CATERER SENTENCED FOR DRUG SCHEME

A case that started nine years ago with a marijuana seizure north of San
Antonio led Wednesday to a 16-year prison sentence for a caterer said to
have orchestrated a complex web of money laundering.

John William Sliker, 57, was sentenced Wednesday to 16 years, eight months
in prison for his part in funneling more than $1 million in drug profits
through about a dozen local businesses, including his own Dolce Fino
catering company.

Sliker, known to some as "Uncle Johnny," was among 15 men charged two years
ago.

Together, the group shipped marijuana to 10 states and disguised profits as
everything from catering jobs to payroll earnings and auction sales.

Their operation was "as sophisticated as we have seen in recent years" in
San Antonio, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas McHugh said after the sentencing.

McHugh said the case had its seeds in 3,000 pounds of marijuana seized in
1991 near Bulverde. The smuggler caught that day was one of Sliker's
accomplices, and his information eventually led investigators to the others.

Charged in 1998, Sliker pleaded guilty to 44 federal counts related to
money laundering, drug trafficking, conspiracy and lying to his probation
officer days before trial in October of last year.

His principal accomplice, former nightclub owner Sammy Naranjo, 34, also
pleaded guilty two days into his October trial.

Sentenced in January, he received 18 years in prison.

Sliker, who has a long history of convictions and a reputation as a canny
launderer, faced upward of 19 years behind bars under federal guidelines,
McHugh said.

But defense lawyer Roy Barrera asked U.S. District Judge H.F. "Hippo"
Garcia for a lesser sentence, implying that colon cancer, a stroke and
other infirmities have made Sliker a feeble threat at best.

"He's here on his last hurrah," Barrera told the judge.

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