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News
Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 26, 2001
MULTIPLE
DEFENDANTS ARRESTED IN DRUG CONSPIRACY IN ST. LOUIS AND CALIFORNIA
DISMANTLING
HEROIN TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATION
Mexican Black Tar Heroin
Mexican Heroin Laboratory
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Asa Hutchinson, Administrator,
Drug Enforcement Administration; Ray Gruender, United States Attorney,
Eastern District of Missouri; Joseph Corcoran, Special Agent in Charge,
DEA St. Louis Division; Joseph Mokwa, Chief, St. Louis Metropolitan Police
Department; and Ron Battelle, Chief, St. Louis County Police Department
announced today the dismantling of a violent multi-national heroin trafficking
organization operating in St. Louis, Missouri and Los Angeles, California,
Fort Worth, Texas and Mexico.
At approximately
6:00 AM, Central Time, as a result of a long term, multi-agency investigation
authorized by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF),
more than 400 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers gathered
to execute approximately 100 search and arrest warrants in Missouri, California,
Texas, and the Republic of Mexico.
According to Complaints
filed this morning, the following defendants are alleged to be part of
a large heroin distribution organization with sources in Los Angeles,
California. It is conservatively estimated that the known members of this
organization are directly responsible for supplying in excess of thirty
(30) pounds of heroin to distributors and abusers in the St. Louis Metropolitan
area.
WILL
ADAMS, 44, 1200 block of Kilgore, St. Louis
RANDALL JACKSON, 29, of the 2000 block of East Fair, St. Louis
GARLAND RUSH-BEY, 51, of the 7000 block of Plymouth, St. Louis
According to the
complaints, the following fourteen defendants, led by Maurice Lee, Charles
Anthony Rush-Bey and Antonia Butler, are responsible for well over 1,000
federal and state narcotics law violations, as well as planning assassinations
and concealing weapons. Some defendants could face penalties including
imprisonment for life. At least seven will be subject to pretrial detention
requests based upon their past and present violence, criminal histories,
danger to the community and/or flight risk, according to motions filed
by the United States Attorneys Office.
MAURICE
LEE, 19, of the 4400 block of Greenwich, St. Louis
WILLIAM CORY SELTZER, 20, of the 2000 block of Vinceness, St. Louis
TIMOTHY RUSH, 35, of the 3900 block of Shaw, St. Louis
KEITH GILBERT, 33, of the 5600 block of Helen, St. Louis
CHARLES ANTHONY RUSH-BEY, 38,. of the 1500 block of St. Ives, St. Louis
ANTOINE ATKINS, 38, of the 4000 block of Detonty, St. Louis
ANDRE RUSH, 36, of the 3900 block of Shaw, St. Louis
ANTONIA LANARR BUTLER, 28, of the 4200 block of Blaine, St Louis
PAUL RAY JOHNSON, 34, of the 10,000 block of Viscount, St. Louis
FREDERICK MCNEAL, 26, of the 5500 block of Holborn, St. Louis
CARL ANTHONY PARKER, 44, of the 3500 block of North Garrison, St. Louis
Asa Hutchinson, Administrator
of the Drug Enforcement Administration, stated today in St. Louis that,
This case illustrates that heroin trafficking and violence go hand-in-hand.
Nationally, there is a concern that heroin traffickers are making new
inroads into our nations urban areas. This case is a strong statement
that heroin traffickers must not target our neighborhoods. Chief
Joseph Mokwa added that, As a result of violence often associated
with drug dealing in the City of St. Louis, we have implemented a joint
DEA-St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department drug-related violent crime
initiative. This initiative is being formed by the two agencies to address
and combat the citys increase in drug-related homicides. The objectives
of this initiative are to identify violent organizations involved in drug
trafficking activity and develop investigative leads to clear unsolved
homicides and related crime. Administrator Hutchinson pledged DEAs
continued commitment to maintain a close working relationship with all
federal, state, and local law enforcemcnt agencies nationwide to reduce
drug trafficking and violent crime in all communities throughout thc United
States.
