SAN FRANCSICO DECORATORS CONVICTED

NEW YORK (AP) -- Two interior decorators were convicted of laundering
millions of dollars for a Colombian drug lord by buying art and furnishings
for his homes, which included an $18 million replica of the White House.

The defendants, Alexander Blarek and Frank V. Pellecchia, were found guilty
Thursday of money laundering, racketeering conspiracy and transporting drug
proceeds across state lines. They were acquitted of racketeering.

Prosecutors said $30 million in drug money went through the hands of the
two men while they worked for Jose Santacruz Londono, a kingpin of the Cali
cocaine cartel, from 1978 until his death in 1996 in a gunfight with the
Colombian army.

They obtained art, antiques, furniture and appliances for Santacruz's
offices and the homes he shared with his wife and two mistresses. One of
the homes was the Casa Blanca, a replica of the White House that Santacruz
built in Colombia.

Among the purchases was $300,000 worth of tiles for the mansion's swimming
pool, $5,000 for gilded doorknobs, a $100,000 dining room table, a $250,000
entertainment system and $400,000 worth of table settings.

Blarek, 56, and Pellecchia, 49, were arrested in June at their fashionable
San Francisco home on a New York warrant alleging that they picked up cash
from Santacruz employees in New York.

Blarek said he had considered quitting, but Santacruz wouldn't hear of it.
``There's just no way to quit with him. He terminates people, they don't
terminate him,'' Blarek testified during the three-week trial.

But an accountant testified that he wrote checks to the defendants in
exchange for cash.

He and Pellecchia face 11 years in prison each under federal sentencing
guidelines. The government also seeks to seize their $3 million home in San
Francisco and nearly $3 million more in other assets.

Defense lawyer Jason L. Solotaroff said they would appeal. They remained
free on bail but Judge Jack B. Weinstein ordered that they wear electronic
monitors.