by Sally Denton
Ralph was told that Chandler was currently living in Las Vegas with a woman named Dolores Dandrea—the daughter of convicted New Jersey organized crime figure, Carmine Dandrea. Their interest clearly piqued by the Chandler-Caesars-Bryant connection, the federal agents broached the next topic.
“What do you know about Jimmy Chagra?”
“Never heard of him,” Ralph replied.
“He’s the prime suspect in the murder of a federal judge in Texas,” Ralph was informed. “He was convicted a few months ago on drug charges and Bradley Bryant helped him skip the country to avoid sentencing.”
Ralph was not familiar with the specifics of the Judge Wood murder. But he did know that FBI Director William Webster had declared it the “crime of the century.” Numerous FBI teletypes had come across Ralph’s desk in the past six months, imploring cops everywhere to be on the lookout for the Wood assassin. Ralph had hastily scanned the teletypes, never imagining his Lexington group would be at the nucleus of the conspiracy.
“An analysis of telephone calls placed from Bradley’s suite at the Sheraton is incomplete,” Ralph was told, “but it’s producing some good leads.”
Many of Bradley’s calls were made to Johnny Trussell, Don Leach, Jan Fisher, and Dan Chandler, which came as no surprise. Several calls were also made to Jimmy Chagra’s Las Vegas attorney Oscar Goodman, and to a New York attorney by the name of Phil Ryan. Other individuals called by Bradley included a lieutenant in the Michael Thevis organized crime and pornography organization; a subject of an ATF gun-smuggling investigation; a suspected drug smuggler from El Paso; and former NFL player Lance Alworth.
“What about Mike Kelly?” they asked. “Bryant made sixteen calls to Kelly in Lexington.”
“He’s a fat kid who runs around with that bunch,” Ralph answered. Ralph went on to tell the feds that Kelly’s old man owned a wholesale pharmaceutical company in Lexington that was once accused by the DEA of failing to account for a hundred thousand Valium tablets; that Mike had a federal firearms license and was reputed to be an electronics expert; and that state police suspected him of manufacturing M-10 automatic pistols. Mike bought gun parts, Ralph told them, and then threaded them for silencers or turned them into automatic weapons. Mike also owned a farm over on the Kentucky River—close to Triad—that state police suspected was also being used for mercenary activity.
“What about Larry Bryant? Anything on him?”
Ralph replied that state police files revealed no biographical information on Bradley’s cousin, except that he was a graduate of Millersburg Military Institute near Lexington.
“We don’t know much more,” an ATF agent told Ralph. “He’s a master sergeant with the Air Force, attached to the Tactical Fighter Weapons Center Range Group at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. He had a national security clearance. He has no arrest record, but is currently under investigation by the Naval Investigation Service for the theft of nine Starlight nightscopes from China Lake Naval Base in California. The FBI investigated him in 1978 in connection with a missing range tank. The tank turned up in Southern California and nothing came of the case. Then, last fall, the FBI saw Larry Bryant driving a truck that belonged to a Texas drug dealer.
“We’ve looked for connections between the Bryants and Ed Wilson and Frank Terpil,” the ATF agent continued, referring to two ex-CIA operatives who were under investigation in Washington, D.C., for conspiring to ship explosives, firearms, and night-vision equipment to Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi. “So far, we haven’t found any connection. One witness has told us that a man matching the description of Frank Terpil was seen entering Bradley’s room at the Sheraton. But we haven’t been able to confirm that information.’’
Among the documents seized during the search of the Sheraton was a lease agreement for storage space in Lexington.
“We’ve had that warehouse under surveillance,” Ralph said, referring to unit number 95 at the U-Store-It complex on New Circle Road. “I guess you’ll be executing a search warrant there.”
“We’re just waiting for probable cause,” the ATF agent responded.
At 4:30 a.m. on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1980, fifteen federal and local police officers raided the warehouse. Discovering an arsenal of weapons worth a quarter of a million dollars, ATF and FBI agents had a field day tracing the ownership of the guns.
