Suspected ‘Valley Boys’ Drug Ring Broken Up

For years, Glendale police had heard about “Big Carlos,” a drug trafficker who supplied a loose confederation of San Fernando Valley-based street dealers with cocaine.

Now, they think they’ve found him--in the person of a 6-foot-5 former Cal State Northridge All-California football player named Carlos Edward Rivera.

Rivera, 28, who played offensive tackle for the Northridge Matadors between 1983 and 1986, was arrested in a raid early Thursday morning at the Canyon Country home he shares with his wife and two children, police said. In separate arrests the same morning, three men and a woman--who police say was Rivera’s mistress--were also taken into custody.

Lt. Don MacNeil, head of the Glendale police narcotics unit, which conducted the investigations, alleged that Rivera was responsible for distributing “hundreds of kilos” of cocaine each month.

At his $325,000 house, police found and seized a $70,000 1978 Porsche 930, a 1990 BMW 750il, a 1991 Nissan Pathfinder with a trailered jet ski and a 1990 Lincoln limousine. All of the vehicles were registered to Rivera.

Arrested along with Rivera were David Thomas Lara, 28, of Sherman Oaks; Richard Inouye, 28, of Simi Valley; Eugene Charles Schneider, 47, of Studio City, and Tracy Lynette Griffith, 22, of North Hollywood.

Officers said they seized 31 pounds of cocaine, worth $1.14 million on the street, five pounds of marijuana, worth $10,000, and $10,000 in cash.

The arrests this week, MacNeil said, follow up on 10 arrests made in March and will bring the activities of the gang--dubbed the “Valley Boys”--to a virtual halt. Among those arrested in the March roundup was William (Billy) Mikus, a dealer who police suspect was buying his drugs from Rivera.

At its peak, the group included as many as 100 dealers and hangers-on, supplying cocaine, marijuana and steroids throughout the Valley, MacNeil said.

“They’re not Pablo Escobar,” MacNeil said, comparing the gang to the leader of one of Colombia’s most notorious drug cartels. “But in the San Fernando Valley, they’re responsible for the movement of large amounts of marijuana and cocaine.”

MacNeil said that with the exception of Rivera, the Valley Boys grew up together in the Valley and gravitated one-by-one, copycat-style, to the drug trade.

“Most of them had ties either through school, local sports or neighbors,” MacNeil said, and generally came from upper-middle-class, white homes.

They tended to be “young, fairly athletic, and lacking a college education,” he said. “They all seem to have had some experience in the business world or running small businesses.”

The five suspects are in custody at the Glendale Jail, with bail temporarily set at $2 million each. They are scheduled to be arraigned Monday and be charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Times correspondent Tommy Li contributed to this report.