DOPE SLAP: COPS BUST UP ALLEGED SOUTHIE HEROIN RING

After two years of undercover work, federal authorities and Boston police
yesterday busted up an alleged family heroin ring that used 23 men and
women to deal dope from a base inside two South Boston housing project
apartments.

``Drug activity drives crime in our neighborhoods,'' Boston Police
Commissioner Paul Evans said. ``This operation should put anyone involved
in heroin distribution on notice that BPD, DEA, BHA and all of our other
partners will continue to work together to put anyone dealing drugs in our
city out of business.''

Agents raided the homes of Hector "Boogie'' Arias and his son at the Old
Colony Housing Development just before dawn yesterday.

Arias, 48, and his wife, Yolanda Herrera, 45, were charged in a federal
indictment yesterday with selling the deadly drug via their network to
Boston neighborhoods as well as Brockton and Quincy.

Their apartment inside 7 Darius Court and the Patterson Way home of their
28-year-old son and his live-in girlfriend formed the nexus of a highly
profitable drug trade, according to federal prosecutor Michael Pelgro.

"It was a street-level organization,'' Pelgro said.

Availability of cheap, highly pure heroin has been blamed for a growing
legion of addicts and a culture of despair around South Boston public housing.

The investigation and arrests were conducted by U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration agents, Boston police and Boston Housing Authority police.

Out of the 23 people indicted, 16 were arrested yesterday.

Neighbors of Arias said the apartment drew a steady stream of visitors.

The couple often played loud music and had ``quite a lot of company,'' said
one neighbor who requested her name be withheld.

"Drugs are a big problem here,'' she said. "But most people are too afraid
to say anything. I just mind my own business.''

The heroin ring's New York supplier - a 50-year-old Richmond Hills man -
also was snared yesterday when agents arrested him and seized more than 400
grams of heroin, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Accused drug kingpin Bernardo Nunez was arrested in New York City yesterday
afternoon and charged with conspiracy.

By afternoon, two rows of defendants filled the dock in Boston federal
court magistrate Judge Lawrence P. Cohen's courtroom as tired law
enforcement agents surveyed the day's catch.

One defendant rousted from his bed in the early morning hours wore shorts,
boots and no socks.

The judge quizzed the men and women on their employment status and lengthy
criminal records in state courts.

Most of the defendants are not U.S. citizens.

"All my cases have to do with drugs, but I'm not addicted to drugs
myself,'' Awilda Osorio, 40, said in Spanish.

"That's part of the problem,'' Cohen said dryly.

Ranging from age 21 to 48, most defendants also told the judge they have
children.

One 26-year-old man from the Dominican Republic explained that he and his
wife have two children ``and my girlfriend's pregnant.''

A courtroom clerk brought out cups of water and a box of tissues for
defendants who sniffled and sneezed through the hearing.

The first indictment in the case charges 19 defendants with conspiring to
sell heroin from January 1999 through October 2000.

A second indictment charges four others with conspiracy from October 1999
through August 2000.

Arias, Herrera and his girlfriend, Linna Gonzalez, 32, of South Boston face
a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison for conspiracy. Other
alleged heroin dealers in the ring face a maximum of 20 years and fines.

Marie Szaniszlo contributed to this report.