DRUG PROBE PICKS UP 88 ALLEGED DRUG KINGPINS

A consortium of governments today announced the arrests of 88 alleged drug distributors -- 60 in the U.S. -- and the seizure of $52 million and nine tons of cocaine as a result of an international, two-year long probe of worldwide money laundering. The probe -- called "Operation Dinero" and conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and officials from Italy, Spain and Britain -- also found links between the Italian Mafia and the Cali cartel in Columbia. Along the way, agents seized paintings by Rubens, Picasso and Reynolds from drug smugglers. The DEA used a private bank in the British West Indies to nab the cartel members. Seven Colombian drug trafficking and laundering organizations opened accounts at the bank, providing agents called "an unprecedented window" into the way drug organizations work.