Pubdate: Wed, 20 Dec 2000
Source: New York Post (NY)
Copyright: 2000, N.Y.P. Holdings, Inc.
Contact:  http://nypostonline.com/
Site:  http://www.nypost.com/news/18487.htm
Author:  Devlin Barrett

FEDS TURN UP THEIR NOSES AT WHITE-COLLAR COKEHEADS

Hundreds of yuppie cokeheads snared by a sting - including doctors, lawyers 
and professors - are getting off because prosecutors say they're "genteel 
users" who can manage their habits, sources told The Post. "The attitude 
seems to be, these are not snot-dripping junkies on someone's doorstep, 
these people are more acceptable, so [federal prosecutors] are 
uncomfortable locking them up," said a source familiar with the decision.

Law-enforcement sources say U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White has chosen not to 
prosecute any of the white-collar powder purchasers caught in a massive 
home-delivery cocaine sting nearly a year ago. Sources have estimated the 
number of buyers between several hundred and 2,000-plus.

More than a half-dozen dealers have been busted, and most have pleaded 
guilty in the case. But no buyers have been charged.

The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration's office in New York, Lewis 
Rice, has lobbied hard for buyer arrests. But White has firmly rebuffed 
him, sources said.

"Rice said, 'Just give me 100 people, to make a point that this is a real 
crime with consequences,'" said one fed.

Prosecutors are contemplating sending stern letters to the suspects warning 
them to keep their noses clean.

"These losers are buying drugs and they get an angry letter and a free 
ride?" scoffed one official. "It's unbelievable."

When White announced the dealers' arrests a year ago, she said the 
livery-cab operation made buying cocaine "as easy to order as a pizza."And 
some close to the case argue it would be almost as easy to prosecute many 
of the buyers.

"These people are caught on wiretaps, on videotape, on phone records," a 
source said. "Nothing's happening."

"We can't comment on any specific investigation," said White's spokesman 
Marvin Smilon. "However, the focus of federal drug prosecutions is on 
importers, dealers and distributors. Very rarely is any buyer or user 
charged federally."

DEA agents spent a year building the case by observing a bogus livery-cab 
service run out of a Queens apartment by Jose Fernandez, who pleaded guilty 
in November.

Investigators found that the ring took phone orders for cocaine that 
drivers would deliver to customers - many of them at Wall Street banks, 
white-shoe law firms and swank Manhattan addresses, according to court 
documents.

Sources say that since the dealers' arrests, many of the buyers have hired 
lawyers who have bombarded officials with phone calls, insisting their 
clients not be charged in the case.

Other law-enforcement officials said they were surprised by White's 
decision, especially since the NYPD regularly busts buyers in undercover 
operations.

"So, basically this means that if you buy loose joints in Washington Square 
Park, you're going to get charged, but if you are a regular cocaine 
customer, you don't," one said
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