ANATOMY OF A DRUG BUST

RAPID CITY -- The serenity of the tree-lined neighborhood was interrupted
on an early March morning when a half-dozen black sport-utility vehicles
with blacked-out windows converged on a white frame home.

About a dozen federal agents burst into the home and arrested two brothers,
Mexican nationals suspected of masterminding a nationwide drug-distribution
ring. Agents also took an underaged illegal alien into custody. She was
deported.

This may sound like a scene from the TV series "Miami Vice," but it
actually occurred in a sedate West Boulevard residential area near downtown
Rapid City.

"You don't see that kind of activity around here," said Sonia Weiss, who
lives with her husband across the alley from the South Street home where
the arrests took place March 9.

"When you look out your window and see that many vehicles, you know it's
something incongruous to the neighborhood. You expect to see something like
that in Denver," she said.

Agents arrested alleged drug kingpin Mario Oregon-Cortez, 39, of Rapid
City, and his brother, Ascencion Oregon-Cortez, 32, of Chula Vista, Calif.
The raids also netted about five pounds of cocaine and $10,000 cash,
according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The men were among 29 people in four states arrested almost simultaneously
based on federal indictments handed down Feb. 28 by grand juries in Denver
and Minneapolis. The investigation began in May 2000.

The defendants face up to 30 federal drug charges. They also are charged
with operating a continuing criminal enterprise under a law known as the
drug-kingpin law.

Two days later, agents arrested Patty Ward-Mestaz, 47, also of Rapid City.
According to documents, Oregon-Cortez distributed large amounts of cocaine
to several people, including Ward-Mestaz, on area Indian reservations and
in Rapid City.

As of April 16, four others indicted in the case remained at large. None is
from Rapid City.

If convicted, Oregon-Cortez faces 20 years to life in prison and a $4
million fine. Ward-Mestaz faces 10 years to life in prison and a $1 million
fine. Conviction on the drug-kingpin law means forfeiture of all property.

Mario and Ascension Oregon-Cortez and Ward-Mestaz pleaded not guilty and
were returned to Denver to face charges.

A Growing Market

How did the alleged head of a major drug-distribution organization happen
to come to Rapid City?

"No community is immune to the drug trade," Kevin Thom of the South Dakota
Attorney General's office in Pierre said. "They need people to do business."

A growing methamphetamine and cocaine problem on area reservations also
brings attention from drug dealers.

"Unfortunately, there is a demand (for narcotics)," FBI special agent Mark
Vukelich of Rapid City said.

Another FBI investigator described Denver as the "epicenter" of Mario
Oregon-Cortez' alleged distribution network, which had ties to the
notorious Felix-Arellano drug gang known as the Tijuana Cartel.

The network shipped drugs to Detroit and Atlanta and throughout the
Midwest, to Minneapolis and Lincoln, Neb., and to small cities such as
Rapid City and Ledbetter, Ky.

According to court documents, the network each month imported 30 kilograms
of cocaine, 30 pounds of methamphetamine and 200 pounds of marijuana.

The dealers transported the drugs in hidden compartments built into the
floors of Lincoln Town Cars, according to documents.

Drugs not sold in Denver were repacked for distribution elsewhere, also in
the Lincolns.

Law enforcement agents had been watching Mario Oregon-Cortez in Denver for
months before he moved to Rapid City last November.

Records show Mario Oregon-Cortez, also known under a slew of false names,
had been deported twice for illegal drug activities.

Agents said Oregon-Cortez often suspected that his operation was under
surveillance. The affidavit detailed a phone call made in Denver in which
he referred to the number of "roaches" in one of his houses. "You lift a
plate, and (they're) there," he said.

Agents believe the word "roach" referred to electronic listening devices.

Setting Up Shop

Once in Rapid City, Oregon-Cortez obtained a driver's license using one of
his aliases and rented a home in the 800 block of Dilger Avenue. Another
home on Doolittle Street in north Rapid City served as a "stash house,"
used to store drugs and cash, according to documents. The affidavit stated
that Oregon-Cortez traveled to Denver every week to collect drugs and
deliver money.

