TASK FORCE SEEKS OUT DOPE DEALERS NEXT DOOR

Marijuana Dealers Come From All Walks Of Life.

A drug task force charged with bringing down the movers and shakers in New
York's booming pot business has in recent years bagged florists, gym
owners, lawyers, accountants, furniture dealers and even a dog trainer.

Average age: 50.

"These are no kids," said one task-force supervisor. "Our criteria is
people who have been full-time marijuana dealers for at least 10 years and
who deal in multiple tons of marijuana."

"One [Staten Island man] who was a video sports producer was caught with
41/2 tons of hash, which is worth about $40 million," said a federal agent
involved in the bust. The task force - known officially as the Career
Criminal Initiative task force and made up of agents from the Drug
Enforcement Administration, U.S. Customs Service, U.S. Marshals, the IRS
and cops from Nassau and Suffolk counties - tracks marijuana headed into
New York.

"I [did surveillance on] a gym down near 23rd Street during late 1999 that
sold pot out of a back room," an agent from the task force told The Post
yesterday. "Out front, it was a legitimate gym, people sweating and working
out. But in the back room, pot was everywhere."

"We're not dealing with an aggressive criminal crew . . . we're dealing
with professional, college-educated people," the agent said.