Drug Arrests

THE official end of the notorious Cali cocaine cartel came late last year here with little more commotion than the rap of a judge's gavel. The Colombian drug lords Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, 63, and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, 67, entered guilty pleas and were ushered off to federal prison for the next 30 years -- no Miami Vice-like dramatics, no bodies riddled with gunfire in the manner of Medellin rival Pablo Escobar.

Federal officials Wednesday announced the indictment of the alleged ringleader and 18 members of a drug trafficking organization accused of smuggling tons of cocaine into the U.S., in large part through the Imperial Valley. Dubbed Operation Imperial Emperor, the two-year investigation by several agencies has resulted in more than 400 arrests nationwide, including 66 in California, U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales said at a news conference.

Mario Corona was lauded as one of Los Angeles' top gang success stories. Newspaper articles told of how Corona spent his youth on the streets as a gangster dubbed "Spider" for a Pacoima gang before going straight and rising in the ranks of gang intervention specialists. He spoke on panels and to students. Along the way, he earned an undergraduate degree from Cal State Northridge and a master's in social work from USC.

The advertisement on Craigslist New York said the man would supply cocaine to any female who responded. A female officer from the Nassau County Police Department narcotics squad responded to the Internet ad and arranged a meeting. Nassau police said when Joshua W. O'Neil, 32, of Albany, N.Y., met the officer Tuesday night in Garden City, N.Y., he offered her crack cocaine in exchange for sexual favors. O'Neil was charged with sale of a controlled substance and possession with intent to sell.

Call them "the not ready for prime time traffickers." That's how Panamanian and U.S. authorities are describing alleged functionaries of a Mexican drug cartel that lost a $270-million load of cocaine in a colossal bust off Panama's Pacific coast last month.

An extensive subterranean marijuana growing operation has been broken up and three men arrested, federal authorities said Tuesday. The three are allegedly linked to an underground pot farm in Santa Ysabel in a woodsy area of northeast San Diego County. The farm was accessible only through an elevator in a garage and then a 65-foot-long tunnel, according to a federal criminal complaint. The growing rooms had sophisticated irrigation, lighting, electrical and ventilation systems.

Rapper-actor Snoop Dogg was charged Tuesday with gun possession by a convicted felon and a marijuana-related drug charge, prosecutors said. The 35-year-old Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, is scheduled to be arraigned on the two felony counts Wednesday morning in Superior Court in Pasadena, said Los Angeles County district attorney's office spokeswoman Jane Robison. The charges stem from Dogg's arrest Oct.

Was a legendary punk rocker arrested for possession of ... soap? That's the question surrounding last week's jailing of Germs drummer Don Bolles after a traffic stop in Newport Beach. Bolles, 50, whose real name is Jimmy Michael Giorsetti, said in an interview that he and his girlfriend were driving to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting Wednesday evening when police pulled over his 1968 Dodge van for a broken taillight.

Rapper-actor Snoop Dogg will avoid jail time after pleading no contest Wednesday to two felony charges -- but he might be legally allowed to continue smoking marijuana. The entertainer, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, entered the plea to a charge of gun possession by a convicted felon and a marijuana-related drug charge, prosecutors said. Dogg, 35, appeared before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Terry Smerling in Pasadena clad in a leather jacket, black jeans and a T-shirt.

Convicted drug users in California are more likely to be arrested on new drug charges since Proposition 36 took effect than before voters approved the landmark law mandating drug treatment rather than incarceration, according a long-awaited study released Friday.