POLICE FACED A 'DAVID AND GOLIATH' BATTLE

RCMP Insp. Ben Soave tells April Lindgren how international co-operation
lead to the most significant series of arrests in the history of organized
crime.

It was still dark at 4:15 a.m. yesterday when RCMP Insp. Ben Soave got out
of bed to begin the biggest day of his policing career.

Operating on barely three hours sleep, the trim, 50-year-old veteran of the
international drug war stopped at Tim Horton's for coffee on his way to
work. At 6 a.m., he delivered final orders to nearly 60 officers gathered
in an anonymous federal government building in north Toronto. Just over an
hour later, those officers and teams in Montreal and Mexico pulled in 10
suspected members of the notorious Cuntrera-Caruana organized crime family.

(Two members are still being sought by police; another pair were arrested
earlier this spring during a drug bust in Texas.)

Alfonso Caruana, 52, reputed to be the financial genius and kingpin of the
global Cuntrera-Caruana drug-running empire, was taken into custody at his
comfortable Woodbridge, Ont., home and whisked by car into North York's 32
Division just after 7 a.m.

Insp. Soave, the officer in charge of the Canadian unit that led the
international investigation, said yesterday he was "destroyed" by his
nearly sleepless night, one of many during the two-year investigation. Even
so, he could barely contain his glee during a quiet coffee following a
gruelling round of interviews and relentless cell phone calls.

"What this means is that these guys won't get any respect any more. Nobody
is going to trust them because they know we're onto them," he said,
breaking into one of his big, easy smiles.

Mr. Caruana had successfully eluded police forces around the world for more
than 30 years. "Everybody knows about the family," said Insp. Soave. But
lack of international co-operation and money meant countries'
investigations never got far. Indeed, until he appeared a few years ago in
bankruptcy court in Montreal -- his way of responding to a Revenue Canada
tax evasion investigation -- even Mr. Caruana's photo was hard to come by.

Yesterday, Insp. Soave evaded questions about moles, undercover officers
and big breaks. But the fact is, this Italian immigrant who grew up to
travel the world as a police officer was uniquely groomed to lead Project
Omerta, Mafioso slang for "silence."

Insp. Soave came to Canada from Italy as a 10-year-old and grew up in
Thunder Bay. After joining the RCMP he spent his early years as an
undercover officer in drug enforcement. He went on to a career that
includes a stint as co-ordinator of undercover operations at RCMP
headquarters in Ottawa and almost 15 years as an RCMP liaison officer in
Canadian embassies abroad.

He served in the world's drug hot spots -- South America, southeast Asia
and Italy. He built up his arsenal of languages -- in addition to English
he speaks Spanish, Italian and French. And he picked up valuable contacts.

Insp. Soave, who is married with two children aged 22 and 14, started on
Project Omerta in 1996 after moving to Toronto.

He credits international co-operation for its success, noting that at least
20 police organizations worldwide were involved in one way or another. His
own team consisted of about eight officers reinforced by surveillance teams
that spent two years tracking suspects' every move.

While dozens of international law enforcement officers were involved in the
investigation, Insp. Soave says it was a David and Goliath battle.

"We're (police investigators) a speck of sand in the Sahara desert compared
to their organization, financially and in numbers."

Despite Insp. Soave's eagerness to credit international partners, including
investigators in Italy, Mexico and the United States, old-fashioned
sloppiness by a drug courier gave the Canadians their first big break.

"During the investigation we found one weak link among the workers and we
started to investigate that guy," said RCMP Sgt. Guy Quintal said. The
overly confident courier was caught with a truckload of cocaine after
neglecting to build a concealed compartment in the vehicle used to
transport money and drugs between Canada and the United States.

Insp. Soave said officers will celebrate. "But not tonight -- there's still
a lot of paperwork to get through."

Copyright 1998 The Ottawa Citizen

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski