Kingpin

In an article in the April 24 edition of The Sun for Harford County, William George Fender, one of 18 people linked by police to a Joppa drug operation, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute marijuana, not cocaine.The Sun regrets the errors.Isabel Velez, the convicted 53-year-old matriarch of East Coast drug kingpins, sits in the county Detention Center awaiting sentencing on cocaine charges that could bring the Joppa woman a 200-year prison term and $1.2 million in fines.As a Circuit Court jury ended the nine-day trial Tuesday after only three hours of deliberation, Velez muttered to her courtroom Spanish translator, "Jesus, forgive them for they know not what they do," a deputy sheriff said.

A 54-year-old man gunned down last week in East Baltimore had been employed for the past decade as a city public works employee, and his past ties to one of the city's biggest drug dealers have authorities braced for retaliation after his killing.  Gregory Parker was fatally shot Friday afternoon in the 2300 block of E. Chase St. Records show Parker was employed by the city's Department of Public Works since 2001 and worked as a solid waste driver,...

A Baltimore man described as "a major player" in the city's heroin trade pleaded guilty to being a drug kingpin yesterday in Baltimore Circuit Court, nearly two years after he was the subject of a wiretap investigation. Prosecutors said Frank Eubanks Jr., 33, was directing the sale of as much as $150,000 worth of heroin in Baltimore a week. Eubanks, of the 600 block of N. Woodington Road, was sentenced to 20 years in prison without parole by Judge John N. Prevas. He was selling "wholesale quantities" of heroin from places such as New York to other street dealers in the city, said Assistant State's Attorney Antonio Gioia, one of several prosecutors in the case.

In 1991, Charles "Billy" Guy became the first person convicted under Maryland's newly enacted drug kingpin statute, which carried a mandatory prison term of 20 years without parole. A New Yorker, he had regularly traveled to the Inner Harbor in limousines and spent lavishly on diamonds as he collected as much as $30,000 a week in drug profits. "Yesterday," a Sun article at the time read, "the lavish lifestyle ended for the man who called himself 'the great Billy Guy.'" Not quite, according to federal authorities.

At the age of 24, Tommy Lee Canty Jr. found out yesterday that he has already seen his last days as a free man.Canty, a Baltimore-area drug lord, became the first man in Maryland sentenced to life without possibility of parole in U.S. District Court under the 2-year-old "super kingpin" federal drug law."Every life he's touched has been ruined," said Jack V. Geise, an assistant U.S. attorney who, along with city prosecutor Andrea L. Smith,prosecuted Canty. "I suggest that any other lives he touches be in prison."

A 26-year-old man pleaded guilty Friday to heading a Westminster cocaine and heroin ring, making him the first person in Carroll County to be convicted under Maryland's drug kingpin statute.Brian Gill, also known as Christopher Jason Bowen, admitted supervising a drug operation out of 102 S. Center St. in which he cleared $10,000 a week in sales of crack cocaine.Gill will be sentenced July 17 under the kingpin statute, which carries a minimum, mandatory 20-year sentence.In the plea bargain, Carroll Circuit Judge Francis M. Arnold agreed to impose a maximum sentence of 25 years, recommended by Carroll State's Attorney Jerry F. Barnes.

The arrest this week of three people on "drug kingpin" charges marks only the second time Carroll County prosecutors have used one of the most powerful weapons in Maryland's drug war arsenal.But, unlike the first time prosecutors lodged such charges -- against a Miami man, his Taneytown brother and the brother's wife four years ago -- Carroll drug officers this time have apparently seized enough drugs to meet the statute's definition of a kingpin.In raids Monday and Tuesday that marked the culmination of an eight-week investigation dubbed "Operation Center Court," Carroll drug officers arrested nine people.

County prosecutors and defense attorneys have agreed to divide the property of Roger L. Emory, who was convicted of drug kingpin charges in April. But they still are fighting over $27,216 seized from the bank accounts of Emory and his brother, James M. Emory, who was convicted of the same charges.Police seized property from the Emory brothers and two of their former co-defendants, George T. Johnson Jr., and William Bailey Jr., on Oct. 29, 1992, in one of the biggest drug raids in county history.

A suspected Colombian drug kingpin who had eluded authorities for two years has been arrested at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla. -- for shoplifting souvenirs, police say.Victor Hugo Polo, 24, and Elizabeth Acosta, 32, both of Miami, were taken to the Orange County Jail yesterday and charged with shoplifting, Orlando police Lt. Bob Goldman said.Mr. Polo will be turned over to U.S. marshals from Houston, who have been looking for him since November 1992 on allegations of distributing cocaine.

Anne Arundel County's top prosecutor said yesterday he did not have enough evidence to seek the indictment of Patricia Emory, the elementary school principal accused of being a drug kingpin.But Frank Weathersbee, county state's attorney, said that does not mean he will close the 11-month investigation that led to the Oct. 29 arrest of 10 people, including Mrs. Emory and her husband, James. Police confiscated more than 400 pounds of marijuana and $320,000 in cash and other property in the all-night raid.

