A few weeks earlier, the way the Marti family tells the story, Omar Marti, the prodigal son, had turned up on the door step of his the Paulison Avenue house where his father Victor Sr. and his brother Victor Jr. lived. The bench warrant for his arrest in Binghamton was, in all likelihood, the biggest factor in his decision to relocate, authorities say.

But of course he also had business interests in Passaic. He had, by all appearances, plans to make a mark in the local drug trade, and he had invested heavily in his operation, setting up a kind of illicit green house for hydroponically-grown dope in his father's attic, says Assistant Passaic County Prosecutor Salvatore Bellamo.

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"He had two grow lamps in that room up in the attic each of those lamps was a thousand watt lamp. They were hooked up to a motor and a timer which simulated daylight and nighttime," Bellamo said. "This isn't something that a wannabe would have. This is a setup of someone who's in the business of growing and selling marijuana."

Though authorities maintain that both his father and brother were involved in the business, their attorneys deny that. They concede however, that there is virtually no chance that either of the men was unaware of Omar Marti's business.

The water to feed the operation was pumped into the attic with a garden hose run from Victor Marti Sr.'s apartment, and the electricity that ran those massive grow lights came from extension cords run from the same apartment. Walking out of their first floor apartment, both men had to be careful not to literally trip over the evidence of Omar Marti's illicit drug operation.

"Victor Junior knew about it," says his attorney, Adolph Gallucio, "but had nothing to do with it."

On the contrary, Gallucio contends that his client, who after his own minor scrapes with the law claimed to have found Jesus in 2000, had spent much of his time trying to convince his kid brother of the error of his ways. "He...really tried to change his brother's way of life," Gallucio said. "He was bent on that."

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