FEDS UNSEAL DRUG INDICTMENTS FOR 49.

Byline: Terri Hardy Daily News Staff Writer

Two Los Angeles-based street gangs operated national networks set up to distribute cocaine provided by Mexican suppliers, said federal prosecutors, who unsealed indictments against 49 defendants Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors said concurrent two-year investigations uncovered two sophisticated, multimillion-dollar operations selling Mexican cocaine and ``crack'' in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Jackson, Cleveland and Memphis.

``We found that Los Angeles is a major, if not the major point of distribution for cocaine in the country,'' said Gregory Jessner, an assistant U.S. attorney who worked closely on the case.

``They have a level of organization they didn't have in the past, and a migration of L.A. gang members across the country setting up shop.''

Among the defendants indicted by a federal grand jury was 39-year-old Wayne Alfred Day, described as the ``godfather'' of Los Angeles street gangs, by Nora Manella, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.

Day is a fugitive and officials have issued a warrant for his arrest, Manella said.

Early Wednesday morning, sweeps were conducted in Los Angeles, Oklahoma City and Minnesota for the 49 people named in the indictments - resulting in 36 arrests by late afternoon, Manella said.

She hailed the arrests as a decisive move against several major Los Angeles drug kingpins, as well as a step toward upsetting gang footholds in other states.

``By taking out some of the major players of these Los Angeles-based organizations, we will improve the quality of life for citizens of Los Angeles,'' Manella said. ``And, we hope to spare citizens of these other states the effects of having narcotics sold in their area.''

The indictments were the culmination of a pair of investigations by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Task Force on Violent Crime. The group includes members of the FBI, Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Typically, the drugs were brought in from Mexico and kept in a ``stash house'' guarded by an armed gang member, federal agents said.

Some of the drugs would be dealt locally. Large quantities of cocaine also were bused, trucked or flown to other cities for distribution by transplanted gang members or gang affiliates, Jessner said.

Task force members sometimes found that gangs whose members were warring on the streets had leaders who were cooperating in high-level drug ventures.

Gang colors lost their importance when high finance was involved, they said.

``This was not about red or blue gang colors, it was only about green,'' Jessner said.

One investigation focused on a gang that operated loosely out of the Jordan Downs housing project in Watts.

Task force members found gang members from Jordan Downs had funneled cocaine to Minnesota, Ohio, Mississippi and Tennessee. In one instance, task force members tailing two gang members transporting cocaine boarded a bus with them to Jackson, Miss., Jessner said.

Also, the indictment alleges that 31-year-old Bridgette Day, Wayne Alfred Day's sister, would arrange for her aunt to carry cocaine from Los Angeles to Columbus, Ohio.

Jessner said the aunt taped the drugs to her body on her flight to Ohio.

In another instance a Bellflower man sent cocaine to Memphis, Tenn. via Federal Express, Jessner said.

The second probe followed a second gang based in South Central. Task force members discovered a drug pipeline to Oklahoma City involving 23 people.

Earlier this year, 17 people were convicted in federal court as a result of the two probes.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Nora Manella, U.S. attorney for the Central Di strict of California, points to drug trafficking routes Wednesday.

Associated Press 

(2) DAY