TRIAL STARTS FOR ALLEGED DRUG KINGPIN

Testimony began Monday in the federal trial of a man accused of
spearheading a drug trafficking ring that pumped more than $1.5 million in
crack cocaine into Shreveport neighborhoods.

Calvin Earl Odom, 38, is charged with conspiracy to distribute and sell
cocaine and money laundering. Odom, of Los Angeles, is the alleged kingpin
of a nine-member drug ring that distributed an estimated $1.5 million worth
of crack and powder cocaine on the streets of Cedar Grove, Caddo Heights,
Highland, Allendale and Lakeside.

Odom is accused of secretly shipping 114 pounds of crack cocaine, a highly
addictive drug, from Los Angeles to Shreveport using private vehicles,
rental cars, aboard commercial buses and in Federal Express packages. The
government contends the bulk of the lucrative profits from the drug sales
was returned to Odom by small transactions - none more than $5,500 at a
time - sent by Western Union wire transfers.

"This case is about cocaine and cash - lots of cocaine sent to Shreveport
and lots of drug cash returned to him in Los Angeles," said prosecuting
assistant U.S. Attorney Alec Van Hook, who told jurors Odom masterminded a
two-function conspiracy.

During opening arguments in U.S. District Court in Shreveport, Van Hook
told jurors the government would call many witnesses against Odom who were
originally charged or convicted as co-conspirators but would testify in
return for leniency on their sentences or fines. The trial before federal
Judge Don Walter is expected to take about five days.

And that's where Odom's attorney, Roger Rosen of Los Angeles, based his
client's defense. He named the nine other defendants indicted with Odom by
a federal grand jury in June 2000.

"Each and everyone of these people were charged in this case and each and
everyone of them are now government witnesses," he said. "The essence of
the government's case - almost the entirety of the government's case - is
built on words that spew forth from these peoples' mouths."

If convicted, Odom faces a possible life sentence and hefty fines.

Officials with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration say Shreveport's
a prime location for drug trafficking from Los Angeles because some local
residents moved to California after the economy soured here in the 1980s.
In California, they got involved in crime and maintained those criminal
contacts in the larger city after moving back to Shreveport.

The first witness called to the stand Monday was Vanessa Watkins, 34,
currently an inmate at Caddo Correctional Center. She had a 15-year
relationship and two children with Odom, and told jurors Odom made her
deliver crack cocaine and transport money - at one time $20,000 stuffed
into a girdle she was wearing - back and forth from Shreveport to California.

She said Odom was abusive, which made her "reluctant to ask him questions
when he told me to do something."

Odom would make crack, she said, and ship it in detergent boxes that he
would reseal with Crazy Glue.