LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES SHARE SEIZED $2.2 MILLION

RENO -- Thirteen years after federal officials cracked what was called the
largest marijuana smuggling operation in the West, local law enforcement
agencies got a share of the latest assets seized from ringleaders.

Nevada U.S. Attorney Dan Bogden on Friday presented nine state and local
law enforcement agencies, including six from California and Nevada -- the
Nevada Division of Investigations and agencies in the northern part of the
state -- with checks totaling $2.2 million. Agencies from Hawaii, Texas and
Colorado also received assets.

The money comes from the forfeiture of a self-storage business and a
residence in Hawaii owned by Brian Degen, a former cohort of convicted
kingpin Ciro Mancuso of Squaw Valley, Calif.

"They grew rich selling their kilos of marijuana, and they invested their
assets in properties, cars and accounts," Bogden said. "These agencies were
able to round up those figures ... and dismantle this marijuana operation."

Authorities said the smuggling ring took root in the early 1970s and grew
over 20 years into an international organization operating primarily
between Southeast Asia and the West Coast.

It eventually spanned seven states, 14 countries and involved more than 100
people who distributed more than 132,000 pounds of marijuana in the United
States.

Assets totaling $8.2 million have been seized, with about half the proceeds
going to local and state agencies that assisted in the case, Bogden said.

More are being sought.

Mancuso and Degen were among 17 top operators indicted in October 1989 by a
federal grand jury in Reno on multiple charges of drug trafficking and
racketeering .

Mancuso pleaded guilty a year later to one count of operating a continuing
criminal enterprise and began cooperating with federal agents.

The wealthy Squaw Valley developer also was the government's star witness
against his former defense lawyer, Patrick Hallinan, who was charged by
federal prosecutors with racketeering on allegations that he assisted the
$250 million international drug ring.

Hallinan, the brother of San Francisco District Attorney Terrence Hallinan,
was acquitted by a federal court jury in Reno in 1995.

Mancuso was sentenced in 1995 to nine years in prison. He was released
March 31, 2000, according to Bureau of Prisons records.

Degen remains a fugitive and is believed to be living in Switzerland.