COCAINE RING TO `BUY' 35 CARS FOR TAMPA POLICE

TAMPA - City and airport police receive more than $760,000 for their
work with federal agents in a lucrative cocaine sting.

Crime may not pay, but cooperative crime-fighting sure
does.

More than a year after agents arrested five suspects in a 100-kilogram
cocaine sting, the U.S. attorney's office presented checks totaling
more than $760,000 to the Tampa Police Department and Tampa
International Airport police. The payments are the result of a Justice
Department program that shares the wealth of seized assets with local
agencies that work on investigations.

This particular investigation involved a suspected Dominican and
Colombian cocaine ring with ties to Tampa, Miami and New York. The
reverse sting operation was hatched in March 1998 when an informant
approached the FBI with a tip.

FBI agents, posing as dealers, lured ringleader Nelson Abreu to Tampa
in June 1998 and showed him 20 kilograms of cocaine. After negotiating
a deal, a Tampa undercover officer traveled to New York to meet with
Abreu again. During that trip, Abreu showed the detective $1.3 million
stored in a garage and another $600,000 stashed in his home, said FBI
Special Agent in Charge Frank Gallagher.

The case resulted in five arrests, guilty pleas from all the
defendants and hefty forfeitures, including $1.89 million in cash and
a 1994 Mitsubishi Montero that had been rigged with a hid den
compartment in the roof.

``This is a true example of a combined cooperative federal, state and
local effort attacking drug operations here and in other parts of the
United States,'' interim U.S. Attorney Donna Bucella said Thursday.

Police Chief Bennie Holder said his department's share of the
proceeds, $680,932.58, will be used to purchase 35 unmarked police
vehicles.

``The money is truly a side issue. The main thing is that we pooled
our resources and got a bad guy off the streets,'' Holder said. But
``this will definitely save taxpayers a lot of money. We'd like to
thank the drug dealers for buying these vehicles.''

In the past 1 1/2 years, the department has received more than
$500,000 from other joint investigations and is expecting two more
checks totaling about $350,000.

Airport police, who assisted the FBI in tracking the comings and
goings of several key suspects, plan to put their $87,299 toward
accreditation and technology.

Federal prosecutors also will send $261,897 to the New York Police
Department for its work in the investigation.

Abreu, also known as Omar Herrera, 33, is serving 17 1/2 years in
prison. The FBI's original tipster, Gilardo Franco, 41, was sentenced
to seven years and three months.

The three other defendants - Carlos A. Santana-Pena, 29; Francisco A.
Cordero-Perez, 32; and Jose A. Rivera- Sanchez, 62 - are serving
prison terms ranging from four to 11 years.