Included in the cache of arms was a Soviet-made machine gun, a .50caliber anti-aircraft gun, a 20-mm antitank gun, two fully automatic M-2 carbines, twenty-one “Taser” stun guns, and several handguns. Two suitcases contained numerous exotic knives, a can of tear gas, ankle and belt holsters, three cocaine test kits, several boxes of ammunition, a range-finder, and a bulletproof vest. Preliminary investigation indicated the Tasers belonged to Mike Kelly, while a .22-caliber “Explorer” survival rifle was registered to Drew Thornton.
But four items immediately overshadowed the significance of all others—three automatic weapons of the type used in the attempted assassination of Assistant U.S. Attorney James Kerr in Texas, and one of the Starlight night-scopes stolen from China Lake.
A few hours later, Bradley Bryant was arrested without incident at his father’s Lexington home, and charged with one count of Criminal Possession of a Destructive Device. He was out on bond at the time, awaiting trial in Philadelphia on the firearms charges stemming from the Sheraton raid.
“It’s no secret that I’ve always had a big gun collection,” Bradley told his hometown newspaper following his arrest. He dismissed his mysterious behavior, explaining his necessity to maintain a low profile due to his ongoing divorce proceedings, coupled with his ownership of a private security firm.
Bradley contended that he had not violated any weapons laws in either Philadelphia or Lexington. “Everything seized in Philadelphia was wholly consistent with running a protection service. All that electronic surveillance equipment can be purchased commercially; so can the guns,” Bradley told the Lexington Herald. The government disputed
Bryant’s excuse claiming that he was unable to produce evidence that EP Ltd. had any legitimate clients.
Larry Bryant, who was facing indictment in Philadelphia but had so far escaped criminal charges in Lexington, was asked by federal agents to explain how a nightscope from China Lake ended up in the Lexington warehouse.
He claimed that several nightscopes had been retrieved from China Lake to be traded to Libya for a Soviet radar system the Libyans had purchased from the Russians. The U.S. government wanted to examine the Russian system, according to Larry Bryant’s scenario, in order to duplicate it. All of the China Lake employees implicated in the disappearance of the items were top-secret specialists in long-range, surface-to-air radar systems, as was Larry Bryant.
Larry Bryant contended that the covert operation was going to save the U.S. government millions of dollars in research and development costs. “We’re good guys; we work for Uncle Sam,” said one of the employees later indicted for pilfering the equipment.
Some federal agents believed that explanation. Or parts of it.
“The possibility that the Bryants were involved in a CIA operation was very reasonable and logical to us at the time,” said one ATF agent assigned to the case who begged anonymity. “You have to understand how the CIA operates,” he explained. “It’s really very simple. None of this cloak-and-dagger stuff. The CIA’s typical method of operation is to hire private contractors, and then to disavow any knowledge of their activities. For example: Let’s say there is some foreign equipment overseas that the CIA wants to examine. They make that desire known throughout the intelligence underground, as well as the price they are willing to pay for the desired item. The CIA handles these transactions in cash, with no strings attached. The agency doesn’t care who gets the equipment, or how they get it. If the private contractors are retrieving a piece of Russian radar equipment, for instance, and they have le
ftover space in their airplane on the return trip—if they want to bring back a load of dope, that’s their business. There is no agreement signed. When the private contractor walks into Langley, or Nellis Air Force Base, or China Lake carrying a piece of equipment the CIA desperately wants, the CIA will pay the price. No questions asked. Does that mean he works for the CIA? If a contractor gets busted along the way, bringing a load of dope into the country, he can’t expect the CIA to intervene. At least not overtly. If the contractor keeps his mouth shut, he may be helped behind the scenes. But if he claims to be working for the CIA, you can be sure they’ll leave him singing in the wind.”
Ralph Ross refused to believe that any genuine ties existed between the Bryants and the CIA—or any other intelligence agency. “That’s all in their imaginations,” Ralph told his colleagues. “They’ve been watching too much TV.” But Ralph couldn’t help being flabbergasted by the sophistication and magnitude of the Company. How did a couple of hometown boys get the wherewithal to mastermind what the DEA was calling the largest guns-for-drugs conspiracy in the United States?
