Alleged Drug Lord to Be Tried First in San Diego : Crime: Jorge Roca Suarez faces cocaine charges there. He was indicted in a tax case in Los Angeles.

A federal judge in Los Angeles agreed Monday to a request from lawyers for a reputed Bolivian cocaine kingpin that he be allowed to stand trial in San Diego on drug trafficking charges before he is tried on tax evasion and bank fraud charges in Los Angeles.

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson said it made sense to grant the request from attorneys for Jorge Roca Suarez, who was arrested last month in San Marino. On Dec. 14, Roca was indicted on 18 counts of drug trafficking in San Diego and 12 counts of tax fraud and other crimes in Los Angeles. Several members of Roca’s family also were indicted in the two cases.

There is some overlap on charges in the two cases. Michael D. Abzug, a veteran Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer who is representing Roca in the San Diego case, said his client preferred to be tried there first. Errol Stambler, another of Roca’s attorneys, asserted that if Roca is acquitted in San Diego it will help his defense in the Los Angeles case.

Roca faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted in the San Diego case, which involves allegations that he ran a multi-ton cocaine trafficking organization. He also faces substantial prison time if convicted of the Los Angeles charges.

The indictment here alleges that Roca conspired to defraud the United States by failing to pay taxes. The indictment also says that in 1985 and 1986 his sister, Beatriz Roca, and their mother, Blanca Suarez, received $50 million to $60 million in cash from members of the narcotics conspiracy and the money was deposited in banks throughout Southern California. The two women took the steps to aid Roca Suarez’ tax-evasion conspiracy, according to the indictment.

Assistant U.S. Atty. John F. Gibbons, the lead prosecutor in the Los Angeles case, did not oppose Abzug’s proposal to allow the San Diego case to go first.

Gibbons said after the hearing that the Los Angeles case “doesn’t rise or fall on the outcome of the San Diego case. Our allegation is that they evaded taxes in the United States. That does not hinge on drugs.”

No date has been set for Roca’s arraignment in San Diego.