3 FACE MURDER, DRUG RING CHARGES

The alleged ringleader of a massive San Antonio-based
marijuana-trafficking operation and two men accused of being his hired
assassins are scheduled to stand trial today in federal court.

Jury selection is expected to begin this morning in the drug
conspiracy-murder trial of Hugo Villarreal-Solis, 35, Roberto Lopez
Rivera, 30, and Jose Abel Rodriguez, 22.

If convicted, the men each face a maximum sentence of life in
prison.

The Attorney General's Office in Washington last week elected not to
seek the death penalty against the trio, who will be tried
simultaneously.

Attorneys for the three men have maintained their clients'
innocence.

"My client insists that he doesn't know any of these people (the
co-defendants), he doesn't know what any of this is about, and he's
innocent," said attorney Patrick Moran, who represents Lopez.

Nicknamed "El Pecho de Oro" or "Chest of Gold," Villarreal-Solis is
accused of leading the operation, which authorities believe is
responsible for distributing thousands of pounds of marijuana across
the Mexico-Texas border.

Under his direction, the organization used tractor-trailers, rental
cars, private vehicles and commercial buses to transport the drugs,
which were unloaded and stored in "stash houses" in San Antonio and
later distributed to the Atlanta area and elsewhere, according to a
federal indictment.

The indictment describes Lopez, also known as "Raton" or "Rat," and
Rodriguez as "hired assassins" who killed on behalf of
Villarreal-Solis.

Villarreal-Solis and Rodriguez are charged with killing two men who
were sitting in a car parked outside a San Antonio nightclub in
February 1997. Jorge Ruvalcaba, 40, and Cesar Blake, 26, died in a
spray of gunfire from semiautomatic assault rifles, officials said.

The indictment alleges Villarreal-Solis used subordinates to hire
Rodriguez and Guillermo Recio as hit men in the slayings. Recio was
killed in a drive-by shooting more than a year later, police said.

Villarreal-Solis also is accused of soliciting Lopez to kill Idelfonso
"Poncho" Chavarria, who was fatally shot in July 2000.
Villarreal-Solis and Lopez are charged in his death.

Lopez and Villarreal-Solis are Mexican nationals. Rodriguez is a U.S.
citizen. All three men, who are in federal custody, lived in San
Antonio at the time.

The three defendants were carved out of a previous federal indictment
that charged 33 people with participating in the marijuana-trafficking
operation.

Opening statements are expected today.

The trial is expected to last about a month in U.S. District Judge
Fred Biery's court.