By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

          NEW YORK (AP) -- In his heyday, Emmanuel ``Toto'' Constant
          intimidated an entire nation. Now he's the strongman next door.

          Wanted for murder and mayhem in Haiti, Constant, 43, has lived with
          relatives in a quiet Caribbean neighborhood in Queens for the past four
          years.

          The fugitive paramilitary leader once boasted that voodoo -- as well as the
          CIA -- protected him from harm. But a vocal group of Haitian-American
          activists wants to break the spell.

          The group has been demanding that he be deported to Haiti and tried for
          atrocities committed after a military coup -- charges he denies.

          ``I can't believe this guy is living in our midst,'' Ray LaForest, a labor
          organizer and head of the Haiti Support Network, said recently. ``It's an
          outrage.''

          The anti-Constant campaign was energized last month by news that a
          Haitian court had sentenced him to life in prison following his conviction in
          absentia for the 1994 massacre of slum-dwellers loyal to ousted President
          Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Activists here responded by circulating a Constant
          wanted poster and turned up pressure on Washington, where officials have
          argued that Haiti is still too unstable to give him a fair trial.

          Human Rights Watch and other civil rights groups sent a letter to Attorney
          General Janet Reno and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

          The letter said the trial, resulting in the conviction of 16 defendants and the
          acquittal of six, ``illustrates that the Haitian justice system has the capacity
          to provide a fair trial to major defendants.'' The group said the United
          States should honor Haiti's extradition request.

          ``Constant's presence in New York is a daily source of dismay and even
          menace to the city's large Haitian community,'' the letter said. ``A number
          of these Haitians are terrified that Constant is freely walking the streets.''

          Justice Department spokeswoman Gretchen Michael said the
          government's position on Constant has not changed. ``The State
          Department has asked us not to deport Constant because it would be
          destabilizing,'' she said.

          Constant may be free, but he is lying low.

          For all the sightings reported by his opponents on Web sites and elsewhere
          -- Toto partying at nightclubs, selling phone cards and real estate, living the
          good life -- details about his whereabouts and livelihood are few. He
          reportedly lives on and off with an aunt in a white stucco house near
          Kennedy Airport.

          When word spread in August that Constant had gotten his real estate
          license and was working in a modest storefront office in Queens, about 30
          people responded with a noisy demonstration. Some screamed,
          ``Murderer!'' and ``Assassin!''

          Constant wasn't there at the time and hasn't been seen there since.

          Several calls to Constant's lawyer were not returned. But in a rare
          interview with Newsday last month, he claimed he was the innocent victim
          of political persecution.

          A charismatic, 6-foot-4 son of a military officer, Constant emerged as the
          leader of a right-wing paramilitary group, the Front for the Advancement
          and Progress of Haiti, or FRAPH, after Aristide was toppled in 1991.
          Human rights groups allege that between 1991 and 1994, FRAPH
          terrorized Aristide supporters, who were killed by the thousands.

          At the time, Constant boasted that he was a paid informant for the CIA.
          He ran for president, calling FRAPH a ``Salvation Army'' eager to help the
          poor. He carried a .357 Magnum on the campaign trail.

          ``The weapon is for psychological impact only,'' he explained. ``I have the
          power of voodoo with me.''

          After U.S. forces helped restore Aristide to power, Constant slipped into
          the United States through Puerto Rico on a tourist visa on Christmas Eve
          1994. Embarrassed U.S. officials denied accusations that they were
          harboring him because of his CIA connections.

          Warren Christopher, then secretary of state, warned that Constant's
          presence would damage U.S.-Haiti relations and asked Reno to deport
          him. Five months later, Immigration and Naturalization Service agents
          captured him in Queens.

          Constant appealed his deportation on the grounds he would be killed if sent
          back to Haiti. He was released in 1996 on the condition that he not travel
          outside New York City and that he report regularly to the INS.

          Raymond Joseph, publisher of the Haiti Observateur -- a right-leaning
          Brooklyn newspaper long critical of Aristide -- said deporting Constant
          would be unjust as long as a ``terrorist government'' still rules in Haiti.

          ``As far as I'm concerned, Toto Constant is no threat to me and not a
          threat to anyone here,'' Joseph said. ``I've always said that the State
          Department would be crazy to sent Constant to those thugs in Haiti.''