MIAMI -- Police smashed a 'white collar' cocaine network Wednesday in the second major crackdown on Miami drug operations in as many days.
More than 100 persons were being rounded up and authorities said the crackdowns could have a telling effect on drug traffic through Miami, one of the major east coast pipelines.
The FBI Tuesday broke a money-laundering operation that allegedly washed $200 million in drug money. Miami police followed up Wednesday with the smashing of the cocaine ring.
The roundup of suspects included 61 allegedly involved in the laundering operation and another 51 linked to the cocaine ring.
Miami police coded-named their cocaine crackdown 'Operation Tick-Talks' because an electronic listening device, placed behind a clock in a suspect's home, helped break the case.
The FBI called its money laundering probe 'Operation Bancoshares.' It was a classic 'sting' operation in which undercover agents penetrated big-time drug networks by setting up a bogus money-laundering operation.
An FBI spokesman said it was the first FBI operation ever directly targeted on the laundering of drug profits.
Miami Police Chief Kenneth Harms said many of the suspects rounded up in 'Operation Tick-Talks' were businessmen who conducted legitimate businesses but who also had an interest in narcotics.
'This was a very involved network,' he said. 'We consider this to be a major case in the Miami police department's history.'
Harms said the smuggling ring involved dozens of people linked by a few drug-smugglers.
One of those arrested was Rafael Villaverde, director of the Little Havana Community Center. The center had been investigated by the Dade State Attorney's Office in 1977 as being a focal point for anti-Castro terrorist groups.
Villaverde and his brothers, Jorge and Raul, who also are charged, appeared before Dade Circuit Judge Gerald Kogan Wednesday. They were freed after posting $10,000 bond each.
All three of the brothers are Cuban exiles and Bay of Pigs veterans who spent time in Cuban prisons after the ill-fated invasion in 1961 designed to take Cuba back from Fidel Castro.
Under questioning by Assistant State Attorney Rina Cohen, Raul Villaverde said he had been trained in 'covert activities' by the CIA in preparing for Bay of Pigs -- as were all the members of the Bay of Pigs invasion force.
Raul Villaverde said he had been a 'CIA agent' until his release from Cuban prison in 1978.
'Operation Bancoshares' was conducted over a 2 year span. Hidden video cameras recorded major drug smugglers toting suitcases, satchels and briefcases full of cash from the sale of drugs.
Those charged included a reputed drug smuggling kingpin, a former bank officer and more than 30 Colombians suspected of being major drug figures.
Set up with $170,000 from the FBI's Miami bank account and $500,000 borrowed from the Treasury Department, the operation was so successful it made a $4 million profit for the FBI.
'This is the kind of case that produces a significant disruption of the narcotics trend,' said FBI Director William Webster. 'It will be followed by other intensive, long-range investigations.'
