DEALER SAYS MILAN SOLD HIM DRUGS

In the drug-conspiracy trial in Camden, a witness said the man who is now
mayor sold $20 bags of cocaine.

A convicted drug dealer yesterday testified that he had bought cocaine from
Milton Milan in the 1980s and that Milan sold $20 bags of cocaine in Camden
before he was elected mayor.

Wilson "Chill Will" Torres also said in U.S. District Court that he had paid
Milan $50 for bogus pay stubs to show a parole officer that he had a job as
required when he got out of jail on drug charges in 1988. Torres said Milan
gave him the stubs to show that Torres was working at a construction company
Milan owned, even though Torres was not working there.

Milan, who was elected mayor in 1997, refused to comment on the allegations
yesterday. In past interviews, Milan has denied he bought or sold drugs, and
Milan's attorney, Carlos A. Martir Jr., said yesterday that he did not find
Torres to be a credible witness.

The allegations came out in the courtroom in downtown Camden during the
ongoing drug-conspiracy trial of Jose Luis "J.R." Rivera, 40, a Camden
businessman, and Luis "Tun Tun" Figueroa, 34, of Puerto Rico.

The two are accused of running a multimillion-dollar drug operation in East
Camden that flourished for more than a decade before it was broken up by
authorities in 1998. In all, 14 people have been indicted on drug charges.
All but Rivera and Figueroa have pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy. If
convicted, both men could face life in prison. The others have not yet been
sentenced. Rivera and Figueroa have denied being involved with the ring.

Yesterday, two witnesses testified about assaults and killings to protect
the lucrative drug trade. So gruesome were the details of one man's being
badly beaten and then attacked with an ice pick that some members of the
jury gasped and twisted in their seats.

During the trial, which is in its fifth week, Milan's name has surfaced
repeatedly. He has not been charged with any crime but is under
investigation by federal authorities probing alleged corruption in Camden
and the Milan administration.

When asked why Milan has not been charged, Assistant U.S. Prosecutor Kevin
Smith and Assistant Camden County Prosecutor Sally Smith declined comment.
(The two are not related.)

Torres took the witness stand yesterday afternoon and described how he began
selling marijuana when he was 15 years old, just three years after he had
moved to North Camden from the Bronx. Other dealers, he said, were making
more money selling cocaine, and he decided to do the same, selling $10 and
$20 bags at Fifth and York Streets.

When asked by Sally Smith where he got his drugs, Torres responded, "A few
times, I bought it from Milan. Milton Milan." He added that the two had
grown up in the same neighborhood.

At 19, Torres said, he was arrested for possession of cocaine and auto
theft. He served time in Jamesburg State Prison, was released in November
1988, and returned to Camden and began selling drugs at State Street. When
asked who else was selling drugs there, Torres named several people by
nicknames - "Smurf" and "Gadget." And, he said, "Milan was there."

Torres said they were selling $20 bags that were color-coded. Torres said he
sold his cocaine in clear bags with a red dot and "Milan had the green"
bags. The colors were so customers could return to the same dealer if they
wanted to assure they would get the same quality of drugs, Torres said.

Torres was the first witness to testify that Milan sold drugs. In previous
court testimony, two drug dealers have said that Milan at least twice
purchased kilo quantities of cocaine in 1993. At the time, the cocaine
market was so profitable in Camden that street dealers were easily making
$5,000 for each kilo sold on the street. The trafficking was fast-paced and
dealers ran out of places to store their bulky cash, several of the dealers
have said.

In an interview last month, one dealer, Luis Medina, said that in the late
1980s, he and Milan were loosely associated in the sale of drugs near Fifth
and State Streets. He said Milan started selling $20 bags of cocaine with a
green dot, and that Milan sold to street-level dealers.

Last month, another dealer testified during the trial that after Milan was
elected mayor, he tipped drug dealers about forthcoming raids.

Yesterday, Torres said he had needed to show he had a job, which was a
condition of his parole when he was released in 1988. Initially, he said, he
worked at a nursery in Cherry Hill, but he wasn't making enough money. When
he quit, he turned to Milan to drum up phony paperwork to make it appear he
was working for Milan's construction company, he said.

"Other people told me he used to do stuff like that," Torres said. "So one
day I went over there and talked to Milan, and he hooked it up for me where
I could get the check stubs to show my parole officer."

Torres said he paid $50 and Milan would give him a stub that showed he was
paid $150 to $200 even though he did not work at Milan's firm.

After hearing Torres' testimony, which is expected to continue when the
trial resumes Monday, Milan's attorney, Martir, said he thought "everything
this individual [Torres] says is suspect." Prosecutors are unfairly
attacking Milan to "weaken the mayor politically prior to him being
charged," said Martir.

He said that Torres, along with several other witnesses, admitted they
participated in the murder of a rival drug dealer and have not been charged
for the crime. In exchange, he said, they are making up allegations against
Milan.

"C'mon, these guys are getting away with murder," said Martir, a former
federal prosecutor. "That is outrageous."

During his testimony yesterday, Torres said that in 1993 he was at an
apartment near "The Alley," an open-air drug market in East Camden that had
been operated by confessed drug trafficker Saul Febo, who allegedly worked
with Luis Figueroa. Febo and Figueroa were meeting with two others who are
now dead, Torres said.

"They were discussing they were going to shoot someone. I heard Manolin's
name," Torres said, referring to Manuel "Manolin" DeJesus.

Witnesses have testified previously that DeJesus was plotting to take over
the Alley and kill Febo and Figueroa. Instead, a plan was executed to kill
DeJesus.

"They couldn't decide who would shoot him, so Saul got a coin," Torres said.
"Figueroa won the toss."

Minutes later, DeJesus arrived.

"He noticed something was going to happen. He looked at Saul, and he looked
at me, and he reached for his side," Torres said. "I grabbed him."

Torres said he had DeJesus' arms pinned to his sides, spun him around and
threw him down on a couch. Torres said he felt someone at his back, and two
shots rang out, killing DeJesus. Torres said that when he turned around, he
saw Figueroa standing with a gun in his hand.

"My ears started ringing and everything," Torres said. "I got up and ran out
the front door."

Earlier in the day yesterday, Manuel "Manny" Cordero, who also has pleaded
guilty to drug-conspiracy charges and is cooperating with the government,
said he was ordered by Figueroa to bring DeJesus to the apartment, but he
did not know why.

Cordero, testifying through a Spanish translator, said he saw DeJesus and
Figueroa walk into the apartment together, and he heard the shots fired.
Moments later, he said, Figueroa came out and looked pale, he said.
Figueroa, Cordero said, told him, "I killed Manolin."

"I told him, 'You smell like gunpowder,' " Cordero said. "I told him, 'You
look scared,' and he said, 'Well, I just killed a person.' "

The trial resumes Monday before U.S. District Judge Joseph Rodriguez.

Inquirer staff writer Dwight Ott contributed to this article.