DEA CALLS ALLEGED ALBUQUERQUE DRUG LORD 'SMART'

Anthony Joseph Pacheco made a rare miscalculation in late 1989 when federal
agents nabbed him at the Albuquerque International Sunport with a kilo of
cocaine.

The Albuquerque man wouldn't make too many more miscalculations like that,
at least none that would send him back to federal prison.

Not until this week.

And not, Drug Enforcement Agency officials say, before he built up a
massive, complex, multimillion dollar drug ring that reached from Mexico to
the East Coast, with its main distribution center in Albuquerque.

Pacheco, 49, was one of more than 30 people indicted Tuesday in connection
with the importing of more than 10,000 pounds of marijuana and 40 kilograms
of cocaine, repackaging and routing the drugs from a handful of locations
across the city for further distribution across the nation.

"Pacheco was the kingpin, the president and CEO of this setup," said
Special Agent Finn Selander, public information officer for DEA operations
in Albuquerque. "Pacheco eventually set up his operation primarily in
Virginia, but the warehouse was definitely still in Albuquerque."

A 168-page indictment filed in Virginia says the drugs were ferried from
Albuquerque to southeastern Virginia and other locations in vehicles
carrying women and children and bearing "pro-family" bumper stickers.

Drugs were also often repackaged and sent by Federal Express or UPS, the
indictment alleges.

The ring often moved the more than $2.4 million in drug proceeds in
packages containing Etch-A-Sketches, games and puzzles, the indictment alleges.

"They were very smart about it," Selander said.

The operation hummed along from at least 1996, the indictment states. But
Selander said the groundwork for the well-tooled drug ring may have been
laid as soon as Pacheco was released from federal prison in May 1994 from
the previous drug charge.

And Albuquerque, he said, was where it all began.

Pacheco hid his illicit operations under the guise of fictitious companies,
one called Array Consulting, he said. Offices for the phony firm were
located on 12th Street Northwest and next to a food warehouse at 3342
Princeton Drive N.E., he said.

Other sham businesses, including a bogus tailor business in Norfolk, Va.,
plus a variety of insurance fraud schemes, helped Pacheco keep his ring
awash in a steady flow of laundered money, he said.

"He was doing lots of things," Selander said. "He had his finger in a lot
of things. He made it appear he had a legitimate income.

Pacheco owned two homes in Albuquerque, records indicate. Both were likely
used as "safe houses" where bulk loads of drugs from Mexico were broken
down and packaged into more convenient sizes for easier shipment, he said.

One of his homes was located on Apollo Court near Coors and Monta?o
boulevards Northwest.

The other was a large two-story, two-car garage townhome at 5516 Overlook
Drive N.E. in the swanky Academy area of the Far Northeast Heights, less
than a block away from Eisenhower Middle School.

Next door at 5512 Overlook was the home of Sean and Melissa Vick, two of
seven people accused of being drug couriers based in Albuquerque.

"They had these nice little townhouses right next to each other in a nice
neighborhood, and kept under the radar for an amazingly long time,"
Selander said. "Melissa Vick even listed her place of work as Array
Consulting and Pacheco as her boss."

Friday night, the two homes sat dark and quiet, except for two men loading
a moving van with a few last things from one of the homes.

Residents had little to say about their mysterious neighbors. They were
quiet and unobtrusive, with no children, one neighbor said.

"They had their money tucked away, and you probably wouldn't notice
anything much out of the ordinary," Selander said. "They had very nice
houses, but nothing out of the ordinary. All the money they made was
brought back to Albuquerque, laundered and spent as payment for more drugs.

"It was a good living," he said. "It was a nice living."

Little is known of Pacheco's personal life in Albuquerque. He left behind
an ex-wife, a grown daughter and a father when, federal agents say, he
moved the heart of his drug operations and his home base to Staunton, Va.

He was arrested in Staunton on Tuesday.

Federal officials in Virginia have said the dismantling of the drug ring
will make a significant impact both on the supply side in New Mexico and
the demand side in Virginia.

"But this wasn't a unique drug operation," Selander said. "They were smart,
and it was a big operation, but the thing that makes this unique is how
long so many people stayed under the radar."

It might have stayed that way, too, were it not for the unprecedented
cooperation between agents of the DEA, FBI, U.S. Customs, local and state
agencies from both New Mexico and Virginia, Selander said.

"Everybody really shared information," he said. "Everyone was singing from
the same sheet. That's rare."