Drug Trafficking Los Angeles

A mistrial was declared Friday in the trial of former Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Rickey Ross, who was charged with attempting to purchase 22 pounds of cocaine from undercover officers. After almost four days of deliberation, the jury deadlocked 9 to 3 in favor of acquitting Ross of three counts of conspiracy to purchase cocaine for resale. Deputy Dist. Atty. Jane Winston said her office will probably seek to retry the case.

During opening statements of the drug conspiracy trial of former Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Rickey Ross on Monday, a prosecutor portrayed him as a member of a narcotics organization who sought to purchase 22 pounds of cocaine from undercover officers. But Ross' attorney contends that he is innocent and those testifying against him, a government informant and former Los Angeles Dodger Derrel Thomas, are "men of questionable background and character."

A former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy testified Friday that he never planned to buy cocaine with $151,000 found in the trunk of his rented car but thought the cash was to be used for "money laundering." In Rickey Ross' first comments about the case since he was arrested in 1992, he testified that he was set up by a government informant, who had promised financial assistance and lucrative business opportunities if Ross transported the cash for him.

Former Los Angeles Dodger Derrel Thomas and an ex-sheriff's deputy have been indicted on cocaine trafficking charges, a defense atorney said Friday. Thomas, 41, of Redondo Beach, and former deputy Rickey Ross, 43, of Rialto, are charged with conspiring to sell and buy cocaine and possessing $140,000 to spend on the drug, according to Ross'sattorney, Rowan Klein.

Federal prosecutors Tuesday unsealed a racketeering indictment against 26 suspected members of an 18th Street gang clique who are accused of controlling drug trafficking in the MacArthur Park area near downtown Los Angeles. The Columbia Li'l Cycos were described by law enforcement officials as one of the most violent and financially successful gang contingents in the city.

"Bunny" is a heavy-set, street-savvy New Yorker who knows his way around Brooklyn. He has made and lost fortunes trafficking in cocaine. A 60-year-old ex-convict with a criminal record going back four decades, Bunny knows people on both sides of the law. So, when he was convicted eight years ago on drug trafficking charges, he went to work with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in an undercover role to avoid a long prison sentence.

The man arrested last week in one of the largest seizures of the drug ecstasy in U.S. history is a textile importer who had previously been granted immunity in exchange for his testimony in a long-running investigation of the counterfeit clothing industry. Benjamin Wizmann, 41, was arrested at his Hollywood Hills home last week on suspicion of importing almost half a million ecstasy tablets.

The indictment Friday of George Gus Christie Jr. on 23 criminal counts represents the first time since 1987 that the Hells Angels leader has been charged with a serious crime. And Christie said he expects to again place his defense in the hands of Barry Tarlow, a prominent Los Angeles attorney and former federal prosecutor who gained Christie's acquittal in a murder-for-hire trial 14 years ago. "My lawyer and I will handle everything in the courtroom," Christie said last week.

The FBI announced Wednesday that it had cracked a Los Angeles drug network, with ties to the Medellin cartel, that distributed 50 tons of cocaine and made $30 million in profit during the last decade. The Justice Department has charged six people in Los Angeles and Anchorage, including three here on Wednesday. Three ringleaders have been arrested, but three remained fugitives, FBI spokeswoman Karen Gardner said.

A former lover of the late entertainer Liberace Wednesday linked both defendants in the Laurel Canyon murder trial to the house where four people were bludgeoned to death in 1981. Scott Thorson, 31, who said he received a settlement of $95,000 after he filed a palimony suit against Liberace, testified that he was staying at the Studio City home of defendant Adel (Eddie Nash) Nasrallah in 1981 when he overheard a violent argument between Nash and porno movie star John Holmes.