WHITE HOUSE TARGETS 12 DRUG TRAFFICKERS

Launching a process intended to take some of the profit out of the
narcotic trade, the Clinton administration on Friday named 12
international drug kingpins - half of them Mexicans - to a new list of
criminals considered so evil that Americans can draw jail time just
for doing business with their associates.

``This action underscores our determination to do everything possible
to fight drug traffickers, undermine their operations and end the
suffering that trade in illegal drugs inflicts on Americans and people
around the world,'' White House press secretary Joe Lockhart said in
announcing the list.

All 12 names are familiar to counternarcotic forces. Some, like the
brothers Ramon and Benjamin Arrellano-Felix of the Tijuana cartel, are
almost household names. Most are under indictment in the United
States, and some are in jail at home.

A law approved by Congress last year is designed to make it far more
difficult for big-time traffickers to launder their profits through
seemingly legitimate businesses. It requires the administration to
identify and impose economic sanctions on all businesses linked in any
way to the kingpins. The administration plans to issue a second list
later this year citing hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of names of
businesses associated with the traffickers.

The direct effect of Friday's action is largely symbolic. The 12
kingpins are prohibited from entering the United States, although they
would be unlikely to do so in any case because they are subject to
arrest on existing indictments. Any financial assets they hold in
their own names can be seized, but U.S. officials say it is doubtful
if any such accounts exist. And Americans are prohibited from doing
business with them, although such direct links are rare.

But the second step of the process is expected to have a devastating
effect on the cartels. Associates of the 12 kingpins would be barred
from any sort of financial dealing in the United States, or abroad
with American citizens or U.S. companies.

Americans who violate the statute would be subject to administrative
penalties of up to $1 million, or court-imposed criminal punishments
of as much as 10 years in prison and up to $10 million in fines for
individuals. Officers, directors or agents of companies would be
subject to prison terms of up to 30 years.

No Colombian drug dealers were named because that South American
country, considered the home of the world's worst narcotic
traffickers, is covered by a 4-year-old executive order imposing
similar sanctions. A senior Treasury Department official said that the
separate Colombian list includes seven kingpins and 526 affiliated
companies and individuals.

The official said that several narcotic-linked Colombian businesses
have gone bankrupt ``because they were so dependent upon the U.S.
business community.''