Lawyer Killed, Officer Hurt in Raid on Alleged Cocaine Ring

A 71-year-old lawyer was killed by police gunfire early Thursday at his Sylmar home after he allegedly shot and wounded a Los Angeles police officer during one in a series of simultaneous raids on suspected members of a multimillion-dollar cocaine and money-laundering ring, authorities said.

Russell William Bledsoe, a specialist in international law with an office in San Fernando, died at his home at 13755 Glenoaks Blvd. after being shot three times in the upper torso, Los Angeles Police Lt. Charles Higbie said.

Bledsoe was described by federal authorities as a leader of a national ring suspected of laundering more than $7 million in illegal cocaine profits between November, 1985, and now, using banks in Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Costa Rica.

Bledsoe’s role in the ring was to help recruit people to deposit illegal cocaine profits in banks, Assistant U.S. Atty. John S. Gordon said.

The wounded officer, Robert F. Gallegos, 37, was reported in good condition Thursday night at Holy Cross Hospital after surgery for a wound to his left hand.

About 20 Los Angeles police Special Weapons and Tactics officers and Internal Revenue Service agents arrived at Bledsoe’s home about 6 a.m. to serve search and arrest warrants charging the attorney with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and aiding and abetting cocaine distribution by laundering money from cocaine sales, U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner said.

After announcing their presence with a bullhorn and unsuccessfully demanding to be admitted to Bledsoe’s large, fenced-in home, police forced their way in, Higbie said.

Bledsoe, standing in a bedroom doorway, fired five rounds at Gallegos with a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun, Higbie said, with at least one bullet glancing off the officer’s bullet-proof vest and one or more rounds hitting the officer’s submachine gun and wounding him.

Bledsoe was then shot and killed by Officer Patrick J. Kouri, 36, Higbie said.

Police also shot and killed two large German shepherd dogs that allegedly attacked officers.

Officers later confiscated 61 guns from Bledsoe’s home and other guns from his law office.

Police also seized $232,000 in cash from a bank account traced to Bledsoe and another $110,000 at two other locations, Bonner said.

Twelve other people--11 in the Los Angeles area and one in Miami--were arrested in nine simultaneous raids Thursday morning resulting from a one-year investigation by the IRS’ Financial Investigation Task Force. Raids were also conducted in Cerritos and West Covina.

The arrested suspects are among 16 people charged in the alleged conspiracy, officials said.

Friends and neighbors described Bledsoe as a quiet man, active in local church affairs, who liked to work in his yard. The lawyer collected guns and owned race horses in Costa Rica, said his longtime friend, Adolph De Lacerda, who added that Bledsoe and his wife, Delores, had separated recently.

Investigators said large amounts of the currency were laundered through Madeira Intex Inc., doing business as Tele Travel International, address unknown; Sorrentino Construction Inc./Calx Construction, Northridge; VIP Escrow, Arcadia, and Wally’s Liquor Market, 1955 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles.

Assistant U.S. Atty. John S. Gordon, who will prosecute the case, said the ringleader of the money-laundering operation, Alvaro Salcedo, a Florida-based Colombian, was arrested in Miami.

A dozen defendants were arraigned late Thursday afternoon by U.S. Magistrate Joseph Reichmann, who ordered four held without bond and set bail for the others at amounts ranging from $150,000 to $10,000.

Among those arrested, federal officials said, were Gregorio Hernan Restrepo of Woodland Hills; Jose Manuel Brito of Cerritos; Frank Arthur Salinas of West Covina and Emilio Chavez Sandoval of Sylmar. All were ordered detained without bail.

Also charged were Alfred Alfonso Rios, held in lieu of $150,000 bail; his wife, Irma Vega Diaz, and a John Doe, both fugitives.

Others arrested were Wally Guadalupe Godoy of Rowland Heights; Jerry Gennaro Sorrentino of Sylmar; Yolanda Areu, Arthur Newman, Jose Echeverria and Rita Chavez, all of Los Angeles, and Lynn Rae Pechi of Northridge.

Gordon said the IRS began an undercover investigation of the money-laundering ring in November, 1985.

According to court documents submitted by the IRS, the group laundered sums of up to $650,000 in various banks 78 separate times.

Times staff writer Deborrah Wilkinson contributed to this article.