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Show SALT LAKE MAN Ifl CUSTODY AS NARCOTIC KING Narcotic Drugs Valued at $50,000 Seized by Federal Agents Following Arrest on South West Temple DEALER MADE PROFIT OF $3000 A MONTH -Large Quantities of illicit Dope Received by Mail From New York and Distributed Dis-tributed Throughout West Btoppape of one of the main sources Of narcotic supplies In this territory waa effected Thursday when Irving Brown and If. W. Ballalne. agent, for the department of justice working work-ing under H. V. Williamson, general asent In charge of narcotic law enforcement en-forcement for the Intcrmountnln district, dis-trict, arrested Krank K. Nickolla at Ma home. 670 South West Temple, and seized more than $,".0,000 In heroin, morphine and cocaine. Tho arrest of V:r!;o!ls ended a fourteen weeks' hunt by tile federal agents for the drug broker here whose connections connec-tions were with :ew York dltrlhutors. Agents in, New York were sdvised by telegraph and tho distributing agency there was raided Saturday. Nlrkolls was realising a profit of more than Uono monthly from the brokerage of the contraband narcotics, nar-cotics, it Is snld. Monty orders, bills and bookn seized at his home showed that In July, August and September Nlrkolls hud handied a quantity of drugs which at prevailing "retail" Tirkes would run into a, J.100.000 a je.tr business. He was making arrangements ar-rangements to handle narcotics on a , till larger scale when the federal officers rut short his actlvltlfs sc. cording to their report. Under tha Harrison act Nickolla may receive a total of seventy years' Imprisonment, five years for each of fourteen counts against him. OPERATED BY MAIL. Nlckolls conducted ai extensive rnall order business in narcotics, making shipments to customers in Pacific coast cities. It is alleged. He lived here with his wife and baby, a ' family man with independent income, ao far as the neighbors were concerned. con-cerned. Only a fraction of his business busi-ness was conducted from the residence. resi-dence. For the moat part his narcotic activities centered about a room he rented leas than two blocks away at 124 South West Temple. It was In this room that the bulk of Nickolls-csche Nickolls-csche was found. A ten-ounce shipment ship-ment of morphine arriving by mail from New York waa also seized. Nickolls. according to Agent Williamson, Wil-liamson, is the only local broker having hav-ing direct connections with New York. There nre others here, he believes, who secure their supplies through connections' in Canada, Mexico and Fan Francisco. All told, he estimates, nearly $1,000,000 In ntrcotlcs nre sold through local agencies each year, and that over $.'00.000 of tlie habit forming form-ing drugs are consumed yearly by addicts in the vicinity of Salt Lake. MANY CLAIM BIG PROFIT. J The drugs are handled several times, and each handling takes a handsome profit, before t!i"V reach the unfortunate victims. This distributing dis-tributing chain starts with an Importer Im-porter or manufacturer In one of the big centers. These big "producers" furnish a selected clientele of brokers, of which Nickolls wa one. The brokers sell to "wholesalers," who In turn supply the "retalrs" or street) peddlers with a following among the! actual users. , Nickolls. according to his rer-ords. . paid an average price of 10 cents per ; grsin for his drugs. That included . the "producers'" price, cost of trans-' portatlon and handline. Ho brokered it for 25 cents per grain After the "wholesaler" and "refiner" bad taken their profits, the drug sddtct paid from II. 25 to $2 a irrain. At that the drugs were diluted and short-weighted short-weighted to almost double those fl. Tjres so far as the pure drug content was concerned. DRUGS DILUTEHv . A qusntlty of sugar of milk, used j fn the dilution of cocaine. wa found In Nickolls' plant In the residential , section. When Nickolls would receive i a supply of drugs he would dilute 1 them before sale to his vhnlcwie j string. These wholesalers, buying '-'V the ounce, took " an extra profit !v ahortweighting the "hindles" oreonr-.! ; for aale by the street peddlers. Th- i game system holds for all other "gangs" operating In the country to-day. to-day. The traffic Is well organized. ; vith probably a dozen Independent ) organlzationa working on a large aca?e with distributing facilities In nearly; every town. Thousands are engaged J In the traffic, according to Agent Williamson, and some of the drug "brokers" have credit sufficient to, wing a II 000.000 line of the contraband con-traband drugs. Most of those In the drug rings are users of narcotics. Nickolls. according accord-ing to the arresting officers. Is a heroin fiend. With his arrest the few York source Is ahut off so far as the local field Is concerned, snd an effort will ba made to round up the brokera here, for Tinas centering In Kl paao, Kan Francisco and Vancouver. Van-couver. H AO MANY CUSTOMERS. . , Nickolls' mall ord-r business was axtfnstve. He had customers in Seattle, Portland. San Francisco, Loa 'Continued on page 1.) , , |