Trial starting in case of drug-money launderer who was slain in '02

In late spring 2002, alleged drug kingpin Maurice Phillips got word that a woman who had been laundering drug proceeds for him and other dealers was talking with the feds, authorities say.

Phillips decided that the woman, Chineta Glanville, knew too much. So he moved against her.

As authorities tell it, Phillips called his cousin in Tennessee - identified only as "BP" in court documents - and made him an offer he couldn't refuse: Silence Glanville permanently and he would pay him $18,000.

On June 25, 2002, the month after she had told the feds of her involvement in money-laundering for Phillips and others, Glanville opened the door of her Wyndmoor, Montgomery County, home for someone she thought was a deliveryman, who fatally shot her and a relative.

This week, more than 6 1/2 years after the slaying, Phillips goes on trial in the death-penalty case in which his attorney is arguing that Glanville's statements to the feds should not be used against him because she is dead and he cannot confront her in court.

Jury selection begins today in federal district court.

Phillips, 39, formerly of Upper Marlboro, Md., was convicted in state court in Maryland in 1991 for drug-dealing. He also allegedly oversaw a $31 million cocaine-trafficking organization from 1998 through 2007 that stretched from Virginia to New York and distributed thousands of kilograms of cocaine.

A source close to the investigation said that the wholesale value of the coke distributed by Phillips' organization was "well north of" the $31 million figure cited in the indictment and "far exceeded" that of Alton "Ace Capone" Coles' drug-trafficking gang. Coles was sentenced last year to life behind bars for running a $25 million cocaine-trafficking organization.

Defense attorneys say that Phillips is not the bad dude portrayed by the feds.

"We hope to portray him in a different light," said Newark, N.J.-based defense attorney Thomas R. Ashley, who declined to comment on the case, including whether Phillips will take the stand in his own defense.

Far and away the most sensational aspect of the case is the murder-for-hire charge and whether statements Glanville gave to authorities about Phillips can be used against him.

Federal agents had raided Glanville's home in May 2002.

Prosecutors said in a court filing in November that Glanville was interviewed by federal agents and gave them the names of several drug dealers - including Phillips - whom she described as clients and for whom she laundered drug proceeds.