yesterday from a damning tape in which the accused's roommate brags about his cocaine dealings.

And the man who secretly made the tape, a local prisoner, is expected to testify this morning in a bid to prove it is authentic, Supreme Court heard.

Crown counsel Mr. Diarmuid Doorly spent most of the afternoon putting sections of the tape's transcript to defence witness Dexter Dillas in an effort to show there were "inconsistencies'' in his testimony.

But his cross examination was repeatedly interrupted by objections from Ebbin's lawyer Mr. Archie Warner.

Mr. Warner demanded to know the relevance of the sections Mr. Doorly was putting to Dillas.

He said that whether Dillas' unnamed lawyer knew the Cubans who headed a Miami-based cocaine empire did not touch on the guilt or innocence of Ebbin.

At one point he stood up and accused the prosecutor of "deliberately attempting to drag people's names into the proceedings''.

The remark prompted Mr. Doorly to ask Puisne Judge the Hon. Mrs. Justice Wade to control the lawyer's behaviour. Mr. Doorly insisted his line of questioning was relevant because Dillas had implied his witnesses were liars.

Mrs. Justice Wade reminded counsel she had ruled on Friday that certain sections of the tape were admissible. However, she asked Mr. Doorly to try and stick to the relevant parts.

Dillas has told the jury he decided to plead guilty in his retrial last October because he found out a cellmate had secretly taped him telling all about his and others' drug dealings.

The prisoner has testified Ebbin did not know he was a "cocaine distributor'', or that he bought drugs from Cuban-American Antonio Miranda.

Ebbin's only role in the conspiracy, he claimed, was selling about five "wraps'' of cocaine for him.

Dillas, serving 18-years for importing cocaine, has denied knowing the Cuban brothers who headed the vast drug ring, Marcus Cojab and Hugo Mata. And he claims he never met couriers Julio Junkie and Victor Alongi, and neither did he know Angela Trapasso was a courier.

Dillas has also denied knowing a third courier, Deborah Lee Owens, who Mr.

Doorly submitted was pregnant with his child when she was gunned down in New Jersey, allegedly by the Cuban brothers.

Mr. Doorly, reading from the transcript, put it to Dillas that he told cellmates: "$120,000 worth of cocaine used to go in about a week...I used to have a thing with my boy and I made 60 (thousand dollars) and he made 60.'' And he said, "Deborah, the girl I was messing with, was a runner...Debbie would come down a lot and stayed at Ted Ming's.'' Dillas said he did not recall making the two statements.

Reading from the transcript again, Mr. Doorly said Dillas spoke of flushing cocaine down the toilet just before Police raided his and Ebbin's apartment in May 1990.

Mr. Doorly said: "Didn't you say: `I was lying on the couch when they came in. I jumped off the (expletive) couch -- and (flushed it) straight down the (expletive) toilet.'' Mr. Doorly further put it to Dillas that he said on the tape: "The Police can never prove I knew those Cubans. ..All four Bermudians have denied knowing those people -- that's what makes their case so weak.'' The prosecutor said Dillas described courier Alongi as an "off-straight (expletive) guy'' who introduced him to Cojab.

And he said Dillas said, "Cojab -- the one going up for murder -- called me and said he was on my side and to fight it''.

Dillas said he did not recall making any of those statements either. Mr.

Doorly then submitted Dillas had told "a pack of lies'' on the stand and asked that the transcript be admitted as evidence.

Mrs. Justice Wade said the prisoner who made the tape would first have to be called to the stand to verify its authenticity.

The trial, entering its third week, did not resume until the late afternoon.

Lawyers spent the entire morning in legal arguments in the absence of the jury.

Ebbin 35, has denied importing cocaine between May 11 and May 20 of 1990 and conspiring to import the drug between October 1988 and May 17 1990 with others not before the court.