Pubdate: Wed, 11 Jul 2001
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2001 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Donna De La Cruz, Associated Press Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)

ECSTASY RING KINGPIN PLEADS GUILTY

NEW YORK -- The kingpin of a drug ring that used Hasidic Jews to 
smuggle more than a million Ecstasy pills from the Netherlands to the 
United States pleaded guilty Wednesday.

Sean Erez, 31, faces up to 20 years in prison and $1 million in fines 
when he is sentenced on Oct. 11 for conspiring to import Ecstasy.

Erez, the last of more than a dozen defendants to plead guilty, also 
agreed to forfeit $750,000.

Federal officials described Erez as one of the biggest importers of 
Ecstasy, a synthetic drug that combines the effects of amphetamines 
and hallucinogens.

Erez recruited Hasidic Jewish youths as couriers on the belief that 
their conservative look -- black hats, dark suits and sidecurls _ 
would deflect the attention of Customs inspectors at Kennedy 
International Airport.

The couriers were each promised a free trip to Europe and about 
$1,500 if they agreed to retrieve packages in cities including 
Brussels and Frankfurt.

The couriers were told they were carrying diamonds. But authorities 
say they ignored obvious signs that each shipment consisted of up to 
45,000 pills destined for sale in New York City and Miami Beach. They 
also smuggled proceeds back to Amsterdam in suitcases holding as much 
as $500,000.
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