MAHONING VALLEY Raid nets $213,000, guns, suspected drugs

Authorities found nearly $148,000 at one home.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Federal and local law enforcement officers seized suspected drugs, explosives and a cache of firearms at the home of a Champion man, who authorities say was part of a cell that operated within one of the largest Mexican drug cartels in the United States.
Drug Enforcement Administration's Youngstown Drug Enforcement Task Force agents, Warren police and law enforcement officers from several agencies searched the three Warren area homes last week and arrested Dianna Palmer, 40, of Rex Boulevard N.W., James Leigh Jr., 36, of Glendale Avenue N.W., and Bert Reghetti, 46, of East Center Street, Champion, charging them with federal charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
The returns from the search warrants and the inventory of what was seized were filed Monday in U.S. District Court. The three are set for detention hearings Thursday.
The documents say nearly $65,000, shotguns, semiautomatic pistols, commercial explosives, military grenade fuses, ammunition, knives, a South Carolina police uniform shirt and suspected cocaine and marijuana were taken from Reghetti's house, garage, trailer and property.
Nearly $148,000 and suspected marijuana and cocaine were taken from Leigh's home.
From Palmer's home, authorities seized plastic bags containing suspected cocaine and marijuana.
Big operation
The three Trumbull County residents are accused of operating as a cell in the Ismael Zambada-Garcia Organization, which authorities say is responsible for distributing thousands of pounds of cocaine and marijuana throughout the country.
Authorities in Mexico and throughout the United States arrested 176 drug-trafficking suspects last week as part of a 19-month investigation of what they say was one of the world's largest smuggling organizations.
The investigation, called Operation Trifecta, has produced 350 arrests since December 2001, when a cargo ship carrying about 10 tons of Colombian cocaine was seized off Mexico's Pacific Coast. A drug-smuggling tunnel also was discovered under the Mexican-Arizona border.
An affidavit signed by a task force agent to secure the search warrants says Palmer is "involved in this organization's transportation and distribution network involving cocaine and marijuana and the proceeds derived from their sale."
Sources have told authorities that "Reghetti is a local distributor of multiple pounds of marijuana and some cocaine" in the Warren area. "However, sources are unwilling to testify against Reghetti due to his violent history," the affidavit adds.
In 1981, Reghetti was arrested by the Ohio State Highway Patrol for breaking and entering and other charges. He retaliated by blowing up an OSHP vehicle, the document says.
He was convicted of aggravated arson in that case.