Source: Ottawa Citizen (Canada) Contact: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/ Pubdate: Thursday 16 July 1998 Author: April Lindgren POLICE FACED A 'DAVID AND GOLIATH' BATTLE RCMP Insp. Ben Soave tells April Lindgren how international co-operation lead to the most significant series of arrests in the history of organized crime. It was still dark at 4:15 a.m. yesterday when RCMP Insp. Ben Soave got out of bed to begin the biggest day of his policing career. Operating on barely three hours sleep, the trim, 50-year-old veteran of the international drug war stopped at Tim Horton's for coffee on his way to work. At 6 a.m., he delivered final orders to nearly 60 officers gathered in an anonymous federal government building in north Toronto. Just over an hour later, those officers and teams in Montreal and Mexico pulled in 10 suspected members of the notorious Cuntrera-Caruana organized crime family. (Two members are still being sought by police; another pair were arrested earlier this spring during a drug bust in Texas.) Alfonso Caruana, 52, reputed to be the financial genius and kingpin of the global Cuntrera-Caruana drug-running empire, was taken into custody at his comfortable Woodbridge, Ont., home and whisked by car into North York's 32 Division just after 7 a.m. Insp. Soave, the officer in charge of the Canadian unit that led the international investigation, said yesterday he was "destroyed" by his nearly sleepless night, one of many during the two-year investigation. Even so, he could barely contain his glee during a quiet coffee following a gruelling round of interviews and relentless cell phone calls. "What this means is that these guys won't get any respect any more. Nobody is going to trust them because they know we're onto them," he said, breaking into one of his big, easy smiles. Mr. Caruana had successfully eluded police forces around the world for more than 30 years. "Everybody knows about the family," said Insp. Soave. But lack of international co-operation and money meant countries' investigations never got far. Indeed, until he appeared a few years ago in bankruptcy court in Montreal -- his way of responding to a Revenue Canada tax evasion investigation -- even Mr. Caruana's photo was hard to come by. Yesterday, Insp. Soave evaded questions about moles, undercover officers and big breaks. But the fact is, this Italian immigrant who grew up to travel the world as a police officer was uniquely groomed to lead Project Omerta, Mafioso slang for "silence." Insp. Soave came to Canada from Italy as a 10-year-old and grew up in Thunder Bay. After joining the RCMP he spent his early years as an undercover officer in drug enforcement. He went on to a career that includes a stint as co-ordinator of undercover operations at RCMP headquarters in Ottawa and almost 15 years as an RCMP liaison officer in Canadian embassies abroad. He served in the world's drug hot spots -- South America, southeast Asia and Italy. He built up his arsenal of languages -- in addition to English he speaks Spanish, Italian and French. And he picked up valuable contacts. Insp. Soave, who is married with two children aged 22 and 14, started on Project Omerta in 1996 after moving to Toronto. He credits international co-operation for its success, noting that at least 20 police organizations worldwide were involved in one way or another. His own team consisted of about eight officers reinforced by surveillance teams that spent two years tracking suspects' every move. While dozens of international law enforcement officers were involved in the investigation, Insp. Soave says it was a David and Goliath battle. "We're (police investigators) a speck of sand in the Sahara desert compared to their organization, financially and in numbers." Despite Insp. Soave's eagerness to credit international partners, including investigators in Italy, Mexico and the United States, old-fashioned sloppiness by a drug courier gave the Canadians their first big break. "During the investigation we found one weak link among the workers and we started to investigate that guy," said RCMP Sgt. Guy Quintal said. The overly confident courier was caught with a truckload of cocaine after neglecting to build a concealed compartment in the vehicle used to transport money and drugs between Canada and the United States. Insp. Soave said officers will celebrate. "But not tonight -- there's still a lot of paperwork to get through." Copyright 1998 The Ottawa Citizen - --- Checked-by: Mike Gogulski