The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 404

Crime continued How to get a remodeling loan, and cut out the middle man. "During the Green trial in San Diego a picture emerged of the West Coast LSD operations in the early 1970s, was told by Judith Green: if Freddie (Messenger) and Peter (Allard) were together, then Vladimir (Petroff) must be around and that Vladimir would be worth $100,000 for them (the Greens), for they could turn Vladimir in, who was a fugitive, in exchange for dropping the LSD manufacturing charges on Michael (Green) in Los Angeles." Shepard said he told the Greens that Allard had made contact with Petroff since he had jumped bail and indicated that he could find out where Petroff was. While Allard and Petroff were working together, Shepard told the jury. "Allard would receive Vladimir PctrofTs LSD, which I would either tab up and return it to Peter Allard for him to market, or I would tab it up and sell it in my own market, depending on the situation I tabbed it up and I received a fee for each gram that I did." 5During the twenty-nine-day Green trial in San Diego a picture emerged of the West Coast LSD manufacturing and distribution apparatus in the early 1970s. Clandestine laboratories had operated in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The latter had been moved to Roseburg, Oregon, was busted by DEA agents and led to the indictment of Denis Kelly and eight others. When the DEA put the heat on the West Coast operation, the scene shifted to Germany and to Backhus, according to DEA special agent Richard Jarrett. Jarrett testified in Frankfurt at the Backhus trial, "Of the one hundred types of acid found in the mid-1970s in the United States, most of it stemmed from one or two laboratories where ET was converted to LSD." He testified that, "When the heat was put on there was a lull in mid-1975 which led to the formation of the alleged Backhus gang." Out of court Jarrett told a reporter that Backhus made approximately $125,000 smuggling ET into the United States, and that the Internal Revenue Service could verify this. Backhus testified at his own trial that he is under investigation in the U.S. for bribing an IRS official to conceal taxable income.

This has been confirmed by an IRS investigator who declined to be named. He said that a former IRS auditor in Los Angeles had been called before a federal grand jury and that an indictment was expected. A special DEA agent in San Diego, who also requested anonymity, and who was a special DEA liaison to Operation Julie in London, said the case is far from over. "It's going to be one of the largest drug conspiracies in history" when we get it all pieced together. Lieutenant Terrence Green of Oakland Police Department's homicide detail says the Reilly trial will shed some light on the conspiracy.

The Backhus-Hassler-Ragusa-Reilly link has been established by law enforcement investigators. Stories in European newspapers are calling it the "Judo Connection," after the fact that all were judo enthusiasts and some of the ET was smuggled into the U.S. in judo mats. Less is known about where Vladimir Petroff and Michael Green fit into the picture. Or Frederic Messenger, or Denis Kelly, or Jim Teegarden.

What is known is that four people are dead and another four have disappeared. Dealing direct with California Federal can save you hundreds of dollars on a loan. There's a simple, painless way to cut remodeling costs: Cut out the middle man's loan profits. Financing directly with California Federal can save you hundreds of dollars. And our competitively low interest rates can mean extra savings.

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