The Philadelphia and Lexington incidents spawned peripherally related investigations by dozen law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
The $22,800 cash found in Bradley’s possession, and traced back to Caesars Palace, coincided with a DEA probe in Las Vegas of the laundering of drug money through Caesars—specifically by high-rolling drug dealer Jimmy Chagra. The fact that Dan Chandler’s name surfaced in connection with Bradley further raised the eyebrows of DEA agents. As Casino Host at Caesars, Chandler extended credit to casino customers, including Chagra. When evidence suggested that Chandler had introduced Bradley Bryant to Jimmy Chagra, Chandler became a target of the federal investigation. Disturbed by the heat on one of their executives, Caesars officials transferred Chandler to Lake Tahoe in early 1981.
ATF was convinced that the Lexington warehouse was but one of as many as fifteen cryptic stashes of weapons in the country. In fact, ATF agents learned that Bradley had recently solicited Lance Alworth’s help in renting a San Diego warehouse for the purpose of hiding guns. Working hand in hand with U.S. Customs, which was pursuing reports that Bradley had been in the process of fulfilling a contract to supply five hundred thousand receivers for automatic weapons to South America, Treasury agents were determined to locate the hordes.
Defense and Treasury Department investigators intensified their probe of the China Lake thefts, searching for links to ex-spies Wilson and Terpil. Like the Bryants, Wilson and Terpil had recruited China Lake employees to build bombs destined for Libya, and had sponsored repeated thefts from China Lake. Larry Barcella, assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., was on the brink of seeking a federal indictment for Wilson and Terpil for their role in supplying weapons and terrorist training to Qaddafi. Interviewed by ATF agents about the matter, Barcella said he had no evidence a connection existed between the Wilson/Terpil network and Bradley Bryant. Although there was a great deal of suspicion that some of the items Bradley Bryant had in his possession in Philadelphia were bound for Libya, coupled with the insistence by the Philadelphia police that Terpil had visited Bryant at the Sheraton prior to Bryant’s arrest, Barcella was unable to prove that a relationship existed.
Despite the magnitude of the various gun-and drug-related investigations, there could be no doubt that Bradley Bryant’s perceived knowledge about the assassination of Judge Wood took precedence over all other probes. When the relationship between Bradley and Jimmy Chagra—the main suspect in Wood’s murder—came to light, federal agents decided that Bradley was the smoking gun they needed.
CHAPTER NINE
On May 8, 1980, a strategy session was held at the Department of Justice in Washington to “discuss all intelligence aspects regarding the individuals arrested in Philadelphia and additional associates who have been determined to be members of…the Company.” Headed by Philadelphia U.S. Attorney Peter Vaira, the meeting was attended by
U.S. attorneys and DEA, FBI, U.S. Customs, and ATF agents from Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Georgia, and Texas.
A government report distributed to those attending the meeting included an overview of the Company as it operated at that time:
“The organization referred to by its members as the Company is a well-financed operation structured along corporate lines, with each employee having a specific function and title and answering to a superior. Quantities of money are set aside by the organization for specific functions, i.e., bonds, aircraft purchases, etc. Each prospective member of the organization undergoes a screening process to include a polygraph examination prior to his position: Pilots for the large aircraft receive $100,000 per trip; and drivers/ground crew earn $10,000 plus one pound of marijuana for the initial trip, and $20,000 plus one pound for the second venture.
Corporations are established as fronts to cover the organization’s illicit activities and are responsible for the purchase, sale and registration of vehicles and aircraft. In addition, remotely located farms, warehouses and airports open to use by the public are purchased to land drug-laden aircraft as well as to store drug cargoes prior to distribution.
Maintaining a fleet of aircraft ranging in size from small single-engine planes to large four-engine variety, the organization is constantly replacing the older, well-utilized planes with newer ones, paying cash in the majority of cases. Some of the older, repeatedly used planes are sent out of the organization’s operating area for storage, rather than chancing law enforcement attention to their activities. A team of mechanics is employed to care for the aircraft and wheeled vehicles, seeing to it that they are in top mechanical condition and ready for use at a moment’s notice.
