DRUG FIGURE 'STRETCHED THE BRICK,' TRIAL TOLD

When arsonists torched his family's house - killing his mom, a cousin
and four children - in an attempt to silence Eugene "Twin" Coleman,
some doubted he would testify against accused drug trafficker Kaboni Savage.

But Coleman, 35, quietly slipped into Savage's ongoing federal drug
trial and testified recently that the defendant was "like a brother"
who showed him how to dilute and recompress cocaine.

"Kaboni taught me how to do it," testified Coleman, who worked with
Savage in the drug business since 1996. "That was a secret amongst
us: He would stretch the brick."

Calling himself a "presser," Coleman demonstrated how he recompressed
at least 100 kilos of cocaine between 1999 and 2003 using the metal
plates and molds seized during an investigation of the
multimillion-dollar drug operation.

Savage and the late Gerald Thomas, for whom Coleman also
recompressed, sold the diluted cocaine to unsuspecting mid-level drug
dealers at prices ranging from $22,000 to $30,000 a kilo, said
Coleman, who was questioned by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Ehlers.

Savage, 30, is on trial with Steven "Smoke" Northington, James
"Candy" Russell, Derek "Fly" Russell and realty agent Melvin Stein.

Charges include drug and weapons violations, intimidation of
witnesses and money laundering.

U.S. District Judge Mary McLaughlin instructed the lawyers to make
sure their witnesses did not mention the six arson-murders, which are
not charged in the trial.

No one has been charged with the murders, although Savage is a
suspect, police sources said.

Coleman's mother, Marcella; his 15-month-old son, Damir Jenkins; his
cousin Tameka Nash, 33; Nash's daughter, Khadijiah, 10, and his
nephews, Sean Anthony Rodrigeuz, 15, and Tajh Porchea, 12, were
killed in the 20-minute inferno on Oct. 9.

Facing up to life imprisonment on federal drug offenses and less time
for a third-degree murder, Coleman began cooperating 10 months before
his family was slain in hopes of getting reduced sentences.

Savage and others tried repeatedly to find out if Coleman was working
with the feds, according to earlier testimony and FBI taped
conversations in jail cells.

As boss, Savage was like a magnet for drug dealers, who showered him
with gifts of $1,500 to $3,000, when he was released from prison in
2000 on an unrelated charge, Coleman testified.

"He knew who looked out for him, and he would look out for them."

Savage's mother and sister, who lived on Darien Street near Erie
Avenue, earlier denied he had been in the drug business.

But Coleman testified that Savage had sold cocaine out of his
mother's house and cooked cocaine into crack in her kitchen.

At one time, Savage had amassed $300,000 in drug proceeds, which he
kept at Darien Street, Coleman testified.

Drug dealers met Savage at Darien Street and conducted drug-related
activities in the basement, where they played with a .44 caliber
handgun, he said. Co-defendant Northington slept in the basement on
an air mattress.

In a sneering, sarcastic tone, Savage's attorney, Christopher Warren,
grilled Coleman about the murder in April 2003 of drug dealer Tyrone
Toliver and about his Sept. 10, 1999, drug arrest in Maple Shade, N.J.

Under cross-examination, Coleman admitted having blamed others within
hours of being arrested for both crimes.

"You wanted Kaboni Savage to take responsibility for that stuff in
your apartment," Warren charged.

Coleman earlier testified that Savage lived in the Maple Shade
apartment only a couple of weeks before authorities arrested them and
found the recompression equipment.

Two days earlier, he added, they had recompressed 21 kilos of cocaine.

In a series of questions about the Toliver murder, Warren suggested
that Coleman blamed the murder on his partner and friend, Kareem
"Bree" Bluntly.

But Coleman testified that he had been stunned when Bluntly fatally
shot Toliver in the back of the head, then asked for help to dispose
of the body.

Spared from Coleman's testimony was co-defendant James "Candy"
Walker, whose attorney, Ste-ven Patrizio, successfully argued that it
be dismissed because Coleman had not identified "Candy" before trial.