DOZENS HELD IN CRACKDOWN ON DRUG RING

Narcotics: Charges are announced against 82 alleged suppliers and dealers.
Many are apprehended in dawn raids across Southern California and in St.
Louis.

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI, Times Staff Writer  

Federal and local law enforcement authorities Tuesday announced charges
against 82 people in a wideranging crackdown on a ring of Los Angelesarea
drug traffickers who allegedly distributed heroin, crack cocaine, cocaine
and methamphetamines across Southern California and the nation.

"They were able to operate with impunity because they fell into that middle
level, where they were below the radar screen of foreign suppliers and
above streetlevel dealers," said U.S. Atty. Nora Manella.

Dozens of the suppliers and dealers were arrested Tuesday in dawn raids on
homes across Southern California and in St. Louis, an important hub for the
network. Manella said the crackdown, dubbed "Operation Desert Stop," may
represent the largest number of suspects charged in a single drug
prosecution in Southern California history.

The multiagency investigation, overseen by a joint federal and local law
enforcement task force created in 1992, began 18 months ago when an LAPD
antigang unit in SouthCentral Los Angeles received a tip that led
authorities to Michel Withers, 40, of Chino Hills, who is believed to be at
the center of the network.

For the most part, authorities said, these were men and women who operated
like successful businesspeople with small or no criminal records. They were
able to keep their hands clean of the violence on the streets by funneling
narcotics through South Los Angeles gangs, officials said.

"It's a microcosm of the drug problem," said Timothy McNally, assistant
director in charge of the Los Angeles bureau of the FBI.

Although the original supplies principally came from Mexico, the
investigation focused largely on the people who moved and mixed the
narcotics within the United States. The first level, authorities allege,
was controlled by Herlindo Ocon Vaca, 40, of Maywood, and Antonia Montes
Gutierrez, 52, of Downey.

Those two, operating independently, collected chemicals used to make
methamphetamine and passed the supplies up a ladder of middlemen with
nicknames such as "Spuds" and "Tasty" until they reached Withers.

Indictments unsealed Tuesday portray Withers' operation as a sort of
clearinghouse for the narcotics. He allegedly worked with a number of
associates who lined up buyers in Louisville, Ky., and St. Louis. He would
meet the couriers in sometimes unlikely locales such as the MGM Grand in
Las Vegas. The couriers, sometimes using cars with hidden compartments,
other times using Federal Express, sent the drugs across the country, the
indictments allege.

Authorities say Withers and his associates tapped into a lucrative venture.
Withers could buy an ounce of heroin for $800 and sell it for $2,000, they
alleged.

Sixteen suspects have been prosecuted in Los Angeles, but on Tuesday the
number of accused swelled to 82.

Withers surrendered Tuesday evening, authorities said. "Withers has been
out there for a decade," said Robert E. Bender, special agent in charge of
the Los Angeles office of the Drug Enforcement Administration. "It is time
for him to go to prison."

Although the operation focused on arresting people rather than seizing
narcotics and assets, authorities did confiscate small amounts of cocaine,
crack cocaine and marijuana, as well as guns and $477,000 in cash,
officials said.