DRUG WAR HAS NEW SHERIFF

Felix Jimenez to run region's DEA office

A longtime soldier in the war on drugs has become the new federal
narcotics sheriff in the Philadelphia region.

Felix Jimenez, 51, took over the Drug Enforcement Administration's
Philadelphia office in January, with the primary goal of stemming the
flow of heroin that is flooding the region.

The heroin sold in Philadelphia is the second-cheapest among major
U.S. cities, after San Francisco, according to the DEA. It is also the
nation's most potent - with a 71 percent purity level, compared with a
national average of 41 percent.

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Jimenez joined the DEA to catch drug
dealers who he said were corrupting his homeland. He became an agent
for the Justice Department in San Juan in 1971, after graduating from
Puerto Rico's Catholic University. He joined the DEA in 1974.

In his days as a field agent, Jimenez infiltrated major drug cartels
by posing as a millionaire buyer.

In 1983, he was nearly killed when an undercover drug sting in Miami
went wrong. Not because the Cuban dealer didn't believe his act - but
because he did buy it and decided to rob Jimenez instead of selling to
him.

Jimenez was bleeding from his forehead and his left hand was
handcuffed to another undercover agent when the dealer held a gun to
his head and demanded money.

"I was very nervous, and basically losing control of the situation,"
Jimenez said. "This guy was very hyper. He was looking for a motive to
pull the trigger."

He survived by telling the dealer there was $80,000 in a garment bag
inside the closet. When the dealer couldn't open the bag because of a
stuck zipper, Jimenez pulled a pistol from under a pillow and shot at
the dealer.

The dealer spun around and returned a hail of bullets. The dealer was
killed. Jimenez was at work the next day.

"God is the only one who saved me," Jimenez said.

Jimenez rose to become chief inspector at the DEA headquarters in
Washington, the fourth most senior person in the agency and the
highest-ranking Hispanic.

Philadelphia could be Jimenez's last assignment. He left Washington,
he said, to be closer to his son, a sophomore at Villanova University.
He also is approaching the DEA's mandatory retirement age of 57.

"I'm a very ambitious person," he said. "My short-term goal is to go
after major drug organizations in the area."

After that, who knows?