The ringleader of the Canadian marijuana, operation allegedly was Cornwall, Ontario, who goes by the nicknames "Big Boss Man" and Big Buddy

Mark Smoke, 37, and Aonwentsiio "Doggie" Sunday, 30, of Hogansburg, James Moran, 44, Massena, and Winthrop residents Mitchell Printup, 31, and David Hartley, 46, were indicted Tuesday on charges of conspiracies to distribute and possess more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.Federal authorities charged 34 people, including five north country residents, over their alleged roles in an international marijuana smuggling operation that moved about 22,000 pounds of pot through the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation.A three-year investigation exposed a pipeline bringing millions of dollars' worth of marijuana into the U.S. and distributing it to several cities, including Boston and Atlanta, the U.S. attorney's office said Tuesday. The ringleader of the operation allegedly was Cornwall, Ontario, resident Mickey Woods, who goes by the nicknames "Big Boss Man" and "Big Buddy.""This investigation shines a spotlight on the enormous profits reaped by drug dealers from the cultivation, smuggling and sale of marijuana," said John P. Gilbride, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent in charge. "From Northern New York to as far south as Atlanta, Georgia, this trafficking organization distributed Canadian marijuana, generating approximately $45 million of narco-dollars along the way."
Twenty-three Canadians and people living in Boston, Miami, Montgomery, Ala., and Onondaga face similar charges. If convicted, each person could face a 10- to 40-year prison term and up to $4 million in fines.Mr. Woods, 38, and Gaetan "Gates" Dinelle, 35, Cornwall, also were charged with leading a continuing criminal enterprise. If convicted, they each face a mandatory term of life in prison.The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of $45 million from illegal drug proceeds. Nine people have been picked up, with Mr. Woods and Mr. Dinelle still at large.Authorities seized about 400 kilograms of marijuana and more than $2 million in cash during the investigation. More arrests are expected.Several agencies participated in the investigation, including DEA, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, state police, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Police and district attorneys' offices in Franklin and St. Lawrence counties.An international marijuana-trafficking ring that reportedly smuggled 22,000 pounds of pot through the North Country was dismantled Tuesday with the indictment of 34 people.Officials said more than $45 million worth of pot was passed through northern New York in the past three years by smugglers using speed boats, personal watercraft and fishing boats in good weather and snowmobiles with sleds in winter to cross the St. Lawrence River at the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation.
Several layers of drug runners and go-betweens were allegedly recruited and reported to managers to assign their shipments. The managers reported to the "Big Boss Man," who authorities say used cell phones and push-to-talk communicators to relay messages.At one point, a ledger showing $700,000 in transactions was reported in a nine-day period in May 2006.On Tuesday, 34 people were indicted on federal charges, including two from Akwesasne and three from St. Lawrence County: Mark Smoke, 37, of Akwesasne; Aonwentsiio "Doogie" Sunday, 30, of Akwesasne; James Moran, 44, of Massena; Mitchell Printup, 31, of Winthrop; and David Hartley, 46, of Winthrop.The nine-count indictment charges each with conspiracy to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana and the importation of more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.If convicted, they could face a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 40 years in federal prison and a $4 million fine.They are accused of being part of the Mickey Woods smuggling network, based in Cornwall, Ontario.Woods, 38, of Cornwall, also known as "Big Boss Man" and "Big Buddy," was the alleged ringleader, along with Gaetan Dinelle, 35, of Cornwall, who is also known as "Gates."Along with the same conspiracy counts, Woods and Dinelle will face charges of leading a continuing criminal enterprise. If convicted on that additional charge, they could face life in prison."This investigation is a prime example of why we need what we are asking for: designation as a high-intensity drug-trafficking area," District Attorney Derek Champagne said.He traveled to Syracuse Tuesday for the news conference called by Andrew Baxter, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton (both D-NY) and U.S. Rep. John McHugh (R-NY) have petitioned to have Clinton, Franklin, St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties included in an existing 17-county network for New York and New Jersey to better coordinate investigations and share information through links with federal and state law-enforcement agencies.Champage said the New York/New Jersey network leadership backs inclusion so much that it has agreed to hire two intelligence-gathering people to work in northern New York.One will be based in Clinton County and the other in Franklin County, the DA said.
He said the Drug Enforcement Agency and cooperating entities did an excellent job of tracking the complicated Woods organization.The others indicted Tuesday were: Debbie Francis, 46; Steven Primeau, 29; David T. Dugan, 34; Rodney Dingwall, 20, also known as Rodney Lalonde; Michelle Daniluck, 31; Amanda Pond, 31; Joanna Hyderman, 22; Martin Foley, 32; Chantal Allaire, 27; Marc Allaire, 29; Kayla Snyder, 21; Cassie Obyrne, 29; Kendra Theoret, 23; Jeffrey Goulet, 42; and Amanda Stevens, 24, all of Cornwall; Jeana MacDonald, 25, of Alexandria, Ontario; Jonathan Poitras, 31, of St. Zotique, Quebec; Michael Harris, 31, of Boston; William Scott Morgan of Miami; Joey Gray Collins, 23, of Montgomery, Ala.; Noel Piette, 20, of Glen Walter, Ontario; Bryce Cumming, 21, of Williamstown, Ontario; Derrick Martin, 20, of Glen Walter, Ontario; Ashley Johnson, 23, of Onondaga; April Lazore, 23, of Onondaga; Barrett Wagar, 19, of Ottawa; and Portia Simac, 30, of Miami Beach.Nine were arrested Tuesday in New York and elsewhere, and Canadian investigators will begin making arrests there unless the people turn themselves in.Authorities said that between 2005 and 2008, the organization smuggled tons of pot through the reservation.More than 800 pounds of marijuana and more than $2 million in cash were seized during arrests made on lower-level players in the network during those three years.Officials said Woods would reportedly buy or have a large shipment of pot fronted to him from Poitras and other alleged dealers in Canada.Then Dinelle and the other operations managers would allegedly bring it into the United States through the reservation.They used boats and snowmobiles to haul the drugs to where they were allegedly kept by Smoke, who along with some of the others, loaded 100 to 120 pounds of pot into the trunk of large American-made vehicles that Woods has allegedly rented or purchased.The loads were allegedly driven to distribution points all along the Eastern Seaboard, including Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Burlington and New Jersey.
In April 2007, Harris and Morgan were arrested in Boston after allegedly accepting a load of pot. Authorities seized $602,000 in cash, $400,000 of which was to pay for that load and a fronted amount from an alleged previous run.The pot kept arriving even after their arrests, and Morgan allegedly mailed $50,000 to Simac.The go-betweens and drug runners were not told much about the operation, how it was run and who ran it and only knew the top people by nicknames, authorities said."This investigation shines a spotlight on the enormous profits reaped by drug dealers from the cultivation, smuggling and sale of marijuana," John Gilbride, DEA special-agent-in-charge, said in a news release."Law enforcement has caught up to these traffickers, seized their drugs and illegal