Fugitive Sought in Garcia Drug Case Seized in Paris

Ron Waddy, a major narcotics and money-laundering suspect who federal authorities charge was on the lam with former Los Angeles drug agent Darnell Garcia, has been arrested in Paris, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced Tuesday.

Garcia, indicted on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering, was captured last week in Luxembourg after a seven-month international manhunt spearheaded by his former employer, the DEA.

Waddy, according to Ralph B. Lochridge, a DEA spokesman in Los Angeles, was a fellow fugitive with Garcia, traveling under the name “Michael Broussard,” and had been staying with the former DEA agent at a hotel in central Paris.

After Garcia’s capture in Luxembourg, he said, Waddy fled to a smaller hotel near the Eiffel Tower, where he was arrested by DEA agents Monday.

‘Last Major Player’

“The last major player has been arrested,” Lochridge said.

This was a reference to what authorities believe was an underground criminal network that was helping Garcia, 42, of Rancho Palos Verdes, remain at large.

Ron Waddy and his brother, Conway Willie Waddy Jr., both of Detroit, are suspected of helping Garcia and two other former DEA agents conduct a secret drug-trafficking operation out of Los Angeles.

Conrad Waddy was arrested last April in Laughlin, Nev., by FBI agents acting on information supplied by the DEA.

The Waddy brothers, described in court documents in Los Angeles as “dangerous criminals,” are under indictment in Detroit on charges of laundering millions of dollars in drug proceeds and trafficking large quantities of cocaine.

Ron Waddy had been described by federal authorities as an “enforcer” for convicted narcotics kingpin Tootie Reese of Los Angeles.

Jury Indictment

Both Waddy brothers are named as unindicted co-conspirators in the 36-count drug-trafficking and money-laundering indictment returned against Garcia last December. Also indicted were two other former DEA agents and two other individuals.

The indictment charged that Garcia “would provide” the Waddy brothers and others “with intelligence regarding narcotics investigations.”

According to court documents, the brothers were tipped off to a federal investigation into their activities in Detroit by Garcia, who at the time was still working in the Los Angeles DEA office, and were given refuge by Garcia in a Bunker Hill Towers apartment after a Detroit grand jury indicted them in June, 1987.

Garcia, facing extradition from Luxembourg, and the other defendants are scheduled to stand trial in Los Angeles federal court in November.

“Sometimes agents believe they know the system and can beat it,” Lochridge said. “This case puts that to rest.”