yomamafool -
didnt conan go to prison for selling drugs?
"Drug agents arrest 15 people suspected of trafficking Ecstasy
BY JUSTIN WILLETT AND LARRY LEBOWITZ
jwillett@herald.com
SUSPECTED TRAFFICKERS BUSTED: DEA agents busted a ring of suspected drug traffickers Friday. More than 70,000 tablets of the party drug Ecstasy and $500,000 in assets were seized. Marcus 'Conan' Silveira, who participated in amateur fighting competitions, was arrested. NURI VALLBONA/HERALD STAFF
Federal agents on Friday arrested 15 people who they said were members of a smuggling ring that imported one million pills of the party drug Ecstasy into Miami from Spain between Nov. 2000 and July 2001.
The defendants, who include a Brazilian amateur fighter, a bail bondsman and a man who was expecting to finalize his U.S. citizenship when he was arrested Friday, were among 19 named in a federal indictment that was unsealed Friday. Authorities expect two more defendants to surrender. Two remain at large.
Joe Kilmer, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent, said the Miami Beach-based smuggling ring was a major supplier of Ecstasy, a pyschoactive drug with stimulant and hallucinogenic qualities that is known for making people feel warm and friendly.
''The agents feel like they identified an extremely close-knit and well-run organization,'' Kilmer said. ``To move one million pills is a lot. To move one million pills two years ago in less than a year is major.''
The case, dubbed Operation Spanish Fly, began in May 2001 when U.S. marshals arrested Eduardo Triana, 31, in Kendall for allegedly failing to appear in a 1998 DEA cocaine case out of Tampa and found 4,000 tablets of Ecstasy. Triana is serving 6 ½ years in prison.
Two months later, the marshals picked up another DEA fugitive and codefendant in the Tampa cocaine case, Edward J. Diaz, 33, at a Miami Beach condominium.
At Diaz's condo, which turned out to be the hub of the Ecstasy ring, agents discovered ''quite detailed'' ledgers that laid out the Ecstasy courier and distribution network, Kilmer said.
Diaz pleaded guilty June 13 but has not been sentenced.
DEA got help identifying the travel records of couriers identified in the ledgers from the old U.S. Customs Service.
The suspects, who are of Spanish, Brazilian and Cuban extraction, picked up the pills in Madrid, then smuggled them into the country using custom-made Neoprene body wraps secured to their ankles, thighs or torsos.
All of the people named in the indictment are charged with conspiracy to import Ecstasy, possession with intent to distribute Ecstasy and money laundering. They could each face up to 20 years in prison. All are from Miami-Dade or Broward County.
Among those arrested was Marcus Silveira, also known as ''Conan,'' a six-foot three-inch, 242-pound amateur fighting participant. His Brazilian ju-jitsu style has earned him a record of 5-4-0, according to Sherdog.com, a Website that tracks mixed martial arts fighters.
Another defendant, Larry Hector Jimenez, was duped into coming to DEA headquarters by immigration officials, who told him he needed to sign papers finalizing his citizenship application. Instead of a naturalization ceremony, Jimenez was handcuffed.
All of the defendants will make appearances Monday in front of a federal magistrate.
The other defendants include: Miami bail bondsman Sandro Deandrade, plus Jose Garcia, Jorge Ramos, Joseph Diaz, Eugenio Jimenez, Carlos Cardenas, Filiberto Casanova, Rovaldo Calero, Marcelo Da Silveira, Angel Gonzalez, Juan Alberto Morales, Luis Torres Correa, Alejandro Morilla, Orlando Imbert Marrero, Seriocha Arroyo Roman, Beatriz Marrero and Rosa Lasserre Sanchez."