Ray Gruender, United
States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, applauded todays
cooperative enforcement activity and stated that, This is the very
kind of investigation the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force
was designed to conduct, bringing together the combined efforts of many
different agencies and jurisdictions, to attack and dismantle violent
narcotics distribution organizations. OCDETF is a congressionally funded
drug task force which was created to combine and focus the resources of
nine federal agencies and state and local agencics to identify, investigate,
and prosecute members of high level drug trafficking enterprises. The
U.S. Attorneys Office in St. Louis serves as the OCDETF core city
of the West-Central Region, which includes Missouri, southern Illinois,
Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, North & South Dakota, Nebraska,
Kansas, Iowa, and Arkansas. The investigation is continuing.
In addition to the
DEA, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Federal Bureau of Investigation,
U.S. Postal Inspections Service, United States Marshals Service,
the Los Angeles District Attorneys Office, the St. Louis City and
St. Louis County Police Departments, St. Charles County Police Department
and the Missouri State Highway Patrol performed key roles in penetrating
and dismantling the St. Louis factions of this organization.
The charges set forth
in a Complaint are merely accusations and each defendant is innocent until
and unless proven guilty.
From
the opium poppy, both brown heroin and black tar heroin are produced
in Mexico. Black tar heroin accounts for as much as 80 percent of
the total amount of heroin produced in Mexico. Brown heroin is the
refined powder that was the staple of Mexican heroin trafficking until
the 1980s. Since then, black tar, also known as vidrio, has become
the predominant form of Mexican heroin. Vidrio is described as a black
hard or gummy substance produced by a processing method that involves
omitting certain chemicals or diluents, including a final chemical
wash. Additional chemical refining yields the brown powder variety
of Mexican heroin. Mexican brown heroin is defined as a powdery form
of heroin that is brown or off-white in color. These processing methods
and resultant heroin products are unique to Mexico. Black tar heroin
has a higher purity than the brown variety, may be smoked as well
as injected, and is less expensive (at the street level) in the United
States than other types of heroin. At present, there have been reports
of a Mexican white heroin product being produced in Mexico
that utilizes Mexican opium gum and a Colombian white heroin processing
method. |
Heroin
in Mexico
Mexico cultivates
2 percent of the worlds opium poppy as one of four regional
opium source areas. While this represents only a fraction of worldwide
opium production, Mexicos opium production is significant
because the vast majority of Mexican opium is converted into heroin
and smuggled into the United States by Mexican heroin trafficking
organizations. The Mexican heroin trade is characterized by a great
deal of diversity among trafficking organizations and the way these
organizations operate. The routes and methods employed by heroin
traffickers using Mexico as a staging point to smuggle heroin into
the United States, varies according to the capabilities and origins
of the traffickers and the type of heroin being smuggled.
Traditional
distribution patterns for Mexican heroin have been altered in response
to Mexican and United States law enforcement pressure and in an
attempt to expand into new markets. Mexican black tar heroin, and
to a lesser extent Mexican brown heroin, is increasingly marketable
outside of the southwestern and western regions of the U.S. where
Mexican trafficking organizations have traditionally dominated the
heroin market. Two recent seizures of clandestine heroin processing
laboratories by Mexican authorities in the State of Durango, Mexico,
illustrate the ingenuity and flexibility of Mexican heroin traffickers
who appear to be seeking new alliances and developing new products
to further their illicit enterprises. These laboratory seizures
may signal an attempt by well-established Mexican heroin trafficking
organizations to expand beyond their traditional distribution areas
and into the lucrative, high-purity white heroin market in the northeastern
United States.
U.S. Government
estimates indicate that Mexico has been able to keep the amount
of heroin produced relatively stable over the past 6 years, through
its eradication efforts. Despite Mexicos extensive eradication
campaign, both cultivation and consumption levels in Mexico ensure
that Mexican heroin will continue to be readily available in the
United States. Continued vigilance by U.S. and Mexican law enforcement
officials is warranted. Mexican heroin traffickers are well positioned,
relative to competition from other source areas, and have the potential
to expand operations during the next decade, allowing them to increase
their share of the U.S. market.
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