Larger aircraft, such as DC4, DC6, and DC7, are utilized when the cargoes are large, and the smaller planes, usually Cessna 404 Titans, are used when the cargo requirement is smaller. When Titans are utilized, they are sometimes flown back-to-back, one landing approximately 20 minutes behind the other. Each smuggling venture is well-planned, with a primary and one or two alternate landing sites, and, in many cases, the aircraft undergo an electronic sweeping prior to their deployment to South America or to one of several Caribbean territories. In many cases, members of the group selected for participation in a smuggling venture attend planning meetings, usually at hotels, several days prior to the actual operation.
Several hours prior to the arrival of the aircraft, a team of ground support personnel, ranging in number from 8 to 20, arrives at the airstrip with several wheeled vehicles, including tractor-trailers and 2 1/2 ton dump trucks. Electronics equipment, to include scanners, airto-ground radios, and CBs are used to monitor law enforcement activity in the area and to permit communications between the air and ground crews. Upon arrival of the plane, ground crewmen use flashlights to illuminate the strip. The plane usually lands in the early morning hours, and is off-loaded by means of a human conveyor system; typically, a plane is completely off-loaded in less than one hour.
The drugs are loaded onto the large vehicles and transported to several storage facilities and distribution points.
When members are arrested, a staff of attorneys, some of whom are actively engaged in the organization’s activities, are sent in for legal representation and to effect the members’ early release on bond. Subsequent to their release, each arrestee undergoes another polygraph examination to determine if he is cooperating with any law enforcement agencies.
Ralph did not attend the meeting, but was apprised of the FBI’s desperation to ensnare Bradley Bryant. They felt he was the key to the Judge Wood murder case, which was costing the government millions of dollars and still remained unsolved.
The Justice Department had made the murder of Judge Wood the number one priority in the country. They learned that Bradley Bryant had actually been offered the contract to kill the judge, but had turned it down. When they found out that Bradley had actually introduced Jimmy Chagra to the hit man
who killed the judge, their directive was to make a case against Bradley Bryant on any charges possible. The point was to hold him and put enough pressure on him so he would break the Wood case for them.
That same month, Bradley would stand trial on firearms charges in Lexington stemming from the raid on the U-Store-It warehouse. Called “a case even a dog could try” by a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia, the Lexington jury trial was considered a charade by law enforcement. Having interviewed several renowned criminal attorneys, dangling thousands of dollars in legal fees before their eyes, Bradley had followed the recommendation of Dan Chandler, and had settled on Las Vegas lawyer Oscar Goodman. Famous for his often successful defense of organized crime figures—including Mafia boss Meyer Lansky, Stardust Hotel owner Allen Glick, Kansas City crime boss Nicholas Civella, drug kingpin Jimmy Chagra, and Chicago mobster Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal—the forty-year-old Goodman had earned a reputation as an outspoken critic of federal law enforcement tactics.
Bradley’s instincts had paid off. The attempt by Lexington’s U.S. attorney, Joe Famularo, to convince a local jury that one of their hometown boys had gone bad fell on deaf ears. Nothing wrong with having a bunch of guns, the jury apparently felt. Kentuckians have always felt strongly about their right to bear arms. In short order, Goodman’s high-powered legal machinations and brilliant courtroom demeanor won Bradley’s acquittal, inciting the federal judge to tell reporters he was “flabbergasted” by the verdict.
Still facing some minor weapons charges in Philadelphia—charges Oscar Goodman could certainly help him to overcome—Bradley must have breathed a sigh of relief. His problems behind him, Bradley seemed anxious to get back to business. But he apparently had no idea how tenacious his trackers would be.
Claiming a government vendetta, Bradley publicly blamed his mushrooming legal problems on Jimmy Chagra. “Chagra thought someone was trying to kill his whole family,” Bradley was quoted as saying. “So he came to me. I was in the business of providing first-class protection to people who had a real problem…I had absolutely nothing to do with the federal judge, and I certainly did not spirit Jimmy Chagra out of the country,” he said. “Apparently someone thinks Chagra was involved in the judge’s death and that maybe I know something about where Chagra might be—but I don’t.”
