MURDER INVESTIGATION UNCOVERS HUGE SUBURBAN DRUG RING

MANASSAS, Va. (AP) A murder investigation has uncovered a complex, massive
and highly profitable drug empire operated by teenagers and young men from
suburban, middle-class families, according to a published report Sunday.

The drug dealers, many of them recent high school graduates from
neighboring Fairfax County, sold as much as $10 million in marijuana and
ecstasy in the past year, Prince William County police and ring members
told The Washington Post.

Police began learning about the organization after Daniel Robert Petrole
Jr., 21, was shot to death in March outside his new, $189,000 town house.
Owen Merton Barber IV, 21, said in court that he killed Petrole at the
behest of his Chantilly High School buddy, Justin Michael Wolfe.

Barber has agreed to plead guilty to first-degree murder and could face a
life prison sentence. Wolfe, 20, is charged with capital murder and drug
conspiracy and, if convicted, could be sentenced to death. Both are being
held without bond.

Wolfe's attorney, John H. Partridge, denied that his client was involved in
the shooting and said Barber acted alone.

"None of this happened in bad neighborhoods," said Prince William detective
Greg Pass. "It bothers everyone involved that in many ways these kids are
mirror images of the detectives working the case, except they have chosen
to go the wrong way."

Petrole's father is retired from the Secret Service, where he was a member
of the team that guarded Presidents Carter and Reagan. Petrole's mother is
a teacher.

Barber's father is a retired Marine, and Wolfe's mother is a nurse. None of
them had any idea about their sons' alleged crimes, and the arrests have
stunned friends and neighbors.

"American society doesn't want to face the fact that white kids deal and
use drugs," said a member of the drug ring from Fairfax County who spoke to
The Post on the condition that he not be named.

"They simply can't look in my face and see that a nice-looking white kid is
selling drugs to their kids, because that would mean that their kids could
do this, too. The fact is that we do sell drugs to their kids, in their
rich neighborhoods and in their rich schools."

Court records and testimony and interviews with family, police, neighbors
and drug ring members reveal a group of young people who grew up playing
sports, attending church and selling Christmas trees at the mall parking lot.

After turning to the drug trade, they tossed around thousands of dollars
during alcohol-soaked romps at nightclubs in nearby Washington, D.C., took
their girlfriends to Hawaii and dropped piles of cash on Atlantic City
gambling tables.

"There are chicks and fast cars and everything you ever wanted, and you
didn't have to pay for it," said the Fairfax drug ring member. "You can
fulfill your dreams while barely lifting a finger. ... It's more addictive
than any drug that's out there."

Police and prosecutors _ many of whom know the suspects' families _ are
surprised that the young men could have built a web of drug dealers
spanning several states without raising any suspicion.

"Parents are pretty naive, and nobody wants to believe that their kids
could trick them," said Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B.
Ebert. "But these kids laugh about the fact that they can fool their parents."

Daniel Petrole Sr. described his son as energetic, outgoing, athletic and kind.

"He tended to be the life of the party, the class clown, fun-loving, but
not into anything that would be considered dangerous or stupid or illegal,"
added family friend Laura Hicks, 48, of Herndon.

Wolfe spent much of his childhood with his then-single mother, Terri
Steinberg, and helped take care of his younger brother and sister.

"I don't think I could have managed to work without Justin's help,"
Steinberg said.

For six months during his senior year, when he was allegedly peddling
drugs, Wolfe dated the daughter of the head of the Drug Enforcement
Administration's Washington regional office. Wolfe's friends said he
boasted about dating a DEA agent's daughter.

The official, Frank Chellino, now special agent in charge of the DEA's
Miami office, said Wolfe seemed a well-mannered, stable youth.

"I wish I could say something bad about him, but it didn't show itself,"
Chellino said.

Barber, too, for much of his youth seemed like the typical boy. His father,
also named Owen, said the two enjoyed fishing and the family was solid.

"I guess we had a pretty normal life, and he was taught all the things that
are right and wrong," he said, but he added that his son had trouble coping
with his mother's failed struggle with cancer.

In Prince William General District Court last month, Barber testified that
Petrole would supply Wolfe more than $100,000 worth of marijuana, and Wolfe
would pay Petrole after splitting his cache and selling it to other dealers
at a significant markup.

Sources close to the investigation told The Post the killing was to be one
last payoff for Wolfe, who stood to make off with about $150,000 in drugs
and cash.