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Valleywide Drug Ring Busted

Posted on: Friday, 23 December 2005, 15:00 CST

By Kristina Davis, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz., The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

Dec. 23--A Valleywide methamphetamine and cocaine ring has been toppled after Phoenix police and federal agents arrested nearly 20 people and seized drugs, weapons and $1.5 million in cash, authorities said. Several search warrants in the four-month investigation were served in Chandler, said Phoenix police Sgt. Lauri Williams. Among those arrested were William McDowell, an associate of the Aryan Brotherhood and believed to be a dealer in the East Valley, and Michael Fiore, who is associated with the New Mexican Mafia. Police served 26 search warrants during Operation Conquering Spirit, seizing 30 pounds of meth, about 20 pounds of cocaine, $1.5 million in cash, 48 weapons and 15 vehicles. Police said the meth was manufactured at a superlab in the Sinaloa region of Mexico before it was smuggled across the border to a local "wash" house, where it was refined into crystal meth. Investigators suspect Oscar Baez Duarte supplied the drugs to Carlos Ernesto Franco-Alapisco, who then passed it onto gang associates and other sellers for distribution. Police said they believe a bad drug deal between McDowell and Fiore led to a shooting Oct. 30 in Phoenix. No one was struck. A Phoenix officer also got into a gunbattle in June with a man believed to be an enforcer for Fiore. The Arizona Attorney General's Office charged 20 people on 50 counts, including various drug charges, illegal enterprise and weapons violations.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

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Source: The Tribune

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