Alleged Drug Dealer Likens U.S. Case to ‘Let’s Make a Deal’

Likening the government’s case against him to the game show, “Let’s Make a Deal,” accused cocaine kingpin Elrader (Ray Ray) Browning Jr. told a federal jury Thursday that at least one of the principal witnesses against him is a liar who “would have jumped through a burning hoop to please Monty Hall.”

In an elaborate television metaphor, Browning, who is acting as his own legal counsel, referred to himself as “The Fall Guy.” He compared prosecutors John S. Gordon and Lisa B. Lench, respectively, to Hall, the “Let’s Make a Deal” host, and Vanna White, who turns the placards on “The Wheel of Fortune” game show.

“This is the time for truth or consequences,” Browning said as he concluded his 50-minute final argument to the jury in Los Angeles federal court. “I’ve done all that I could to bring the truth out. . . . This conspiracy as charged and set up by the government, I’m not a part of.”

But Gordon, an assistant U.S. attorney, argued that Browning personally directed the complex activities of a major narcotics ring that each month distributed 80 kilograms of cocaine and lesser amounts of heroin in Los Angeles, Pasadena, Inglewood, Oakland and Detroit. The value of the monthly transactions has been variously estimated at between $1.5 million and $2.5 million.

‘They’re All Crooks’

Of the government witnesses whose integrity Browning questioned, Gordon said, “I’m not asking you to take John Milan out to lunch, or to have Nei Wells go out with one of your sons, or to invest with Marvin Adams. They’re all crooks.”

But, the prosecutor argued, their testimony implicating Browning and co-defendant James H. (Doc) Holiday in a series of drug transactions is solidly corroborated by secret government tape recordings of perhaps 200 conversations among the witnesses, the defendants and their associates.

“The evidence out of the defendants’ own mouths is overwhelming,” Gordon told the jury.

Worked As ‘Enforcer’

Milan testified that he was formerly employed by Browning’s organization as an “enforcer” and drug courier, and that Browning, in orders that were always oblique or indirect, commanded him to commit acts of violence. Milan, who has pleaded guilty to two charges in the case, agreed to testify against Browning after an attempt was made on his life. It was Milan whom Browning accused of being willing to jump through burning hoops.

Wells, identified as Browning’s second-in-command and his former girlfriend, told the jury that Browning led the drug ring, whose operation she described in detail. Wells has pleaded guilty to four drug charges in the case.

Adams, a convicted felon, concert promoter and government informant, recounted repeated drug dealings with Wells and Browning.

Browning, 33, is charged with 44 felonies--including drug trafficking, money laundering, conspiracy and acting as the principal organizer of a continuing criminal enterprise that distributed large amounts of drugs. If convicted of the latter charge, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Holiday, 46, is charged with four counts, including one that alleges conspiracy. Also acting as his own lawyer, Holiday told the jury in his final argument that he loaned only his name to assist in drug business conducted by Will (Big Will) Packer, a man Holiday likened to a son.

Holiday noted that Packer testified during the 2 1/2-week trial that he lied when he told others that he was purchasing drugs on Holiday’s behalf. Wells testified that Packer worked for Holiday as a drug dealer.

Of the government’s case against him, Holiday said, “I look at all the evidence that has been mounted up and mounted up and I say, ‘Man, where am I in there?’ I’m a very small pebble off in the corner.”

But Gordon disagreed, telling jurors that Holiday played an integral part in the overall conspiracy to distribute drugs.

Discuss Drugs’ Quality

“This story about Doc’s (Holiday’s) name being used (by Packer) is nothing more than a fabrication,” Gordon said, noting that Holiday, himself, is heard in a secretly recorded conversation discussing the quality of the cocaine provided by Browning’s organization.

The organization allegedly run by Browning was shut down on June 30, 1987, when a task force of federal, state and county law officers, many of whom testified during the trial, arrested the alleged principals.

Of 27 defendants in the case originally named in a federal indictment, Browning and Holiday are the only ones to have gone to trial.

Seventeen have pleaded guilty, two are being prosecuted elsewhere and four, including Browning’s brother Rodney, are fugitives. Charges against two others were dismissed.