FEDS GO AFTER WILDLY SUCCESSFUL MEDICAL POT SELLERS

"They're just a couple of nice kids from Berkeley who wound up being
the victims of their own success."

That's how lawyer and longtime family friend Harold Rosenthal summed
up the case against his clients Winslow and Abraham Norton, the
brothers charged last week with moving an estimated $49 million worth
of pot through their marijuana dispensary just outside Hayward over
the past three years.

And, believe it or not, the brothers paid state and federal taxes on all of it.

What's more, their dispensary had a medical marijuana permit issued
by Alameda County and was regularly visited by sheriff's deputies to
make sure everything was on the up and up.

Although as Sheriff Gregory Ahern told us in a recent interview, most
of the young "patients" who frequented the dispensary on Mission
Boulevard didn't "appear to be suffering from any serious illness."

Nevertheless, state law allows marijuana be sold to anyone who has a
doctor's note, which - if you know the right doctor - takes about 15
minutes and costs about $100.

Winslow Norton, 26, who lives in Lafayette, and 23-year-old Abraham
Norton of Oakland were indicted by the feds on charges of conspiracy
to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana, distribution of
marijuana, maintaining drug-involved premises, conspiracy to launder
money and money laundering.

The feds said the brothers used drug proceeds to purchase luxury
items and properties, including two new Mercedes-Benzes, a new Ford
F-250 truck, three new motorcycles and Winslow's Lafayette home.

The Nortons certainly don't appear to have been hurting for money.
According to the indictment, when the brothers opened their
Compassionate Collective of Alameda County in 2004, they took in $74,000.

In 2005, sales rose to $1.3 million.

In 2006, sales hit $21 million.

And in the first six months of this year, the brothers took in a
whopping $26.3 million.

"They were clearly out of control," said Drug Enforcement
Administration agent Javier Pena.

Still, "as far we know, these guys had been following the rules,"
said Bob Swanson, constituent liaison for Alameda County Supervisor
Nate Miley, whose district includes the club.

At least, the state's rules. The feds don't recognize the right to
sell or use medical marijuana.

"My understanding is that they took salaries, and that the rest of
the money went back into the business," Swanson said. "They paid
their workers well and gave them benefits."

Plus, Swanson says, they were active in the community.

"They turned out for our fall cleanup and brought about 20 people
with them," he said. "They were also big contributors to our Healthy
Living for Seniors Festival."

At the same time, they were buying the cars and other pricey baubles.
The feds have seized those, along with the $1.5 million Lafayette
home and a commercial building in Albany.

"Like a lot of guys their age, they like shiny things," said lawyer Rosenthal.

Indeed, the Norton boys' evolution from teens who worked after school
at the outdoor store REI to operators of one of the biggest medical
marijuana operations in the Bay Area included scenes right out of the
rap videos the brothers so enjoy.

Not all of them pretty.

Two years ago, on Super Bowl Sunday, a team of armed hoods busted
into the dispensary, tied everyone up and robbed the place of about $50,000.

Four months later, a masked gunman fired four shots into a dispensary
worker's car as he pulled into the parking lot. The worker hit the
gas and plowed through a fence to make his getaway.

In July of this year, one of the club's customers was ambushed and
killed at a nearby gas station and his pot taken.

And this past February, the brothers themselves were involved in a
shootout at a Fremont hotel.

"These girls lured them to a party through MySpace," Rosenthal said.
"Six guys showed up heavily armed and the bullets started flying."

Both brothers were wounded, and both have had to undergo repeated operations.

Still, Rosenthal insists, "If they showed up to date your daughter,
you'd say, 'My, what good boys.' If they weren't doing this, they'd
likely be at UC Santa Cruz or Hayward State."

One might think that after all the bullets, the boys from Berkeley
might think it was time to find another line of work.

But Rosenthal said they were "really proud of what they had built.
Plus, everyone - the cops, the county - were all telling them what a
good job they were doing."

They'd even started up individual retirement accounts.

Now they may be looking at a different kind of retirement. The 23
felony counts each brother faces could result in a maximum prison
sentence of 40 years.

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GROWING BUSINESS

According to a federal indictment, these are the year-by-year sales
at Winslow and Abraham Norton's Compassionate Collective, a medical
marijuana dispensary outside Hayward:

2004 $74,000

2005 $1.3 million

2006 $21 million

2007 $26.3 million*

* Sales for first six months of the year.