payment for the courier work in cocaine rather than cash. Mexican members of the ring distributed the cocaine to their own network in the West, in Texas and in Chicago, DEA officials said.
"In Los Angeles, the Mexicans were even undercutting the Colombians on the price of cocaine," DEA agent Mike Fergason said. "The Mexicans were charging about $13,000 per kilo (2.2 pounds), and the Colombians about $16,000," said Bill Healey, Horn's deputy at DEA.
Twenty-nine people were charged in drug-trafficking conspiracy indictments unsealed in Chicago and Midland, Texas, yesterday. Fifteen of them were arrested yesterday morning in Los Angeles,
Chicago, El Paso, Texas, Houston and Midland and more arrests were under way.
An additional 136 people had been arrested earlier, including 44 alleged members of the Colombian organization taken into custody Feb. 22-5 in Los Angeles, New York, Newark, N.J., Miami, Philadelphia and Richmond. Arrests primarily of alleged Mexican gang members took place last week in Los Angeles, San Diego and Midland.
Before yesterday, 5,598 kilograms (about 6 tons) of cocaine had been seized, 1,018 pounds of marijuana and half a pound of crack cocaine. Federal agents had seized $17,060,629 in cash and vehicles before yesterday.
The Colombians flew and drove their money by courier to Miami where some was wired home and the rest shipped in cash, agents said. The Mexicans gathered profits in Los Angeles and sent cash back to Mexico in the hidden compartments of the same private cars used to smuggle the drugs in, agents said.
THE NEWS in brief
Woman jailed for four mercy killings
The Associated Press
GRONINGEN, Netherlands — A nursing home worker was sentenced yesterday to nine days in prison for killing four elderly patients by injecting them with insulin.
The woman, identified under Dutch privacy laws only as Martha U., admitted killing nine elderly patients at the Vihlethoven nursing home in the northern Dutch town of Delfzijl, where she worked.
She told police she killed her victims out of sympathy.
The killings do not fit into liberal Dutch euthanasia rules, under which doctors carry out mercy killings are immune to prosecution if they adhere to government-approved guidelines.
Under the guidelines, the patient must request death, an element absent from the nursing home killings.
Psychological tests carried out after her arrest in September 1995 showed the woman was mentally unstable at the time of the killings and that there was a risk of her repeating the offenses.
Kansas City police shoot, kill knife-wielding man
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Police shot and killed a Kansas City, Mo., man who brandished a knife at officers called to a domestic dispute, police said.
Police representative Sgt. David Bosworth identified the man as James Miller. 42.
Bosworth said the officers responded to a domestic disturbance call about 4 a.m. yesterday at a house in northern Kansas City,
Mo. When officers arrived, they heard a woman screaming inside.
The officers knocked and identified themselves, but a man inside the house said the matter was a domestic problem and that he would take care of it. Bosworth said.
Miller charged the officers with a knife, and one of them shot him, Bosworth said. Miller was taken to an area hospital where he died. The woman was taken to a hospital and treated for minor injuries, he said.
Subway bomber gets 94-year prison term
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Ajobless computer programmer got 94 years in prison yesterday for firebombing two subway trains in an alleged extortion scheme that injured 50 people.
Unmoved by Edward Leary's apology, state Supreme Court Justice Rena Uviller gave him the maximum sentence, complaining that the penalty under law was inappropriately low and that Leary deserved even more time behind bars.
Leary, 50, must serve more than 31 years before he is eligible for parole.
Leary was unemployed and burdened with money problems when he embarked on what prosecutors said was a terror campaign aimed at extorting $2 million from the city's transit agency. He set off firebombs on two subways six days apart just before Christmas 1994, severely injuring himself and 16 others.
A jury convicted him on March 8 of charges including attempted murder and assault, rejecting his claim that he was driven mad by Prozac and other medication.
One of Leary's most severely burned victims, Brenda Dowdell, sobbed in court as a prosecutor read her account of how she didn't have enough skin left for the grafts she needed. When doctors cleaned her body, she said it felt like hot oil, steel wool and salt on an open wound.
Leary, for his part, apologized and claimed to be bewildered by his behavior.
"I still do not understand how I hurt so many people," he said. "I never wanted to hurt anybody in my life."
Leary said prescription drugs affected his thinking and judgment, and added that he would give his right arm, or even his life, to change what happened.
The judge replied that Leary only felt remorse because he, too, was burned, and he got caught.
Prosecutor David Stampley said Leary had plotted to burn 50 innocent people in a tunnel under the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Instead, the firebomb blew up in his face before the train reached the tunnel.
Leaving behind brightly wrapped Christmas gifts that became blackened debris, dozens of subway riders escaped by crawling out onto the platform, where horrified bystanders helped snuff out flames from skin and clothing.
Leary was found at a Brooklyn subway station, his skin seared and clothing charred and tattered. At first, he claimed to be a victim, but later he admitted he had placed the bombs.
"This man brought terrorism to the lifeline of the city," Stampley said. "Anyone who can do what he did to innocent people can do anything. We have to protect society from Edward Leary."
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Recycle your Daily Kansan
VANGUARD AIRLINES FLIGHT ATTENDANTS
ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A FUN, FAST PACED, CHALLENGING CAREER IN THE CUSTOMER SERVICE INDUSTRY THAT INCLUDES FREE TRAVEL?
VANGUARD AIRLINES, a growing company now serving 10 destinations, may have an opportunity for you.
Customer service is our priority and we're looking for qualified individuals to join our team as Flight Attendants. If you are flexible, team-oriented and are committed to exceeding customer expectations, then Vanguard airlines would like to talk to you about our exciting opportunities.
Prior airline experience is not a necessity. However, whether checking luggage, providing in-flight services or giving information, your friendly, outgoing attitude will make the e difference.
Where: University of Kansas Kansas Union Alderson Auditorium Lawrence, KS.
To see if you qualify to become a part of the Vanguard team, we invite you to attend our information exchange on May 7, 1996. Bring your resume and be prepared for brief interview exchange.
Information Exchanges held promptly
11:00a.m.
9:00p.m.
The next Flight Attendant class is scheduled for late May, 1996. Selected applicants should be prepared to attend a comprehensive three-week training class.'
EOE