HITMAN SAMMY 'THE BULL' ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES

Former Mafia hitman Salvatore `Sammy the Bull' Gravano, the mob turncoat
whose testimony put New York crime boss John Gotti behind bars, was
arrested yesterday, reportedly on charges he was involved in a drug ring.

Gravano, who moved to Arizona after entering the federal witness protection
programme, was booked into the Maricopa County Jail on suspicion of drug
trafficking, The Arizona Republic reported on its web site yesterday.
Phoenix police spokesman Jeff Halstead confirmed the arrest but said the
charges against Gravano would not be released until a later news conference.

Police said Gravano's criminal enterprises targeted teenagers and rave
music clubs. The drug operation, which police allege was financed by
Gravano, sold upward of 30,000 Ecstasy pills a week, the newspaper reported.

Gravano, a confessed serial hitman, ravaged the Mafia by defecting to the
government, sending Gotti and dozens of other gangland cronies to prison.
Authorities called him the most important mob turncoat in US history.

His bombshell testimony, along with conversations secretly taped by the
FBI, finally put Gotti, the so-called `Teflon Don,' behind bars for life in
1992 after three previous acquittals. Under his deal with prosecutors,
Gravano admitted to 19 murders, but served only five years for racketeering.

The pills were bought by the syndicate for $6 to $7 each and sold for $25 a
pill, police said. Investigators planned to arrest as many as 54 people,
the newspaper said.