"This goes when I find out where the heroin shipment is."

A state police officer who asked not to be named said the heroin shipment originated in Hong Kong and was worth "$1 billion, maybe more" on the street.

Mr. Conte was also charged in Brooklyn with being a powerful organizer of heroin shipments from Sicily.

He needed to lend money to invest in heroin shipments.

He burns the valuable but deadly information and tips off both a rival gangster and the police about the incoming heroin shipment.

Because Colombia's heroin shipments are still at a relatively low volume, couriers who carry the drug internally are a popular and cost-effective mode of transport.

In the past, he had been in charge of heroin shipments from Turkey through Italy to the United States.

And Zanzibaris say the island has become a haven for money-laundering and a way station for Asian heroin shipments.

One well-placed heroin shipment is worth more than any number of construction contracts.

Law-enforcement officials in New York have said they are troubled by increasing heroin shipments from Asia.