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Friday, May 19, 2000
Group that sold drugs
Associated Press
to Tuinei indictedIRVING, Texas -- A federal grand jury has indicted 32 members of two drug rings, including the group that allegedly supplied former Dallas Cowboy Mark Tuinei with a lethal dose of heroin.
Seventeen people were arrested yesterday and another six already were in custody on other charges, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford.
Bradford said more arrests were expected, although at least three of those indicted were believed to be hiding in Mexico.
Each of the 32 men and women are charged with one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin and cocaine.
Officials said one of the groups, an organization known as "Tony," supplied the heroin that led to the overdose deaths of Tuinei last May, an 18-year-old Carrollton man in July, and an 18-year-old Allen man in December 1998.
Bradford said the suspects face life in prison and up to a $4 million fine if they are found to have supplied the deadly doses.
He said the man that actually sold Tuinei the heroin, Keelan Charles Murray, 20, pled guilty last week to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin.
Authorities say Murray bought the heroin from the Tony organization, which is reportedly led by Jesus Carbajal, 20, of Dallas. Carbajal was arrested yesterday, investigators said.
Tuinei, a former offensive tackle for the Cowboys, died last year after taking heroin and a form of the drug ecstasy. He was to return to Hawaii the day he was found dead, where he was to take a job as assistant football coach at Punahou School, his alma mater.
