SUSPECT PROVES CRIME PAYS

750G From Alleged Drug Dealer's Estate To L.I.

In what was touted as one of the largest forfeitures in Nassau County
history, $ 750,000 was obtained from the estate of an alleged drug
dealer who committed suicide.

Nassau District Attorney Denis Dillon said yesterday that the money was
forfeited from the estate of Robert Vorbeck, an alleged cocaine dealer
who lived in Bellerose, Queens.

Vorbeck was arrested on July 2, 1999, for allegedly selling drugs in
Nassau, Suffolk and Queens.

He committed suicide 11 days later while in jail.

At the time of his arrest, Vorbeck, who admitted he was unemployed and
had been dealing drugs for 10 years, was carrying about $4,300 on him.

A court-ordered search of his home found $250,000 in cocaine, along with
$ 12,000 in cash, and an additional $2,500 in uncashed money orders,
Dillon said.

Also found were financial records, including uncashed checks, bank
statements, tax records and five notebooks that were later determined to
be drug records, the district attorney said. The financial records
included:

* Lists of purchases of cocaine from approximately Oct. 11, 1995, to
June 3, 1999, totaling more than 55 kilos at a cost of approximately
$1.5 million. Police estimate that Vorbeck could have pulled in three
times that amount by selling the kilos in gram size.

* Dates and amounts collected of more than $900,000 in what appear to be
outstanding drug debts.

* Documentation that he owned approximately $1 million in securities and
cash in three safe-deposit boxes.

The home search also yielded items commonly used in the preparation and
distribution of cocaine.

Dillon said his office had sought to seize all the estate's assets,
including a second home in Milford, Pa., but the administrator of
Vorbeck's estate contested the move.

An agreement was reached and signed on June 21, turning over $750,000 to
the district attorney's office, Dillon said.

"These are funds that can now be put to work for the law-abiding people
of Nassau County," Dillon said.

Forfeiture moneys are used to support the work of police and prosecutors
and to assist positive crime prevention efforts, Dillon said.