Pubdate: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Author: Bill Wallace TAQUERIA OWNER ARRESTED IN BIG COCAINE BUST Federal narcotics agents have arrested two men as alleged members of a major cocaine trafficking ring that reportedly Operated Out of a taco shop in Daly City. The alleged drug dealers are Jose Coronado, the operator of Taqueria La Reyna in a strip mail on San Diego Avenue, and Jose Luis Sanchez, one of the cooks at the. taco shop. A criminal complaint filed against the two men Thursday said Coronado boasted of having a large-scale source of the drug in Los Angeles and offered to sell an undercover agent from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.as much as 10 kilograms of cocaine per transaction. The complaint said that Coronado was using the taco shop as a front for his cocaine dealing activities and that inside the restaurant bathroom he would measure the drug into plastic bags for sale, Federal narcotics agents learned of the operation from an informant who had worked with them on several previous cases. An affidavit by DEA Special Agent Michael Estrada said the informant had made contact with Coronado earlier this summer. The informant observed that Coronado had approximately $90,000 in cash in his taco store, plus a large quantity of gold jewelry. The agents sent the informant back to the taqueria with marked money to purchase samples of cocaine from Coronado and Sanchez. After several small purchases had taken place, undercover DEA agents arranged a couple of larger drug buys, the affidavit said. If convicted of the charges, the two men could be sentenced to as long as 34 years in federal prison and fined up to $6.25 million. - --- Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"