American Notes DRUGS

His first shipments of cocaine to the U.S. were smuggled in suitcases; he even used his mother as a courier. From humble beginnings as a small-time pot dealer in New York in the early 1970s, Carlos Lehder Rivas rose to become a pivotal figure in the international drug trade, commanding a squadron of | airplanes that is said to have brought 15 tons of coke into the U.S. every month. Last week the onetime drug lord went on trial in a heavily guarded federal courthouse in Jacksonville.

Lehder, said prosecuting U.S. Attorney Robert Merkle, "was to cocaine transportation what Henry Ford was to automobiles." As part of the notorious Medellin Cartel, he and his partners allegedly controlled 80% of the U.S. coke trade. Extradited to Florida last February, Lehder is specifically accused of shipping 3.3 tons of cocaine into the U.S. The trial, which should last three months, will include testimony from some 200 witnesses presented to an anonymous jury.