Go to Redskins Section

Go to NFL Section

Go to Sports Section

U.S.: Deport Redskins' Owner's Wife

WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke's wife should be deported because of her guilty plea in a drug case, the Justice Department argued before a federal appeals court panel Thursday.

The proceedings were closed to the public, in part because details about Marlena Ramallo's role as a Drug Enforcement Agency informant were discussed, said her attorney, Richard Brusca.

``We feel very good about our case,'' Brusca said afterward. He declined further comment.

Ramallo, 42, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine in 1986, and won a reduced jail sentence in exchange for providing federal prosecutors with information on a drug cartel operating in her native Bolivia. She has argued that her life would be in jeopardy if she is deported there.

Documents in the case are under seal, but a Justice Department official speaking on condition of anonymity said the government has not stipulated Ramallo be deported to Bolivia. Ramallo has traveled extensively to Latin America in recent months, the official added.

Brusca insisted, however, that the deportation order would send his client to Bolivia.

At issue is whether an Immigration and Naturalization Service attorney promised Ramallo U.S. citizenship in exchange for her continued cooperation in the drug probe.

Cooke, 83, and Ramallo have had a tumultuous relationship in recent years. The couple remarried in 1995, after having been divorced in 1994.

That breakup came after Ramallo had several brushes with the law, including an embarrassing early-morning drunken-driving arrest in 1993. In that incident, she was apprehended after careening down a Georgetown street with a male companion sprawled across the hood of her Jaguar.