NATIONWIDE HEROIN BUST STARTED HERE

Heroin buys by a Murfreesboro vice detective in April 2005 provided
early information that developed into an nationwide investigation
targeting dealers, said a Drug Enforcement Administration supervisor.

The investigation, nicknamed "Operation Black Gold Rush," resulted in
130 arrests Tuesday after local, state and federal officers served
search warrants simultaneously in 15 cities, including Smyrna and La
Vergne from the Nashville area.

Rutherford County houses searched included:

Sanchez, Porto and Veronica Liliana Sanchez Cortez were taken into
custody from those homes, said Murfreesboro Vice Lt. Nathan McDaniel.
They are illegal immigrants.

Agent Harry Sommers, who supervises the DEA in Tennessee, said the
Murfreesboro vice officer bought heroin from traffickers in the city.

"The pieces that came out of Murfreesboro were important because it
provided probable cause with the type of intelligence we were going
to do," Sommers said. "Clearly, the information provided was an
important link."

Murfreesboro and sheriff's detectives remained involved in the
investigation by doing surveillance for the next 1-1/2 years. They
participated in serving the search warrants Tuesday.

Cortez had a baby who was taken into custody of the Department of
Children's Services.

"She didn't shed a tear," McDaniel said of Cortez.

Sheriff's narcotics Detective Lt. Egon Grissom said detectives and
Interstate Crime Enforcement's K-9 deputies searched the house on
Joann Drive in La Vergne.

"The house inside had no furnishings whatsoever, no food," Grissom
said. "The house was where they were keeping the money. We recovered
some cash and some heroin up in the attic."

They found two suspects inside with only a blanket and pillow for
sleeping. They had warrants on the suspects for heroin sales.

McDaniel said vice detectives first received complaints about black
tar heroin sales in December 2004 in the Cason Lane area of west
Murfreesboro. McDaniel was surprised because he had only seen black
tar heroin once when he stopped a suspect about eight years ago.

In April 2005, vice detectives developed a confidential source who
made heroin buys that cost $7,500 an ounce. They purchased the drug
in 1/4-ounce quantities.

Users heat the drug to inject it or inhale it.

"It's the worst thing I've ever seen in my life," McDaniel said,
because the drug is extremely addictive. "It looks like black tar.
It's gooey, nasty."

The sheriff's narcotics unit joined in when sales were made in Smyrna
and La Vergne.

Grissom said heroin is a rarer drug and harder to buy.

"To obtain heroin, you've got to have the right connections," Grissom
said. "It's more expensive than cocaine."

After making about five buys, the detectives realized the supply was
part of an organization. They enlisted the Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation drug agents.

Sommers said TBI realized the organization expanded beyond Tennessee
and notified DEA.

"Combined with ongoing information we had from that point on we put
together the federal investigation targeting the Mexican
drug-trafficking organization," Sommers said.

DEA agents worked their way into the organization. The operation
spread into other cities and resulted in the arrests Tuesday.

"When it comes to heroin, this is one of those times when we can
honestly say the organization was not disrupted, we dismantled this
organization," Sommers said, adding the arrests should destroy heroin
sales for some time.

DEA used information from local and state officers to build this case
and other investigations. Both Murfreesboro and the Rutherford County
sheriff's office provide one detective each to the regional DEA task force.

"The drug issue crosses everybody's borders," Sommers said. "You have
to deal with it in a regional way."