Pubdate: Thurs, 1 April 1999 Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA) Copyright: 1999 San Francisco Examiner Contact: http://www.examiner.com/ Forum: http://examiner.com/cgi-bin/WebX Author: Jim Herron Zamora OF THE EXAMINER STAFF OSCAR SCAGGS' ALLEGED DRUG SUPPLIERS ARRESTED Cops say series of busts has netted small and major heroin dealers San Francisco police made the latest in a series of major drug busts Thursday that has also included the alleged wholesale suppliers of the heroin that caused the overdose death of bluesman Boz Scaggs' 21-year-old son. "We've taken down several major wholesalers in the past several days," said Lt. Kitt Crenshaw of the San Francisco Police Narcotics Unit. "This has been a very busy week." At 7 a.m. Thursday, a task force of police and agents from the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration arrested two San Francisco men who are alleged members of the Up-The-Hill-Down-The-Hill Gang, based in the Sunnydale public housing projects. The team arrested Aaron Levall Harris, 34, and Asa Roberts, who is in his 30s, and confiscated nearly a pound of cocaine, one handgun and some ammunition. The cocaine and a handgun were discovered while the task force was serving a search warrant at Harris' residence at 290 Hahn St., Crenshaw said. Investigators also found ammunition and other unspecifed evidence at Roberts' home on 440 Sawyer St., Crenshaw said. Harris and Roberts were each being held in County Jail on $250,000 bail on suspicion of trafficking of cocaine and maintaining a residence where narcotics are used and sold, Crenshaw said. Crenshaw also announced that four men were arrested last week in an investigation that began in January after the fatal overdose of Oscar Scaggs, the 21-year-old son of musician and nightclub owner Boz Scaggs. There were several other fatal overdoses that same month that authorities believe were linked to an especially pure strain of Mexican black tar heroin, which historically is known for its low purity. "After the death of Boz Scaggs' son, we've received a whole lot of tips that ultimately led us to these guys," Crenshaw said. "Boz Scaggs' son was buying with a smaller dealer from the Mission - a little nickel and dime dealer who's been busted a bunch of times in the Mission (District). We started looking at him and we worked our way back to the larger suppliers." The investigation has led authorities to four men believed to be part of a larger ring of heroin suppliers based in the Central Valley in and around Modesto, Crenshaw said. The men - Javier Aparicio 23, of Modesto; Pablo Pineda, 18, of Modesto; Jose Valencia, 20, of Oakland; and Francisco Birrueta, 22, of San Francisco - are all being held in County Jail, in lieu of $250,000 bail, on suspicion of trafficking and transporting heroin. Aparicio and Birrueta were arrested on March 24 at 18th and Valencia streets with 2-1/4 pounds of heroin in their car after police bought drugs and followed them to another sale, Crenshaw said. Valencia and Pineda were arrested with another 2-1/4 pounds of heroin on March 26 after a team of undercover investigators followed them to a home in the 400 block of Italy Street in the Excelsior District, he said. After Scaggs' death, "we started looking at the ties between these small-time dealers in San Francisco and this connection from the Central Valley," Crenshaw said. "They were delivering a pound or two a day. They had runners and drops all over San Francisco." Harris, arrested in the Thursday raid, is also being held for a parole violation that resulted from a 1994 conviction in a case that was featured on the TV show "America's Most Wanted," Crenshaw said. Investigators found the left prosthetic eye at the scene of the Jan. 16, 1993, robbery and traced it to Harris through the encoded information - which included his name and the medical facility where he had been treated, the FBI said. He was arrested in Oakland in November 1993 and convicted the next year. - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck