WASHINGTON – LAWFUEL – Michael A. Garcia, 38, a former leader of the Latin Kings gang in Florida, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of drug trafficking and illegal possession of firearms, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division announced today.

The thirteen-count indictment against Garcia, of Tampa, Fla., was returned by a federal grand jury in Tampa on June 12, 2008. Garcia is charged with conspiracy to distribute Ecstasy and more than five kilograms of cocaine between December 2005 and June 2008, and the distribution of, and possession with intent to distribute, cocaine and Ecstasy on six different occasions during the same time period. In addition, the defendant is charged with being a convicted felon in possession of firearms and ammunition.

If convicted, Garcia faces a maximum of life in prison and a fine of up to $4 million on the conspiracy charge. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and up to $1 million in fines for each of the possession counts. Garcia also faces a maximum of ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the firearms count. In addition, the government is seeking forfeiture in this case.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Vincent Tortorella of the Criminal Division’s Gang Squad. The investigation is being handled by a joint task force of local and federal agencies led by the FBI, and including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and the Tampa Police Department.

An indictment is merely a charge and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Vienna – LawFuel – Legal Newswire – DLA Piper has advised UBS Global Asset Management’s infrastructure team on the acquisition of 28% of shares in Saubermacher Group, one of the leading Central and Eastern European waste management companies.

UBS Global Asset Management, one of the world’s leading asset managers, purchased the 28% interest in Saubermacher from Roth Privatstiftung, which retains the remaining shares. The transaction is expected to close at the end of June and is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

The transaction was co-led by DLA Piper Corporate partners Christian Temmel and Phillip Dubsky.
“In the course of this transaction, we were required to perform a legal due diligence review not only for Austria, but also for a number of CEE countries. This transaction demonstrates the importance of having fully integrated offices in CEE which provide seamless service to the client”, Christian Temmel said.

Phillip Dubsky added: “A further challenge of the transaction was the competitive bidding process, which was completed within a rather short timeframe.”

Both Christian Temmel and Phillip Dubsky stressed the fact that they very much appreciated the cooperation with the extremely professional team from UBS.