.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) Undercover operations aimed at Mexican drug runners
resulted in 89 arrests in nine U.S. cities and the seizure of tons of cocaine
and marijuana and millions in cash. The probes disclosed major new inroads by
the Mexicans into the New York City market, officials said Monday.

The combined haul of two separate operations begun last fall: 11.4 tons of
cocaine, 6.4 tons of marijuana and $18.5 million in cash. At least 28 people
were arrested Monday alone.

``This is a tremendous conspiracy that reached all the way from Juarez,
Mexico, to New York City and Westchester County,'' in the New York suburbs,
said Thomas A. Constantine, administrator of the Drug Enforcement
Administration.

``This was brandnew to us,'' Constantine said. ``For the first time, we saw
the organized crime syndicates from Mexico actually bringing their own
cocaine into the New York City area and selling it.''

``These operations dramatically demonstrate that Mexican drug traffickers are
displacing at least some of the Colombian cocaine organizations which have
traditionally dominated the New York City market,'' he said.

He estimated that Mexican drug bosses now account for 30 percent to 35
percent of the cocaine distributed in the United States.

Law enforcement officials said the drug traffickers were associates of Amado
Carrillo Fuentes, who until his death last month was considered Mexico's most
powerful druglord.

A law enforcement official said the arrests included several nonMexican
truck drivers from Battle Creek, Mich., who allegedly hauled narcotics from
Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, in 18wheeler trucks and brought back
millions of dollars in cash.

The operation included the use of warehouses in the New York suburbs of New
Rochelle and Pelham, said the official.

Winding up that operation, dubbed ``Reciprocity,'' a joint task force
composed of agents from the DEA, FBI and the U.S. Customs Service arrested 25
people Monday in New York, Battle Creek, El Paso and Albuquerque, N.M.

During the course of the investigation, an additional 13 people were
arrested, including alleged drug runners in Tucson, Ariz., and Los Angeles.

The totals for Operation Reciprocity are 7.4 tons of cocaine, $11 million in
cash, 2,700 pounds of marijuana and 41 arrests. Twenty eight of those arrests
were made on Monday.

The official said those arrested include two alleged leaders of the Mexican
drug distribution operation in the New York City area. One of them, Martin
Manzo, was arrested Monday. The other, Alejandro Ortiz, was arrested earlier.

A second drug investigation, Operation Limelight, focused on a third cell of
drug racketeers also linked to Carrillo, the late Mexican drug boss. The
investigation opened last September and concentrated on the Chicago area, the
official said. He said it resulted in the seizure of 4 tons of cocaine,
10,000 pounds of marijuana, $7.4 million in cash and 48 arrests.

Operation Reciprocity began last Oct. 30 with the seizure of $2 million in
cash from a secret compartment in a van that had been stopped by a Texas
state trooper in McAllen, Texas, a town at the Mexican border.

Officials said it was learned that the van was registered to Ortiz at an
address in the New York City area.

Investigators concluded the van and its hidden cash were headed into
Mexico.

In a second event, a state and local police task force in Tucson, responding
to an anonymous call, seized 5.3 tons of cocaine at a local warehouse. Three
El Paso residents were arrested.

``The investigation showed that 6,000 kilos of cocaine had already left the
warehouse and had been delivered into the New York City area,'' the U.S. law
enforcement official said. ``That was done by truckers based out of Battle
Creek, Mich. They delivered on orders and payment from the Juarezbased drug
cell.''

The agents traced the deliveries to the New Rochelle and Pelham warehouses
and determined they were controlled by Ortiz and Manzo, the official said.

Officials said arrests have been made in the following cities since the two
operations began last fall: New York; Battle Creek; El Paso and Tyler, Texas;
Albuquerque; Jersey City; San Diego; Chicago and Rockford, Ill.

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