Federal authorities are trying to seize $10 million from reputed drug kingpin Steven Blackwell Jr., who was indicted along with two others on federal heroin distribution charges last month. The brief court filing in U.S. District Court indicates for the first time the scope of Blackwell's alleged drug empire and links him to two real estate companies that own property in East Baltimore and a home along the Elk River in Cecil County that was purchased for $740,000. Authorities have labeled Blackwell, 26, a key player in a violent drug feud that began with the abduction of his two younger brothers and included a quadruple shooting outside an appliance store and a shootout at a backyard cookout that injured 12 people, including Blackwell.

Idris Elba has presence. It wasn't just his handsome glare that collected a following of "Stringabellas" for his role of Stringer Bell on HBO's "The Wire." It was his young-Sean-Connery manliness and dry-ice street smarts. Even if you'd never seen "The Wire," you could tell Elba had a major star's aura from his opposite performances in two wildly different big-screen hits, "This Christmas" and " Obsessed." In "This Christmas," he was superbly, sometimes hilariously confrontational as a reckless jazz saxophonist; you could sense Elba's relief at letting loose after years of Stringer Bell's emotional deep freeze.

Mexican troops acting on information from U.S. officials took out drug kingpin Arturo Beltran Leyva in an assault that provided a rare victory for President Felipe Calderon but left a power vacuum that could lead to more violence. In a carefully executed attack, heavily armed Mexican marines quietly evacuated an upscale apartment complex in Cuernavaca Wednesday before some 200 troops stormed the building and demanded the surrender of Beltran Leyva, one of the world's most brutal drug lords.

Authorities say Terrell Allen was a Baltimore drug kingpin who kidnapped the teenage brothers of an alleged rival in 2008 and returned them for a half-million-dollar ransom, launching a string of retaliatory shootings that has continued right up until this summer. But his attorney denies the allegations, and Allen has never been formally charged with any of them. Instead, he was convicted Tuesday on the easiest thing to prove: possession of ammunition, a federal offense for a felon like Allen, who has prior convictions for manslaughter and drugs and has beaten dozens of other charges, including murder.

1 Meet in St. Louis: It's an NCAA women's doubleheader at Comcast Center: No. 8 Villanova vs. No. 9 Utah at noon, then No. 1 Maryland vs. No. 16 Dartmouth at 2:30 p.m. (ESPN). 2 Pin busters: If bowling's your game, there's the PBA Go RVing Match Play Championship (1 p.m., ESPN), Blackball (3 p.m., Ch. 54) and Kingpin (3 p.m., FUSE). 3 Small but fast: Expect small-track speed at the Food City 500 (1:30 p.m., chs. 45, 5) at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway because of high turns and variable banking.

JAMIEL CHAGRA, 63 Drug kingpin Drug kingpin Jamiel Alexander "Jimmy" Chagra, accused of leading a 1979 conspiracy to assassinate the federal judge set to preside over his drug trial, died Friday. He had suffered from cancer, said his sister, Patsy Chagra. U.S. District Judge John Wood Jr. was fatally shot May 29, 1979, outside his San Antonio home. Mr. Wood was known as "Maximum John" because of his tough sentencing of drug dealers. Chagra faced indictments on several narcotics conspiracy charges at the time of the judge's assassination.

Felony drug kingpin charges against Linda D. Emory, the sister-in-law of an Anne Arundel County school principal, were dropped yesterday, her lawyer said.But Linda Emory of Glen Burnie still faces two misdemeanor charges -- possession of marijuana and possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia -- which together carry a maximum fine of $1,500 and one year in prison.The grand jury will hear testimony from Severna Park Elementary Principal Patricia A. Emory, who also was charged as a drug kingpin, when it convenes Dec. 7.Both women were charged last month with smuggling marijuana into the state under the drug kingpin statue, after the largest marijuana bust in the county's history.

James and Roger Emory were convicted yesterday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court of running the biggest marijuana ring in county history. The jury had deliberated for about seven hours over two days.James Emory appeared angry as the jury foreman read the guilty verdicts against him in a packed courtroom. His brother, Roger, appeared somber. And Nikki Emory, 22, Roger Emory's daughter, began crying as the first verdict was read.The case gained widespread attention when James Emory's wife, Patricia, a former principal of Severna Park Elementary School, was arrested on kingpin charges.

Bryan Jelcic has long wanted to become a part of the Professional Bowlers Association tour. The 28-year-old Glen Burnie resident began bowling at age 7 and continues trying to work his way up the sport's ladder. Pro bowlers make their money and earn a living through a variety of tournaments around the country. But there are also several local and regional competitions in various states, including Maryland. Jelcic competes in those events regularly, especially the Free State Classic Tenpin Tour, which includes many Anne Arundel County tournaments.

Suspect in Owings Mills shooting is denied bail A 19-year-old man charged with killing a 20-year-old Randallstown man on the parking lot of an Owings Mills restaurant Friday night was denied bail yesterday in Baltimore County District Court. Cyrus Duvall Robertson of Baltimore is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Timothy Morris, who was shot and killed outside TGI Friday's at 11 p.m. Friday. Eric Williams, the godfather of the victim and father of a young man who accompanied Morris to the restaurant, said Morris and his son were trying to break up a fight when Morris was shot.