Pubdate: Sun, 20 Feb 2000 Source: Washington Post (DC) Copyright: 2000 The Washington Post Company Address: 1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071 Feedback: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Authors: Serge F. Kovaleski and Stephen Barr, Washington Post Staff Writers Note: Kovaleski reported from Caracas. CARIBBEAN DRUG FIGURE LANDS IN U.S. CUSTODY U.S. law enforcement agents yesterday took custody of a man alleged to be the eastern Caribbean's most notorious drug trafficker, who was wanted on drug charges in this country for the last four years. Charles "Little Nut" Miller was extradited from the Caribbean islands of St. Kitts and Nevis and brought to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., by agents of the U.S. Customs Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration. "This is a significant arrest," said Dean Boyd, a spokesman for Customs, which issued an arrest warrant for Miller after he was indicted in 1995 on charges that he had conspired to import more than 1,000 pounds of cocaine through Miami. U.S. law enforcement officials have long contended that Miller built a drug-trafficking empire on the two Caribbean islands aimed at helping the Colombian drug cartels transfer narcotics into the United States and Europe. Miller disputed the allegations and seemed beyond the reach of the law. He operated several businesses in St. Kitts and lived in a hillside mansion. But Miller apparently had provoked the government of St. Kitts and Nevis in recent days, and his actions occurred not only during a time of worsening crime on the islands, but also at the height of the political season leading up to March's general election. St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Denzil L. Douglas said yesterday at a news conference that over the last month or so "a prime source of national concern and anxiety" has been Miller's "intimidating behavior." "Within recent weeks . . . Mr. Miller started to pursue a course of conduct which could only be detrimental to national security and the social and economic well-being of the federation," he said. "The government recognized that this continuing behavior strikes at the very core of its engine for economic growth, which includes investment in the vital tourism industry." Government officials said that local police arrested Miller several weeks ago after he turned himself in to authorities for allegedly firing five shots at a man who supposedly owed him money. Miller was charged with shooting with the intent to kill in the Jan. 21 incident and was released on $40,000 bail, officials said. Officials said Miller waved a gun for two hours in the newsroom of the Observer newspaper earlier this month while complaining about the coverage he had received from the publication. Douglas noted that Miller allegedly also had been involved in attempts to "extort and blackmail" a number of other people, including local investors. Last week, he was arrested again along with two other men when police pulled over their car and found two firearms, a large amount of ammunition and some marijuana during a search. Douglas said that while appearing before the Magistrate's Court Thursday in relation to firearms charges, Miller waived his rights and stated his willingness to surrender to U.S. authorities. "He probably knew that his back was to the wall," one government official said. By then, however, the relevant steps had already been taken by the Douglas administration to authorize Miller's "expulsion" from St. Kitts and Nevis. Miller has been the subject of extradition proceedings in the St. Kitts courts by the United States as long ago as May 1996. The U.S. government had suffered several legal setbacks in trying to secure Miller's extradition, but a recent ruling by a high court judge made the likelihood of extradition more imminent. Nonetheless, the Douglas government--for which the Miller case has been a delicate balancing act between respecting the federation's justice system and cooperating with the United States in the regional fight against drug trafficking--said that, in expelling Miller, it used powers under the constitution that in such instances supersede the authority of the courts. Miller attracted wide attention in 1998, when the State Department declared it had received information that he had threatened to kill American veterinary students in St. Kitts if the United States was successful in obtaining his extradition. The announcement set off a panic, and 50 students left the island. Miller also has proved to be an embarrassment for U.S. officials, since they had once given him immunity in a drug case and even an identity in the witness-protection program. In 1985, Miller, then known as Cecil Connor, was arrested in New York for trafficking cocaine while working with the so-called Shower Posse, an infamous Jamaican gang known for showering bullets on enemies. Miller offered to cooperate with authorities, who were having trouble breaking the gang. Miller, in his testimony in the case, admitted to smuggling shipments of marijuana and cocaine totaling a ton a month between Miami and New York. He also admitted in court to participating in the killing of five people at a Miami crack cocaine house in November 1984. One of those killed was a pregnant woman who knelt in prayer as she was executed, according to court documents. Miller said he did not kill anyone but carried a machine gun to provide cover for the executioners. After providing the testimony on the Jamaican gang, Miller vanished into the witness protection program and then, in 1991, reappeared in St. Kitts. That year he changed his name to Miller. Kovaleski reported from Caracas. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D