DRUG-MONEY BROKER SENTENCED

LOS ANGELES - The man said to be the broker for one of the biggest
drug-money laundering operations ever busted in the United States was
sentenced to nearly 23 years in prison.

Victor Manuel Alcala Navarro, 37, who pleaded guilty to 27 counts of money
laundering and conspiracy, was sentenced Monday to 22 years and 10 months
by U.S. District Judge Lourdes Baird. In exchange for his guilty pleas,
prosecutors dropped a charge of running a continuous criminal enterprise
that could have resulted in a life sentence.

Alcala, who worked for the Juarez drug cartel, was one of 100 people
indicted along with three Mexican banks in 1998 in Operation Casablanca.
Prosecutors said Alcala, 37, was responsible for moving drug money from the
United States to Mexico.