MIAMI POLICE NAB MUCH-SOUGHT DRUG WAR SUSPECT

MIAMI, Jan 5 (Reuters) - An alleged drug dealer
suspected of launching a Miami gang turf battle that has killed a
dozen people since August was captured in one of the city's most
intensive manhunts, police said on Tuesday.

Anthony Dejuan Fail, the target of an eight-day manhunt dubbed
"Operation Draw the Line," was arrested on three counts of attempted
murder on Monday night at a West Palm Beach hotel room about 65 miles
(100 km) north of Miami.

A SWAT team waited outside while Fail had a pizza dinner delivered,
then broke down the door, set off flash grenades to distract him and
arrested him without firing a shot, Miami Police Lt. Hector Alfaro
said.

"He looked tired. He looked worn out. I think he was as relieved to be
caught as we were to catch him," said Alfaro, one of 72 officers
involved in the arrest.

Alfaro said Fail was relieved because "we didn't want to kill him.
There's a lot of other people on the streets that would love to kill
him."

Police said Fail, 25, formerly was a member of a cocaine gang known as
the "John Does." He left the gang and formed a rival group that fought
the John Does for turf after the Does' leader was jailed on grenade
possession charges, police said.

Police have linked the battle between the two gangs to two dozen
shootings in the Liberty City neighbourhood in northwest Miami since
August. Twelve of the shootings were fatal and most involved barrages
of gunfire with assault weapons. Sixty-seven bullet casings were found
at the scene of one killing. The victims included Fail's girlfriend
and a cousin.

The shootings terrorised the neighbourhood, prompting frightened
mothers to put their children to bed in their bathtubs to shield them
from stray bullets, police said.

The battle escalated on Christmas Day when two men were gunned down
outside convenience stores a few blocks apart. Two more men were shot
to death in retaliation the next day, prompting police, the FBI, the
Florida Department of Law Enforcement and federal drug and weapons
agencies to form a task force that launched an all-out hunt for Fail.

Police said they checked out calls from hundreds of tipsters after a
$10,000 award was posted. The arrest came after one tipster described
the car a friend had rented on Fail's behalf, and the car was traced
to the West Palm Beach hotel, Miami Police Chief William O'Brien said.

Two of the charges against Fail stem from an August shooting caught by
a surveillance camera at a Miami convenience store, O'Brien said. The
film allegedly shows Fail vaulting over a counter and opening fire,
shooting a man who police identified as a rival gang member in the
hand. One bullet ricocheted and seriously wounded an 8-year-old girl.

Miami-Dade County State Attorney Kathy Fernandez Rundle said 10 other
members of the rival drug gangs had been arrested in the "very
vigorous, exhaustive manhunt."

She said prosecutors would seek to try Fail as an habitual offender
because of his lengthy criminal record and that additional charges
were expected, possibly including federal racketeering charges.

Fail and the other arrested suspects were all being held without bail.
Investigators said the fact that the suspects were in custody probably
would create another power vacuum and prompt continued drug warfare.

"We're very aware that every time we take out a gang leader that
someone else comes in," Rundle said.

For that reason, O'Brien said, the "Draw the Line" task force will
remain in effect.

"There is no green light (for drug gangs,)" O'Brien said. "We're not
done."