Drug Agents’ Tips to Dealers Alleged : Officials Say Activities of 3 Suspects May Have Involved Arrest Warnings

Three former federal drug agents charged in a cocaine corruption case joined forces with some of the major drug dealers in Los Angeles in a partnership that may have included providing inside tips on pending investigations and arrests, federal officials said Wednesday.

One tip allegedly provided to convicted drug dealer Ray Ray Browning, a large supplier of cocaine in South-Central Los Angeles, may have helped two of Browning’s top associates escape prosecution, U.S. government sources said.

Investigators are looking into allegations that the three former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents were involved in cocaine dealing as well as money laundering. The allegations were made Wednesday in court papers that portrayed the men as hooked on a life of luxury that included $500,000 homes, a red Ferrari for one of them and frequent trips to Europe.

Magnitude of Case

“It’s fair to say this is the most significant corruption case involving DEA agents in Southern California and, I believe, in the country,” U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner said in an interview. “We’ve had individual agents cross the line before, but I can’t recall one where three agents conspired together on something of this magnitude.”

Charged Tuesday in the case were former DEA Agents John Jackson, Darnell Garcia and Wayne Countryman, who were accused of conspiring to launder more than $600,000 in drug profits through various banks in the United States and Switzerland.

Garcia is still a fugitive in the case. The last drug case against a DEA agent in Los Angeles was five years ago, when George Hoelker was convicted in a conspiracy to sell about five pounds of cocaine.

Federal officials said Garcia and Jackson began their alleged criminal activities in 1984 and were joined later by Countryman. All three men were veteran Los Angeles DEA agents and were known to be close friends.

In a search warrant application released Wednesday, Internal Revenue Service Agent John Anderson said the investigation into their suspected cocaine dealings began with Jackson and was expanded in 1987 to include Garcia and Countryman.

“Our investigation uncovered evidence that supported the allegation that the three former DEA agents were involved in money laundering and narcotics trafficking during and following their employment as special agents,” Anderson wrote.

The investigation, Anderson said, also disclosed that both Jackson and Garcia were known acquaintances of several former associates of convicted Los Angeles drug dealer Thomas E. (Tootie) Reese, including two federal fugitives named Ron and Conway Waddy.

Travel to Switzerland

The three agents had left the DEA, the nation’s lead law enforcement agency in the war on drugs, by September, 1987, after giving a variety of reasons, including poor health. They began traveling frequently to Switzerland and spending large sums of money for luxury homes and cars, federal officials said.

Last year, while the target of DEA surveillance, Garcia bought a house in Rancho Palos Verdes for $581,600, paying cash for most of it. Jackson, 39, regarded by former colleagues as possibly the “smoothest” undercover agent in the group, bought a home in Claremont this year for $750,000.

According to Anderson’s search warrant affidavit, frequent meetings between the DEA agents and top cocaine dealers were observed beginning in 1986, after Garcia leased an apartment at Bunker Hill Towers in downtown Los Angeles.

Anderson says neighbors have recognized pictures of the Waddy brothers, described as “thugs,” meeting at Garcia’s apartment and using a pay phone in the lobby. The same people also identified pictures of Jackson and Countryman using the same pay phones frequently, he said.

According to one source, Garcia was known to drive a red Ferrari belonging to a friend of Ron Waddy, while Jackson drove a Mercedes-Benz. During the same period in 1986, according to federal records, Garcia claimed an annual income for himself of $1,498 and Jackson reported earning $12,546.

According to the affidavit to search Garcia’s home, Garcia once approached the FBI to gain information about the Waddy brothers while they were operating in Detroit. In June, 1987, Garcia also asked the Los Angeles Police Department’s narcotic intelligence network for permission to review the files on the Waddy brothers.

In a supporting court document filed by Assistant U.S. Atty. Joyce Karlin, prosecutors suggested that Garcia might have provided the tip that allowed some members of the Ray Ray Browning organization to escape prosecution when indicted earlier this year as major crack cocaine suppliers for much of Los Angeles.

“Ron Waddy is the key suspect in the investigation of a leak to Ray Ray Browning on the day of Browning’s arrest,” Karlin noted. “Our investigation includes allegations that Ron Waddy learned of the intended Browning arrest from Darnell Garcia.”

Garcia, 41, an agent for eight years, was viewed by some DEA agents as a malcontent. He was declared absent without leave on one occasion in October, 1985, and ordered transferred to Detroit the same year. Garcia fought the transfer, however. He was fired, but later reinstated in his job by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Federal officials moved to arrest all three suspects Tuesday when it became clear that Garcia had somehow learned that an arrest was imminent and made plans to leave the country, possibly for Spain.

While Jackson remained in federal prison in lieu of bond as a flight risk Wednesday, Countryman, 45, described by authorities as the least involved member of the alleged ring, was free on $125,000 bail at his home in Walnut.

Neither Countryman nor the lawyer for Jackson had any comment Wednesday.

Bonner and other officials expressed concern Wednesday about how Garcia may have found out about his pending arrest.

“We’re concerned that he might have been tipped,” Bonner said. “That doesn’t suggest somebody else in the DEA, but all three obviously had contacts with some of their former colleagues. Frankly, all three knew they were under investigation. We didn’t think they knew when the shoe was going to drop. It appears at least that Garcia may have been tipped.”

Jackson, an agent for 14 years, resigned in 1987 after going on extended sick leave for more than a year during the peak of his alleged drug dealing and money laundering activities. Countryman, an agent for nine years, left the DEA in 1986 after receiving disability for a back injury.

In the investigation leading to Tuesday’s charges, federal agents established that the three suspects had opened several businesses in the last two years.

Countryman and Garcia are partners in a firm called Countryman Garcia Special Investigations at 1055 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles. Jackson’s business ventures have included a firm called Diversified International in Alta Loma and Galaxy Arcade, a video arcade in Rancho Cucamonga.

While federal officials stressed Wednesday that only money laundering charges have been filed so far against the suspects, they said all were involved in cocaine dealing and singled out Garcia as the link in tipping other suspected dealers of pending investigations.