DRUG THEFT SCAM TIED TO SLAYING, COURT TOLD

A Maywood man, his wrists cuffed in his lap, testified Monday that he
watched as his robbery partners beat and strangled an Israeli man because
he wouldn't take them to his stash of cocaine.

Gerald Pittman, 32, of the west suburb, testified before Cook County
Circuit Judge Kenneth Wadas that he was present in 1993 when Modesto
Echazaretta, 32, of the 4900 block of North Kolmar Avenue, Chicago, and
another man beat and strangled Ofer "Josh" Dagan, 31, in a planned drug
rip-off scheme.

After meeting Dagan and getting several kilograms of cocaine, Echazaretta,
who was supposed to pay Dagan for the drugs, announced he, co-defendant
Jesse Becerril and Pittman were agents with the Drug Enforcement
Administration and that they wanted Dagan to lead them to more drugs so
they could make a good bust.

"Give us a bust and we'll work it out," Pittman testified he heard
Echazaretta tell Dagan.

Pittman testified Echazaretta handcuffed Dagan and drove him to a body shop
in the 3000 block of North Central Avenue, where Echazaretta and Becerril
put a rag in his mouth, a plastic bag over his head, and beat and strangled
him with an extension cord. They placed his body in a furnace and set it on
fire.

Defense attorney Richard Beuke told jurors that Pittman was one of the
killers and that Echazaretta was implicated in the murder as he tried to
tell authorities what had happened to Dagan.

Pittman testified he tried to break up the beating at one point so Dagan
could tell them where his drugs were, but he backed off when the two other
men glared at the intrusion.

Pittman testified that Echazaretta offered him $25,000 to accompany him to
visit Dagan's business associates the next day to pretend they had been
robbed of their money and not given cocaine.

He said Echazaretta later offered him $65,000 to cut Dagan's head off so
that his remains could not be identified.

Testimony resumes Tuesday.

When the trial concludes, Pittman, who is being held in Cook County Jail,
is expected to get a 10-year prison sentence for a guilty plea to four
counts of armed robbery and two counts of robbery in unrelated cases,
prosecutors said. He never was charged with the murder.

Becerril is serving a 55-year prison term after admitting taking part in
the killing, prosecutors said.

Dagan's charred remains were found on Nov. 27, 1993.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski