Pubdate: Mon, 17 Jan 2000
Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN)
Copyright: 2000 Star Tribune
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Author: Chuck Haga / Star Tribune

EX-MINNEAPOLIS DEA CHIEF JIM BRASETH DIES

John Franey and Jim Braseth spent their youth together in western
Wisconsin, hunting and fishing as often as they could.

"He was always out trapping mink and muskrat," Franey said. "I thought he
was considering a career in something like that."

He continued to hunt. But the quarry changed.

Braseth, former head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in
Minneapolis, died of pulmonary fibrosis Wednesday at his home in Maple
Grove. He was 59.

Braseth oversaw major drug investigations in the Twin Cities, including the
1992 smashing of the cocaine ring run by Ralph (Plukey) Duke and the arrest
of Joseph (Casey) Ramirez, who was living lavishly in Princeton, Minn.,
while overseeing the smuggling of hundreds of pounds of cocaine a month
into Florida.

Braseth monitored the arrival of crack, ice and other drugs in Minnesota,
as well as the growth of violence and the use of children in the drug trade.

"He supervised all the major drug cases, and he gave a lot of freedom to
those who worked for him," said John Boulger, a former DEA agent now with
the Minnesota Gang Strike Force.

"There were dramatic changes going on in drug enforcement while he was
here, and he was very good at getting agencies to work together. It wasn't
a turf thing with him. He shared."

Braseth had spent 10 years making drug buys on the streets of Chicago,
tracking dealers and suppliers. As a supervisor, he guided young agents
into that dangerous line of work.

One was Michele Leonhart, one of the first women to become an undercover
DEA agent.

"He was a true mentor," she said. "He's the one who taught me I should want
to run to work and then walk home. I loved the work because of him."

Leonhart now is special agent in charge of the DEA's Los Angeles field
division, where she supervises more than 300 agents and 175 task force
members.

"I've punched many tickets and gone pretty high in my career, and I
attribute it all to Jim Braseth," she said. We had a father-daughter
relationship that I'll never forget. I remember making drug buys on
Hennepin and Lake, and he was in the surveillance vehicle, protecting me
and watching the deal go down."

'His heart was here'

Braseth was born in Eau Claire, Wis. He joined what then was called the
federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs in 1961, drawing
assignments in Chicago and Washington, D.C., before he was named DEA agent
in charge in Minnesota in 1976.

He was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the New York field
division in about 1981, but Boulger said he went with the understanding
that he could return to Minneapolis, which he did in 1987. He retired in 1996.

"There was a lot of organized crime and high-profile cases in New York,"
Boulger said. "But his heart was here."

Part of that was the old love for the outdoors. At his office in downtown
Minneapolis, Braseth kept a picture of himself on assignment in Canada,
where he was conferring with Canadian drug investigators. "Foreign duty,"
it said under the picture. In it, Braseth was holding a 26-pound lake trout.

"He bought a place on Fish Lake in Maple Grove when he got here, and he ran
a trap line for a few years," Boulger said.

Tim McCormick, current head of the Minneapolis DEA office, said he
inherited "a fantastic working relationship" with other law enforcement
agencies largely because of Braseth's efforts.

"At times, DEA can be very bureaucratic," McCormick said. "But he saw that
through for our agents as well as for other agencies. He once told me,
'There's DEA, and there's DEA Minneapolis.' "

Braseth is survived by his wife, Sonja; sons James Jr. of St. Louis Park
and Thomas of Maple Grove, and daughter Kari of Rochester, Minn.

Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. today at the Crystal-New Hope
Funeral Home, 7800 Bass Lake Rd., New Hope. Services will be held at 1 p.m.
Tuesday at Lord of Life Lutheran Church, 6900 W. Fish Lake Rd., Maple Grove.
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