TAPES PLAY KEY ROLE IN DRUG TRIAL

Note: Sarah Huntley covers federal courts and can be reached in Tampa at
(813) 259-7616.

TAMPA - A contractor accused of heading a lucrative cocaine ring listens as
jurors hear tapes made by his supposed partners.

Jose Hubert Palacios sits in silence as his voice, muffled and Spanish,
fills the courtroom.

He boasts about having 80 kilos of cocaine air-dropped onto a boat behind
his Town 'N Country home. He offers to trade the house for drugs and
promises to provide two boats, four trucks and a plane for future
transactions.

More than once, Palacios assures his partners he's serious.

``We're for real,'' he tells them.

The 49-year-old Tampa contractor isn't on the stand, but he might as well
be. During the first two weeks of his cocaine trafficking trial, federal
prosecutors have played hours of conversations secretly taped by men
Palacios considered confidantes and business allies.

Authorities say the defendant's words provide proof that Palacios was
running a multimillion dollar cocaine distribution ring designed to link
major U.S. cities with a Colombian cartel. Palacios' arrest and those of
his co-defendants capped what one prosecutor called Tampa's biggest federal
drug investigation of the decade.

But the defense argues the tapes portray Palacios as little more than a
braggart, spurred on by a pair of mercenary informants earning more than
$350,000 each for their cooperation.

Despite their disagreement, the lawyers come together on one point: what
Palacios did - and didn't - say could make or break this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill has volume on his side. The two-year
undercover investigation that led to Palacios' October 1997 arrest resulted
in more than 340 secretly recorded meetings and phone calls.

In addition to the tapes, Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Customs
agents set up two phony operations. In November 1996, Palacios and his
colleagues flew what they thought was $500,000 of drug proceeds from New
Jersey to Tampa, the agents said. Nearly a year later, investigators
contend, the group smuggled in 2,000 kilos of cocaine at John's Pass.

Not all the transactions were caught on tape, but jurors, following along
with English transcripts, have been given front-row seats to negotiations
that prosecutors say involved illegal activity.

The transcripts spell out the following examples:

- -- Oct. 10, 1996: Hashing out the percentage he could pocket from
laundering drug money, Palacios told informant Alex Johnson he had the
resources to handle $800,000.

- -- Dec. 4, 1996: Palacios delivered 2 pounds of marijuana to the
informants, who paid him $2,000. Struggling to find space in the vehicle's
trunk, Palacios complained that the drugs ``stink.''

- -- June 30, 1997: Palacios told informant Harold Roa he knows firsthand how
cocaine is packaged. ``I had to pack it before,'' he said. ``Oh, yeah, I
have. Whoop! Once I had to pack 5,000 [kilos], and another time 2,000,
3,000. And sometimes they were damaged. We had take them back and unpack
them.''

- -- October 1997: While at a stash house filled with cocaine, an antsy
Palacios warned Johnson about leaving fingerprints. ``Don't you have any
gloves,'' he asked.

The tapes don't implicate Palacios alone. Five other men, charged with
conspiracy, are on trial with him.

Prosecutors have accused pilot Nelson Coniglio, 52, of flying the phony
drug proceeds from New Jersey; painter Wilman Montealegre-Nira, 26, of
keeping a lookout during the John's Pass delivery; mechanic Jose Caride,
54, of agreeing to install hidden compartments for drugs in Palacios'
trailers; and brothers Alfred Williams Jr. and Reginald Bernard Williams of
plotting to transport cocaine in trucks from their father's business.

>From the start, the defense has focused on the motives and shady
backgrounds of the informants.

Johnson is a convicted cocaine trafficker from the Florida Keys who served
less than three years in prison after agreeing to help bring down Palacios'
alleged ring.

Roa dodged money laundering charges by cooperating in a 1994 probe that led
to the downfall of a Tampa vice detective.

Under questioning by Palacios' lawyer, Ronald Marzullo, he admitted he
failed to report his informant income during a bankruptcy hearing this summer.

``I was worried about my safety,'' Roa said. ``It's all public record.
Anyone could wait for me at the courthouse. As of this day, I have to look
over my shoulder.''

The attorneys say the tapes show that Roa and Johnson engaged in
high-pressure tactics. At one point, according to the transcripts, Coniglio
confided he had the ``heebie-jeebies.''

``If [Palacios] was a general of an army, he'd ... overrun everything,'' he
told Roa. ``But the trouble is, you could count the soldiers on the side of
the road. When he finishes, he'd probably be the last man on the hill.''

Not every tape portrays Palacios as a polished professional. On one, he
said he and his friends would be terrified, but they would go through with
the plan.

``This is like winning the lottery,'' he said.

A few months into the investigation, Palacios sounded overwhelmed by the
amount Johnson wanted him to sell, but he quickly recovered.

``Can you do two hundred cosas [kilos]?'' Johnson asked.

``That's a serious amount,'' Palacios said.

``Can you get the contact for that?''

``Yes, man,'' he said. ``Wow! There are the possibilities of doing that. Of
course, there are.''

The trial is scheduled to run through today, take a break and resume Oct.
19.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski