AFTER ALMOST 30 YEARS, DRUG KINGPIN'S AIDE FOUND, ARRESTED

Federal agents looking for former Todt Hill resident Frank (Pee Wee)
Matthews instead nab Gattis Hinton in Durham, N.C.

For nearly 30 years, Gattis Hinton managed to stay one step ahead of the law.

But his connection to his former boss, drug kingpin and one-time Todt
Hill resident Frank (Pee Wee) Matthews -- himself on the lam from
authorities for nearly three decades -- finally did Hinton in.

Earlier this month, federal agents arrested Hinton, 65, a former top
lieutenant of the flamboyant Matthews, as they were searching for
Matthews in his hometown of Durham, N.C.

"After 28 years we found him because we were looking for Matthews,"
Stanley Skowronski, a spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) New York Division said yesterday.

Hinton is scheduled to be extradited to New York this week to face
trial in Brooklyn federal court, Skowronski said. He will be charged
with distribution of heroin and conspiracy to distribute heroin and
cocaine, said the spokesman. Hinton faces a minimum of 20 years in
prison, if convicted, Skowronski said.

Authorities have been trying to track down Hinton and Matthews, who
each vanished about 28 years ago.

Considered at the time the world's biggest African-American dope
merchant, Matthews disappeared in July 1973 after posting $325,000
bail in a major drug case. He left behind his common-law wife, their
three sons and a palatial, nine-room, colonial-style mansion replete
with gold-plated plumbing at 7 Buttonwood Rd. The house was valued at
$200,000 when it was built in 1971.

Matthews remains at large.

Lewis Rice Jr., who heads the DEA's New York office, said Hinton
eluded authorities for nearly 30 years by using aliases and moving
throughout the country.

His downfall came shortly after the New Year.

That's when members of a DEA task force, searching for Matthews in
his old North Carolina neighborhood, knocked on Hinton's mother's
door, aware she was the fugitive's parent. A man fitting Hinton's
description answered. A review of his identification confirmed
Hinton's date of birth and his fingerprints were determined to match
the suspect's, Skowronski said.

Hinton was arrested Jan. 8, said the spokesman.

"We're satisfied this is Gattis Hinton," he said.

William Muller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in
Brooklyn, said it was unclear exactly when Hinton will arrive here.
He will be processed and arraigned in federal court, Muller said.

Authorities said Hinton was one of Matthews' right-hand men. Based in
Brooklyn, the drug lord moved hundreds of kilos of cocaine and heroin
- -- with a street value in the millions of dollars -- along the
Eastern Seaboard, authorities said. Matthews' narcotics profits for
1972 alone exceeded $10 million, according to IRS estimates.

The high-living Matthews favored good-looking women, expensive cars
and relished the limelight. Authorities arrested Matthews, now 56, in
Las Vegas in January 1973 after he reportedly dropped $170,000 in a
single night of gambling. He was charged with possession of 18
kilograms of cocaine -- valued at more than $1 million -- with the
intent to sell, authorities said. He was also indicted on six counts
of income tax evasion and conspiracy to distribute heroin.

After posting $325,000 bail -- reduced from $5 million -- Matthews
vanished later that year with his girl friend. He left a slew of
unsolved murders and more than $275,000 in his wake, according to
published accounts.

Law-enforcement officers have pursued him ever since.

The trail might have been warmest about a decade ago, when Matthews
was rumored to be hiding in Philadelphia. Rice, who then was the
DEA's second-in-command in Philadelphia, commissioned noted forensic
artist Frank Bender to create of bust of Matthews depicting how he
might look.

Hoping to renew the scent last summer, Rice dusted off the sculpture
and distributed photos of it to several law-enforcement agencies.
Matthews, however, has avoided capture, despite a $50,000 bounty on
his head.