NYC JUDGE'S LIKENESS FEATURED ON HEROIN PACKETS

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York City judge has a dubious new honor.

Drug dealers have decorated thousands of $10 bags of heroin with the
likeness of State Supreme Court Judge Leslie Crocker Snyder, known for
meting out tough sentences to members of murderous drug gangs, officials
said on Monday.

Imprinted on glassine envelopes containing a type of heroin nicknamed ``25
to Life'' is a masked man clad in prison garb, standing before a robed
judge with flowing blond hair.

The heroin bags with Snyder's likeness first turned up two months ago in a
raid by federal drug agents.

Snyder, who has presided over dozens of drug gang-related trials since
1985, said she was ``stunned.''

``I guess it's good to make an impression on criminals, one way or another,
even though this is not the way I would have chosen,'' Snyder said on
Monday during a recess in a trial involving an alleged heroin gang called
Champion Crew.

The package illustration even shows her in a characteristic pose, leaning
her head on her hand while listening to testimony, a glass of water next to
her.

Snyder has presided over major cases involving the Colombian Cali cartel
and the Wild Cowboys gang. In the Wild Cowboys case, nine gang members were
convicted of running a multi-million dollar cocaine operation and several
murders.

Threats against Snyder's life are not uncommon, her clerk said, and she has
had full-time security since 1994. Anyone entering Snyder's courtroom is
inspected by armed officers, even after passing through a courthouse metal
detector.

Robert Silbering, a former state special narcotics prosecutor, said drug
dealers commonly give names to different types of heroin but that this is
the first time he recalls them using a judge's likeness to help market
their goods.

^REUTERS@

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski