DRUG MONEY POURED IN, BUT NOBODY'S SAYING WHO GOT IT

In opening a new route from Chicago to McCreary County, David Perkins and
company were following a national trend, said David Jacobson, a Drug
Enforcement Administration spokesman.

Drug dealers in major metropolitan areas know that, to be successful in
business, "you have to find new markets and new customers, and then you
have to develop customer loyalty. And, in that respect, drug groups work
exactly the same as Fortune 500 companies."

For a lot of narcotics organizations, that translates into a move toward
rural America, Jacobson said.

A cocaine dealer in a big market such as Detroit or Chicago can buy an
ounce for $750 or $800 and sell it for a much higher price in Kentucky, he
said.

Perkins said he learned only at the very end of his career that he was
paying a substantial markup.

According to court records, one of his drivers said Perkins was getting 10
ounces to 11/4 kilograms of cocaine once a week from March 2000 to
mid-2001. At that point, the informant said, that level jumped to about
11/2 kilograms every three days in an arrangement that lasted until August
2002.

Those purchases would have brought in at least 200 kilograms, $9 million
worth of cocaine, if sold by the ounce to a street-level dealer in McCreary.

The profit would be substantially less. An informant told the DEA that
Perkins was paying between $1,000 and $1,200 an ounce, while others said he
was selling for $1,300 an ounce.

No one has a good explanation for where all the money went.

Perkins and Valentin both said they were broke; each said it was the other
man who raked in the cash.

Perkins' ex-wife, Daisy, said he always seemed to have plenty of money, but
never discussed how much. She said she saw him with $8,000 once, but never
more than that.