Local News in Brief : Drug Ring Breakup Nets 13 Indictments

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles on Tuesday indicted 13 alleged members of a U.S.-Colombian cocaine trafficking ring that authorities said was broken up last week.

Among those named in the indictment were Brian (Waterhead Bo) Bennett, 24, who allegedly directed the U.S. distribution of the cocaine from luxury homes in Los Angeles and Tempe, Ariz., and Mario Ernesto Villabona-Alvarado, 28, a Colombian national who is a reputed ranking member of that country’s Cali drug cartel.

U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner said in a press conference that the conspiracy and money laundering charges stemmed from an illicit operation that in a four-month period in 1987 and this year distributed 5,500 pounds of Colombian cocaine and collected in excess of $22 million in profits.

Authorities last week ballyhooed the arrests of ring members, saying the case was the first directly linking the Colombian cocaine cartel to reputed street gangs in the United States.