RENO OPEN TO DALEY'S ANTI-DRUG PLAN

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley pitched to Attorney
General Janet Reno on Thursday the idea of sending special teams of federal
prosecutors to key cities to crack down on money laundering by drug dealers.

Reno was intrigued by the suggestion -- which Daley said he had been
floating unsuccessfully to attorneys general and other anti-drug officials
since 1980 -- and began looking into whether it could be done even as Daley
left their meeting, a senior Justice Department official said.

``She is basically on it,'' said the official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity. ``We're acting now.''

State and local governments can fight street-level drug dealing, but a
large-scale federal effort with more authority and resources is needed to
target higher-level dealers and their ability to turn drug profits into
legitimate assets, Daley told a Justice Department news conference.

``We got the dealers,'' he said. ``But where does the money go? Are there
lawyers, are there bankers, are there business people behind the money
laundering operations?''

Daley envisions a pilot program modeled on the 1960s strike forces
established by then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to combat organized
crime. They answered to Washington instead of local U.S. attorneys,
operating only out of a few cities with major mob presences while working
with local law enforcement and federal agencies.

``If you trail the money you will have an impact on the drug problem,''
Daley said.

To bolster his argument, the mayor cited a recent U.S. Conference of Mayors
survey of 15 jurisdictions that showed state and local agencies prosecute
by far the most drug cases. In the Chicago area, there were about 36,700
drug prosecutions in the state and local courts, compared with 65 in
federal courts.

Only two or three of those 65 federal cases involved money laundering
charges, Daley said.

The Justice Department official said it is difficult to compare local drug
cases to the labor-intensive federal prosecutions.

Department action on Daley's proposal will depend on the congressional
approval needed and how it might affect the department's budget, the
official indicated.