BROOKLYN — This holy week, while faithful Jews celebrate Passover and Christians prepare for Easter, federal and state prosecutors have been busy tracking down individuals preoccupied with other themes: sex, drugs, and greed.

Twelve people were arrested Tuesday and charged as members of a cocaine trafficking and money laundering organization. They joined one alleged codefendant already in custody on unrelated charges. According to the complaints, 11 defendants were members of a large importation ring that smuggled cocaine into the United States from Guyana.

Eight of them, including Shafeek Ali and Okobo Vieira, both of East New York, allegedly distributed the cocaine in Brooklyn and Queens. Dino Sattour, of Bushwick, and a Queens man allegedly participated in importing the drugs and wired the proceeds from Queens to Guyana. The other defendants are from Queens, the Bronx, and other areas in New York.

Between June 2002 and June 2003, the defendants allegedly distributed and/or imported into the United States about 70 kilograms of cocaine.

Two other defendants, members of a separate ring, are also charged with laundering narcotics proceeds, including the drug proceeds from this smuggling ring, primarily out of a residence in Floral Park, N.Y. Sabrina and Arnold Budhram allegedly laundered about $10 million in drug money since 1986 by disguising the funds as money belonging to a front company, Sabena Manufacturing and Sales, and inactive textile trading company.

Once the money was “washed,” the Budhrams arranged to transport it to Guyana in luggage carried by their associates.

This week’s arrests were part of an 18-month investigation into Guyanese cocaine trafficking and money laundering networks by ICE, with the assistance of the DEA, that has been conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Justice Organized Crime Enforcement Task Force.

To date, federal agents have seized more than 380 kilograms of cocaine arriving on board international flights to J.F.K. International Airport and Miami International Airport, overwhelmingly from Guyana, in about 50 separate seizures, the Eastern District U.S. Attorney announced.

If convicted, some of the defendants face mandatory prison terms of five to ten years, and maximum fines of $2 to $4 million.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the Eastern District Michael J. Ramos, Taryn A. Merkl, and Max Minzer are prosecuting the case.

***

Eighteen people associated with popular “escort services” located in Brooklyn, Staten Island, and Queens were indicted Wednesday for promoting prostitution and related charges, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced.

The indictments by a Staten Island grand jury followed a lengthy investigation of the escort services, which authorities believe were a front for a massive prostitution ring.

“This was a sophisticated and lucrative operation with a multi-tiered management structure,” Spitzer said. “It was, however, nothing more than a prostitution ring, and now its owners and operators will be held accountable.”

The escort services advertised under various names, like Personal Touch and Sweet.

Eight of them operated out of 2537 Cropsey Ave., in Bensonhurst: My Day Dreams, White Diamonds, Gentleman’s Delight, PT Entertainment, Lexxus Entertainment, N&G Entertainment, Ladies, Britney’s. The operation ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week, accepting payment for prostitution services in cash or credit, authorities say. The credit card transactions were processed through different merchant accounts, each of which claimed to provide legitimate services to its customers.

Office managers at each location allegedly supervised and directed the activities of 15 to 20 drivers and 30 to 40 prostitutes every day, who were dispatched to all five boroughs of New York City, to Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties, and suburban New Jersey.

Frank Farella, of Staten Island, stands charged as the owner and boss of the illegal business. Defendants John Pioppo, of Staten Island, and Mario Galbo, of Brooklyn, were allegedly upper-level managers responsible for the day-to-day operation of the criminal enterprise.

Galbo and Pioppo allegedly supervised the office managers, including Brooklynites Mildred Scarpa, Angela Altman, April Beiner, Lillian Demalteris, Debra Gutierrez, Karen Kelly, Melissa Giandinoto; and six other women from Staten Island and Queens: Joann Corey, Dorothy Bray, Cynthia Dimele, Cynthia Raiser, Louise Santanastasio, Teresa Vera — all named defendants in the case and charged with promoting prostitution.

They all stand charged with Enterprise Corruption, a class B felony which carries a possible penalty of up to 8 1/3 to 25 years, and several counts of Promoting Prostitution in the Third Degree, a class D felony.

Farella and Pioppo were also charged with falsifying business records and money laundering. In two separate but related indictments, Lester Thompson, 46, of Coram, Long Island, was charged with falsifying business records, and Norman Greenblatt, 67, of Staten Island, with promoting prostitution, falsifying business records and money laundering.

Farella, Pioppo and Greenblatt allegedly falsified applications to open merchant accounts for processing credit card transactions, hiding the true nature of the business. Their business allegedly laundered millions of dollars through these merchant accounts from January 1998 through March 2004. OCTF’s Supervising Investigator Diego Cruz, under the direction of Chief Investigator Thomas Mullen, led the investigation. Assistant Deputy Attorney General Amy Cohn, under the direction of Christopher Prather, deputy attorney general in charge of the OCTF, is handling the prosecution.

“These individuals thought they could hide in plain sight by pretending to provide legitimate and legal services without their true practices being discovered. The only escort they are getting now is a police escort,” said New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly.

You Can’t Win ‘Em All

In spite of the massive arrests and indictments brought this week, one young Brooklyn man who killed his girlfriend and stuffed her body in a suitcase was acquitted of murder, last Friday.

Marc Payne, 29, was convicted of manslaughter for choking Brenda Miller to death and folding her body into a small valise which he stored in his closet until it began to reek.

Payne will be sentenced on April 20, and could face up to about 20 years in prison for his convictions. “Honestly, I thought all along this was the likely verdict,” Payne’s confident attorney, James L. Koenig, told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.