Six members of an international drug ring were convicted of distributing tons of cocaine in a case authorities say was one of the first to link a Colombian cocaine cartel to Los Angeles street gangs.
The gang's two leaders, Brian "Waterhead Bo" Bennett and Mario Ernesto Villabona Alvarado, faced mandatory life prison sentences without possibility of parole under a federal drug-kingpin law.The other four convicted Friday with Bennett and Villabona by a U.S. District Court jury could each receive prison terms of 10 years to life at a July 30 sentencing.
"It's very significant, because it's one of the first to establish a connection between Colombian cartels bringing enormous amounts of cocaine into this country and black gangs," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Dean G. Dunlavey.
Each of the six defendants was convicted of conspiring to possess thousands of kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute and of possessing nearly 1,000 kilograms of cocaine each.