Pubdate: Mon, 26 Nov 2001
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Copyright: 2001 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.jsonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/265
Author: David Doege, Journal Sentinel staff

DRUG NETWORK FUNNELED TONS OF POT TO MILWAUKEE

After 15-Month Probe, Major Midwest Operation Collapses

The first inkling police could have had that a new marijuana network was 
moving into Milwaukee came five years ago, when they stumbled onto a 
northwest side motel room full of money and a bunch of pot.

Livingston Roach was a courier for a Texas-based organization that flew 
drug money from Milwaukee to Houston, and when police were sent to his room 
because the aroma of marijuana had seeped into a corridor, he insisted he 
wasn't breaking any laws.

But, according to a criminal complaint, two Milwaukee marijuana 
distributors had just dropped off $23,000 for Roach as payment for an 
earlier shipment, and the tips of two large bundles of bills poked from 
beneath the sheets on his bed. When an officer retrieved the bundles, he 
found 50 pounds of marijuana hidden with them. It had been left in the room 
earlier that day by a woman who had it in her luggage when she flew in from 
Houston, a complaint says.

It was Roach's fifth trip to Milwaukee for a man called Minor, according to 
a complaint. From his four previous trips, Roach returned to Houston with a 
total of $356,000, Circuit Court records show.

Roach later told police that Minor, a man from Jamaican living in Houston, 
was receiving 350- to 500-pound shipments at his Texas home from a supplier 
named Jose and was using women to fly it to Milwaukee in their luggage, a 
complaint says.

Police here, however, were told nothing about Minor at the time.

Authorities said Roach kept his mouth shut and went to prison on a 
five-year sentence while Minor went on undetected and allegedly became a 
multimillionaire, distributing more than 13 tons of marijuana in Milwaukee 
a year. Minor settled down on exclusive Lake Shore Drive in Chicago while 
he had tons of marijuana shipped north from Texas in semitrailer trucks he 
purchased, according to the complaint. It wasn't until after a 15-month 
probe that authorities were able bring down the major Midwest drug ring.

Used cell phones

Minor insulated himself from others in the drug trade by conducting 
business over cellular phones registered to others and stored his marijuana 
in Chicago-area warehouses, the complaint says. He used two teams of 
lieutenants: one to guard his cache and recover the proceeds from past 
deals, and the other to make deliveries and collect debts, investigators 
allege.

Minor is accused of buying real estate and listing it in the names of 
others, according to investigators. He's also accused of ordering shootings 
to keep people in line and funneling large amounts of cash to hidden accounts.

Last year, investigators from the Wisconsin Department of Justice latched 
onto Minor's organization and, after a 15-month investigation, began 
rounding up his lieutenants in Milwaukee, according to a recently unsealed 
criminal complaint. They also learned Minor's identity - Kenneth L. Green - 
and in April made one of their biggest busts ever when they arrested him in 
Chicago.

Seven months later, Green remains in the Milwaukee County Jail in lieu of 
$10 million bail while the people rounded up with him are steadily pleading 
guilty.

Two men have now been sentenced to prison for their involvement in the 
network, two more have pleaded guilty and three others are scheduled to do 
so in the weeks ahead.

The most recent guilty plea came from Rohan M. Mogg, a man who was once 
shot on Green's orders "for talking too much" and was shot at on another 
occasion after a falling out with Green, according to court records. Most 
recently, Mogg was in trouble with his boss for having a 240-pound 
marijuana shipment seized by authorities, according to court records.
of Mogg, but was suspected of stealing from Green and fell out of favor, 
the complaint says. He also is scheduled to plead guilty next month. Ardine 
G. Henriques, 30, of Milwaukee recently pleaded guilty to marijuana 
trafficking and racketeering, primarily for trucking marijuana from Texas 
to Milwaukee, charging $1,000 for each 100 pounds in his shipments.

The complaint indicates that much of the evidence accumulated during the 
investigation came from informants and undercover buys, usually of 
marijuana but occasionally involving cocaine.

One informant, for instance, described Green as "a very feared leader," who 
once had 24 M-16 rifles under his control, the complaint says.

The complaint also says that authorities convened a John Doe proceeding, 
tapped seven phone lines and eavesdropped on conversations held by Green 
and the others to gather evidence.

Green is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 18 for a status conference. 
By then, he may be the last figure fighting his case in Circuit Court.
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