JURY POOL DROPPING IN DRUG KINGPIN CASE

MIAMI - Two dozen jury candidates asked Monday to speak privately about
problems they might have if they were chosen to hear the witness-killing
and jury-bribery trial of a 47-year-old reputed cocaine kingpin.

Most raised their hands to indicate problems after the judge outlined plans
for sequestering Sal Magluta's jury. Prospective jurors who cleared
individual questioning were told to return today with a packed bag for
final selection on a trial expected to last three to five months.

The jury pool of 51 dropped below the number needed to seat a panel if
lawyers use all their challenges. If that happened, U.S. District Judge
Patricia Seitz repeated her plan to move the trial to Fort Lauderdale.
Seitz plans to have a 12-member jury with six alternates.

Magluta and partner Willy Falcon allegedly made a $2 billion profit running
drugs for Colombia's Medellin cocaine cartel through Miami in the 1980s.

They were acquitted of drug charges after the jury foreman took a $500,000
bribe, and prosecutors followed up with different charges against them and
members of their organization. The foreman went to prison.

Magluta is charged with putting out successful hits on three witnesses and
trying to kill three others, jury bribery and laundering more than $20
million in drug profits.

A jury candidate who works with Magluta's daughter-in-law was told to
return today although prosecutors want him excused.

The judge earlier decided the jury would be anonymous to protect against
any attempts to corrupt them.