17 HELD ON DRUG CHARGES

Case Includes Deaths Of Tuinei, 2 Teens

Seventeen suspected heroin and cocaine dealers were arrested on
conspiracy charges Thursday, accused of operating two drug rings that
supplied the fatal doses to former Dallas Cowboy Mark Tuinei and two
unidentified 18-year-olds in Allen and Carrollton.

A federal indictment issued last week in Sherman named 32 members of
the two drug-trafficking organizations. In addition to those arrested,
six suspects were in custody, three are believed to be in Mexico and
six at-large in the United States, authorities said.

Each has been charged with one count of conspiracy to possess with
intent to distribute heroin and cocaine. If prosecutors can link
specific drug sales from the organizations to the overdose deaths,
those convicted could each face maximum sentences of life in federal
prison and a $4 million fine.

"These were major, major traffickers," said U.S. Attorney Mike
Bradford of the Eastern District of Texas, who announced the arrests
at a news conference on behalf of the Collin/Denton Counties Drug Task
Force.

"This investigation is a spinoff of a very successful investigation
which originated in Plano," he said, referring to a 1998 indictment
that named 29 people involved in heroin-trafficking in Plano.

Plano Police Chief Bruce Glasscock said he was pleased to continue
those efforts with the task force.

"The face of the drug situation in Plano is significantly altered,"
said Chief Glasscock, citing fewer overdoses and increased arrests.

Mr. Tuinei was found dead in the driveway of his Plano home May 6,
1999. Mr. Bradford said that Mr. Tuinei had purchased other drugs from
these two organizations before.

The arrests were made less than two weeks after 21-year-old Keelan
Charles Murray, the man accused of selling heroin to Mr. Tuinei,
pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge. He remains in custody awaiting
sentencing, said Special Agent Lori Bailey, an FBI spokeswoman. She
added that no informants were used in the investigation leading to
Thursday's arrests.

According to the indictment, the two drug organizations had been in
operation since 1995. While officials said it was difficult to
quantify the amount of heroin the two groups brought to the area, it
was a significant amount.

"On a daily basis, all day long, at a rapid pace, people were calling
in" to purchase heroin from the dealers, Mr. Bradford said, based on
surveillance tools, including wiretaps. He added that the sales took
place across North Texas.

Among the arrested were Jesus Carbajal, 20, and Rogelio Lopez-Moreno,
43, two Dallas men who authorities said headed the two organizations
responsible for bringing heroin from California and Mexico to the
Dallas area.

The two organizations worked similarly, he said, with buyers calling
in to a main number, usually a cellular phone, to arrange a purchase.
The dispatcher would take the order and direct the customer to a
public location, such as a gas station or fast-food restaurant to wait
for a runner.

The dispatcher would then call the runner and, using a series of code
words - including numbers, vegetables and birds - direct them how much
to take, how much to sell the drugs for and where to meet the buyer.

"It's a sophisticated organization," Mr. Bradford said. "Some of the
people may be young, but they're very sophisticated."

More than 150 officers visited 16 residences early Thursday to make
the arrests, Agent Bailey said. Four houses were searched, and an
undisclosed amount of drugs, cash and weapons were seized.

The arrests went smoothly, Agent Bailey said. The last was made in
Denton, where the task force had set up several "traps" for Randolph
Carlisle, 21.

At one Duncanville house, four people were arrested and detained by
the Immigration and Naturalization Service and probably would be added
to the indictment later.

The other 14 arrested were Rhonda Adaham, 19; Maria Hernandez, 42;
Jose Lopez, 34; Hilda Moreno, age unknown; Billy Jack Newsom, 59;
Maria Torres, 24; and Rogelio Saenz, 31, all of Dallas; John Cockrell,
20, and William Oswalt, 19, of Richardson; Phyllis Coleman, 38, and
William Coleman, 36, of Balch Springs; Michael Dalhite, 23, of San
Marcos; Julian Perez, 34, of Duncanville; and Dana Sacchetti, 36, of
The Colony.

Officials said they would continue to search for the others named in
the indictment, as well as searching out other organizations involved
in the local drug trade.

"This isn't the end of this investigation," Mr. Bradford
said.

"If any organization exists, we're going to find them, we're going to
indict them and we're going to prosecute them," he said.