FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CRM

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1997 (202) 616-2771

TDD (202) 514-1888

METHAMPHETAMINE AND COCAINE RINGS

DISRUPTED IN OPERATION META

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In a unique collaborative law

enforcement effort, federal, state and local authorities have
arrested 57 persons involved in the manufacturing and
distribution of methamphetamine and cocaine. The arrests, which
began in the early morning hours of December 4, 1997 and ended
late last night, were made as part of Operation Meta, an
Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) and
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) operation,
designed to take down multiple organizations dealing in
methamphetamine and cocaine on a national scale. Charges have
been filed in Los Angeles, California; Dallas, Texas; and
Greensboro, North Carolina.

"Operation Meta, which began this May and has now resulted in
a grand total of 100 arrests, is just the latest step in implementing
the National Methamphetamine Strategy we announced in April
of 1996," said Attorney General Janet Reno at a press conference
in Washington.

Among those arrested were Rafael Anguiano-Chavez, the key

Mexican trafficker who heads the Los Angeles-based Anguiano
organization, Carlos Javier-Martinez, who runs the day-to-day
operations of the Anguiano organization, and Daniel Virgen who
heads a Dallas-based wholesale drug distribution organization. In
North Carolina, individuals involved in the wholesale and retain
distribution of cocaine were also arrested.

"These arrests are the result of an unprecedented effort to shut

down methamphetamine labs and disrupt the meth trade," said
Attorney General Janet Reno. "We are sending a clear message to
the meth merchants. We will find you, we will charge you, and
we will shut you down." Reno noted that the operation's success
highlighted the importance of cooperation and information
sharing by law enforcement, activities that were encouraged by
the Administration's National Methamphetamine Strategy
released in April of 1996.

Last year, President Clinton signed the Methamphetamine Control

Act, strengthening criminal penalties for methamphetamine
trafficking and establishing new controls over precursor
chemicals.

During the enforcement action in Los Angeles yesterday

morning, a methamphetamine laboratory located across the street
from a daycare center and close to two schools was dismantled.
Fifteen gallons of methamphetamine was cooking when officers
arrived at the lab.

According to a federal criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles,

the Los Angeles-based Anguiano organization was responsible
for the importation from Mexico of the chemicals needed to
manufacture methamphetamine, the actual manufacture of the
methamphetamine in locations in the greater Los Angeles area,
and the distribution of the final product to wholesale
methamphetamine customers across the U.S.

Virgen's Dallas-based, poly-drug organization obtained

methamphetamine from the Anguiano organization and used the
methamphetamine as payment to obtain cocaine from a separate
Dallas-based cocaine organization. Operation Meta's reach
continued down the distribution chain to reach the mid and lower
level retail cocaine distribution networks based in North Carolina
that obtained their cocaine from the Dallas cocaine organization.

Since the inception of Operation Meta in May of 1997, more than

80 persons have been charged with offenses relating to the
manufacture of methamphetamine and the distribution of
methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana. 133 pounds of
methamphetamine, 90 gallons of methamphetamine solution,
1100 kilograms of cocaine, and 1300 pounds of marijuana have
been seized as part of the operation. In addition, the investigation
has netted $2 million in U.S. currency and several firearms.

Among Operation Meta's most notable efforts were the

dismantling of three clandestine methamphetamine laboratories
and the seizure of chemical solutions capable of producing more
than 500 pounds of methamphetamine.

According to the Justice Department, the Anguiano organization

obtained at least some of the chemicals necessary to the
production of methamphetamine from the Mexico based
Amezcua-Contreras organization. Once the chemicals were
imported into the U.S. in Southern California they were
transported to clandestine laboratory locations in the greater Los
Angeles area where various members of the Anguiano
organization participated in the actual methamphetamine "cooks."

During the course of the operation, law enforcement officials in

California raided three of the organization's clandestine
laboratories, including one located twenty feet from a public
equestrian center and another located across the street from a
child care center.

During the course of the raids, investigators discovered that the

Anguiano organization is utilizing an innovative method to
disguise the strong chemical odor produced during the
methamphetamine "cook" process. Justice Department officials
declined to discuss the method, which could be used by other
methamphetamine manufacturers to avoid detection.

Once "cooked" the methamphetamine was hidden in vehicle

compartments and transported to the Anguiano organization's
wholesale customers. Vehicles were also used to transport drug
money back to Mexico.

Attorney General Reno said the coordination and support

provided by the Criminal Division's Narcotic and Dangerous
Drug Section and Office of Enforcement Operations, and the
Special Operations Division -- the Drug Enforcement
Administration's, United States Customs Service's and the Federal
Bureau of Investigation's combined investigative coordination
center for major narcotics investigations -- were critical to the
enforcement actions taken in this case.

Reno noted the invaluable and essential cooperation and

coordination with over 35 state and local police agencies, the
Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, U.S. Customs Service,
Immigration and Naturalization Services, Border Patrol, and the
Internal Revenue Service across the country. In addition, Reno
praised the federal prosecutors in the field who worked with these
federal, state and local investigators: the U.S. Attorneys offices in
the Central District of California, the Middle District of North
Carolina and the Northern District of Texas.

"The operation was dangerous, it was difficult, and it took

meticulous planning and coordination," Reno said. "And to the
merchants of meth, we make this pledge: Your days are
numbered. We will not tolerate your threat to our children and
our neighborhoods, and we are not going to let methamphetamine
spread across America the way crack did in the 1980s."

Copies of press releases that have been issued by jurisdictions in

which cases were indicted, as well as copies of the charging
documents, can be obtained through the Justice Department
Public Affairs Office.

###