COP SEIZED AS FEDS CRACK A MAJOR N.J. HEROIN RING

Federal agents yesterday dismantled a major North Jersey drug
trafficking ring authorities said flooded the streets with $2 million
of heroin per month and then laundered the profits through Atlantic
City casinos, sham businesses and the purchase of luxury cars and real
estate.

After a three-year investigation led by the Drug Enforcement
Administration, authorities moved in yesterday morning to seize its
assets and arrest its alleged leaders in Essex and Union counties.

Chief among them was Rasheem "Rosco" Small, a 30-year-old Newark man
who authorities say built the city's premier heroin ring in recent
years to finance his taste for expensive jewelry, big-money gambling
and the white Bentley he drove.

Also charged were a Newark police officer who helped in the laundering
operation and the ring's top lieutenant, a "five star general" in the
Bloods gang who used drug money to purchase the comfortable home where
he and his wife lived in suburban Cranford, authorities said.

The organization laundered approximately $7 million in drug profits,
authorities said.

"Every business requires capital to continue and grow," said Gerard
McAleer, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement
Administration's New Jersey Division. "We targeted their capital and
profits and put them out of business."

Small initially sold drugs in Pennsylvania, but saw an opening in the
lucrative Newark heroin trade after the city's former top kingpin,
Hakeem Curry, was arrested in 2004, authorities said.

By the following year, the Small organization was distributing up to
2,000 "bricks" of heroin -- each containing 2.95 grams -- every
several days, according to an affidavit signed by DEA agent Mike
Rusciano and filed in federal district court in Newark.

The crew allegedly had a supplier in the Bronx and used stash houses
in Newark, Orange and Rahway.

Small and his top lieutenant and "operations manager," Abdullah
Meyers, 33, had no legitimate income, authorities said, but each had
bank accounts that held millions of dollars. They allegedly used shell
trucking and home improvement companies to purchase real estate in
Newark and East Orange to launder their profits.

They also relied on straw buyers, authorities said, including Michelle
Davis, an 11-year veteran of the Newark police department who
purchased a Range Rover for Small with his drug cash in January 2005.

Both men, authorities said, had an affinity for flashy
cars.

Small drove the Bentley, while Meyers owned a $178,000 Lamborghini, a
Dodge Viper and a Mercedes- Benz SUV, according to the complaint.
Meyers planned to purchase a "James Bond Vanquish," a $480,000 sports
car, according to a wiretapped conversation cited by
investigators.

Small, according to the complaint, was a "frequent visitor and
'high-roller' in Atlantic City," buying more than $3.1 million in
casino chips between 2003 and 2006. He also handed cash to his
deputies, authorities said, who would later cash the chips in as
winnings to "wash" the drug money, authorities said.

The Small organization's success and spending made it harder and
harder for it to keeps its drug proceeds secret from federal agents,
said William Offord, special agent in charge of the Internal Revenue
Service's Newark division, which worked with the DEA. Investigators
used wiretaps and five confidential informants during the probe, in
which the State Police and Newark Police Department assisted.

Small and Meyers were charged with conspiracy to distribute one
kilogram or more of heroin, and conspiracy to conceal drug proceeds.
They face potential life prison terms.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer called both men flight risks and
dangerous during a hearing yesterday, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark
Falk ordered them held without bail.

Davis was charged with conspiracy to conceal drug proceeds and faces
up to 20 years in prison. The judge released her on a $150,000 bond.

Henry Klingeman, the police officer's attorney, said he expects his
client to be suspended without pay. "The allegations against her in
the complaint are very thin, and they are merely allegations," he said.

Newark Police Director Garry McCarthy called the officer's alleged
conduct "disgusting."

"It casts a shadow over the hard-working men and women of this
agency," McCarthy said.