GLENDALE : Police Offer to Trade Seized Luxury Cars

Mercedes and Porsches may be the automobiles that define the lifestyle of the California elite, but Glendale police have no use for such cars, which were among their trophies for bringing down the San Fernando Valley-based drug empire known as the Monkey Boys.

“These vehicles are too exotic for use in our fleet,” said Lt. Don MacNeil, who oversaw the investigation that brought down the Monkey Boys organization last year.

Glendale police acquired about half a dozen luxury vehicles from the organization early this year, just before the state law that allowed law enforcement to seize the assets of drug dealers expired.

Now, the department is trying to find a car dealer willing to make an exchange for automobiles of comparable price that are more suited to police work.

The cars confiscated include a 1978 Porsche 911, a 1974 Porsche 930, a 1992 Volkswagen Cabriolet, a 1991 Mercedes 500SL and a Sea-Doo personal water-craft (jet ski) with a trailer.

Last week, the Glendale City Council authorized police to solicit potential swaps. Advertisements for bids started this week and a bid opening is scheduled for Aug. 23.

The Monkey Boys, so named by police for the way dealers mimicked each other’s free-spending ways, was a drug ring that authorities believe reached into Europe and Japan. After a two-year investigation, police broke up the ring.

Five alleged ring leaders are awaiting trial, while three others have pleaded guilty to lesser charges. More than 30 Monkey Boys have been convicted or charged with crimes related to the drug dealing, authorities said.

Not all of the vehicles seized by police are up for exchange. A white stretch limousine and a Nissan Pathfinder both had to be returned to the lien holder. Police also chose to put a heavy-duty Chevrolet pickup truck into service as an equipment vehicle for the police heliport at Burbank Airport, MacNeil said.

The pickup truck, now painted in police black and white, can sometimes be seen on the Golden State Freeway on its route between Glendale and Burbank Airport, MacNeil said.

The last time Glendale police had an exotic car for exchange was in 1991, when more than 1,000 people vied to trade for an $80,000 Ferrari. The automobile was eventually traded for five plain-vanilla, mid-sized American cars.