Agents watching the Dilger Avenue home noticed it soon drew a lot of visitors.

"It doesn't take long after someone opens the store," said Pat West of
Rapid City, special agent for the South Dakota Division of Criminal
Investigation. Often before visits, investigators saw individuals take a
shovel to the side of the residence where they believed money and drugs
were buried.

A search of trash from the house also revealed wrappers covered with
grease, a standard wrapping for kilos of methamphetamine. Drugs were
repackaged in smaller amounts for sale or distribution elsewhere.

Building a Case

In January, a local informant made contact with Mario Oregon-Cortez and
arranged to buy drugs. Just before the arrests, Oregon-Cortez recruited the
informant to make drug deliveries to Chicago.

In late February, the informant told investigators that Oregon-Cortez was
packing to move from the Dilger Avenue house. Oregon-Cortez told the
informant that the address had been "burned" after a landlord had begun
asking questions about the number of visitors.

In the last week of February, Oregon-Cortez and a girlfriend moved into a
rental house in the 1000 block of South Street.

Weiss and her husband noticed nothing unusual in their new neighbors.

"They waved at us a few times and actually seemed quite friendly," she said.

On March 6, agents saw Oregon-Cortez' white Nissan pickup driving away from
an Aurora, Colo., stash house with a washer and dryer. Ascension
Oregon-Cortez was with his brother. Investigators believed a large shipment
of drugs had arrived in Denver and that a majority of that shipment was
brought to Rapid City. FBI investigator Dan Cooper said hauling a load in
the pickup, also equipped with hidden compartments, was a standard ploy.

"He often went for the Fred Sanford look," Cooper said. "That way, he
believed nobody would bother him."

Investigators saw the washer and dryer, along with other small appliances,
unloaded at the Doolittle Street stash house.

Closing In

Agents obtained search warrants and timed raids on the Rapid City addresses
to coincide with similar arrests in California, Colorado and Minnesota.

The raids were to occur at 7 a.m. local time March 9.

West said agents prefer to launch such raids in the pre-dawn darkness, when
nearby streets and sidewalks are unoccupied and suspects are less prepared
to offer resistance. "Safety is always an issue," he said. "But when the
big boss says we go, we go."

Records indicated that Mario Oregon-Cortez had a history of violent
behavior and had access to weapons, but West said the arrests went off
without incident. "It went very quickly. We always make sure we have enough
resources (people) to get the job done," he said.

"You have good intelligence, but you never really know what to expect."

Government vehicles were parked nose-to-bumper, closing the alley and
blocking the Weiss driveway. Weiss said her husband had come home for a cup
of coffee. His car was trapped when government vehicles blocked the alley.
"He knew he wasn't going to go anywhere for a while," she said. Within an
hour, only one vehicle remained.

Cooperation Key

Cooperation among agents and agencies was key to the success of the
investigation, according to Mark Vukelich, FBI special agent in Rapid City.

He said tribal police officers from the Rosebud and Pine Ridge Indian
reservations participated in the investigation along with the Unified
Narcotics Enforcement team, Northern Plains Safe Trails Task Force, FBI and
Drug Enforcement Administration.

The Front Range Drug Task Force in Colorado also participated in the
Denver-area investigation.

"The cooperation (among law enforcement agencies) has been the best that
I've seen in my career," Vukelich said. "Everyone always thinks that
government agencies can't work together, but everyone came to the table to
solve a problem."

Michelle Tapken of Sioux Falls, U.S. attorney for the District of South
Dakota, said the arrests "demonstrate the aggressive efforts of the United
States Department of Justice to dismantle major drug-trafficking organizations.

"It is also a reminder that the tentacles of such an organization can
extend all the way from Mexico to South Dakota, encompassing both urban and
rural areas," she said.

The arrests put a significant dent in the flow of illicit drugs into
western South Dakota, Vukelich said.

"This was not the only source by any means," he said. "To say we stopped it
would not be accurate."

Still, agents take their successes where they can find them.

"Anytime you can disrupt a major organization bringing narcotics into the
area, it's a victory," Thom said.