Witness Ties Henley to Shipments : Courts: The Rams player backed cocaine deliveries, the widow of an alleged drug dealer testifies. She admits she never met the accused.

In key testimony for federal prosecutors, the widow of an alleged drug dealer described details Wednesday of a narcotics ring in which she said Rams cornerback Darryl Henley guaranteed hundreds of thousands of dollars for cross-country cocaine shipments.

Denise Manning testified that her husband, Eric, who was shot to death in September, 1993, outside their Covina home, told her about the alleged drug ring, including his own role in setting up three cocaine shipments to Memphis and Atlanta in the summer of 1993.

“Eric said Darryl Henley guaranteed the money” should something happen to the cocaine, Manning testified, adding that her husband was “excited” about Henley’s involvement.

Manning said her husband told her that Henley and co-defendant Willie McGowan were in charge of recruiting couriers, including former Rams cheerleader Tracy Donaho, to fly the cocaine across the country.

Donaho was arrested at an Atlanta airport in July, 1993, carrying a suitcase loaded with 25 pounds of cocaine. She testified against Henley earlier in the trial.

Manning said that in one conversation, her husband told her that Henley and McGowan talked of “taking out” Ralph Bustamante, a co-defendant who allegedly supplied the cocaine for the deals and was demanding money for the shipment seized in Atlanta.

“What did you understand ‘taking him out’ to mean?” Assistant U.S. Atty. Deirdre Z. Eliot asked Manning.

“Killing him,” she replied.

But under sometimes-intense questioning from defense attorneys, Manning admitted that she didn’t have first-hand knowledge of the alleged dealings and was only relying on what her husband told her.

“You never met Darryl Henley personally, did you?” asked attorney Roger Cossack, one of two lawyers representing the football player.

“Not to this day,” she answered.

Manning rejected contentions by defense attorneys that her husband was someone who would “exaggerate about things” or that he was a big-time dealer masterminding the entire operation.

The testimony, which capped much legal wrangling over what testimony from Manning would be allowed before jurors, came as prosecutors neared the end of their case against Henley, who has pleaded not guilty to federal drug conspiracy charges.

Also on trial are McGowan, Bustamante, Garey West, who allegedly distributed the cocaine in Memphis and Atlanta, and Henley’s uncle, Rex Henley. Each of the defendants has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors allege that Henley, 28, functioned as a “front man” for the drug ring, guaranteeing the payments on the cocaine shipments with his hefty Rams paychecks.

But Henley’s attorneys have said he is only friends with the co-defendants and never participated in a drug conspiracy.

Before Manning began her testimony Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor told jurors that there is nothing to suggest that any of the defendants or witnesses in the case had anything to do with Eric Manning’s death.

Under questioning from Eliot, Manning testified that her husband told her about several meetings and phone conversations during the summer of 1993 involving the defendants.

In one, Manning said her husband and Bustamante met with Henley at Rams Park in Anaheim about coming up with $250,000 to pay for the 25 pounds of cocaine seized in Atlanta. Manning said her husband came away from that meeting without any money.

“He said that Darryl would have to sign his new contract (with the Rams) and couldn’t just withdraw the money from his account because the Feds were watching him,” she testified.

Manning said her husband later told her that Bustamante was going to get someone to “beat Darryl up.”

Under questioning from defense attorneys, Manning said she never thought of herself as aiding and abetting a drug conspiracy by sometimes offering advice to her husband, such as telling him to make sure someone was guaranteeing payment for the cocaine. She said she believed she would not be prosecuted by the government for anything she said in her testimony.

Manning will return to the witness stand today for more questions from defense attorneys.