2 Admit to Contract Killing

The leader of an interstate drug trafficking ring and one of his associates pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court Tuesday to murder-for-hire charges stemming from a 1996 killing in Las Vegas.

Rather than go to trial and risk possible death sentences, drug ring leader Edward Stanley Jr. of Los Angeles and Daniel Ray Bennett of Las Vegas admitted their roles in the Nov. 26, 1996, slaying of Rickey Ray Hall.

Stanley, 59, commissioned Bennett, 27, and another man to find and kill Hall because Stanley believed he had stolen $300,000 of the drug ring’s money, said Assistant U.S. Attys. Stephen G. Wolfe and Nancy Kardon, who jointly prosecuted the case. The trial was to have begun Oct. 7.

Stanley and Bennett were arrested in December and soon thereafter the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles announced that it would for the first time seek the death penalty under a 1994 federal murder-for-hire statute.

In his plea agreement, Stanley admitted hiring Bennett, directing his efforts and paying him to kill Hall. Additionally, Stanley acknowledged discussing with Bennett the money Bennett needed to purchase a large caliber handgun for the killing.

U.S. Atty. Nora M. Manella said Hall was slain during an 18-month investigation into the drug ring conducted by a joint task force from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Las Vegas and Los Angeles police departments. She said the arrests of Stanley, Bennett and more than a dozen other men effectively dismantled one of Los Angeles’ drug trafficking operations. She said the ring was responsible for bimonthly shipments of cocaine from Southern California to Memphis, Tenn.

The murder-for-hire scheme was discovered after the task force tapped the phones of Stanley and several other individuals. At one point, authorities thought they had discovered who the target of the hit was. But they were mistaken and discovered they had warned the wrong man when, during a tapped telephone call, they heard Bennett tell Stanley he killed Hall.

Earlier this year, Stanley and Bennett filed papers asserting that the charges against them should be dismissed on the grounds of “outrageous government misconduct,� in part because they said the government, knowing of their plans, had failed to arrest them before the slaying was committed. But in August, U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie rejected that argument.

Roy Lee Lovett, 19, of Las Vegas, still faces charges of participating in the murder plot. He is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 7, along with seven other men accused of playing a role in the drug ring. Four other defendants pleaded guilty to drug or money-laundering charges and are awaiting sentencing.

Last Nov. 3 in Memphis, acting on information obtained in wiretaps, members of the task force seized $564,000 in cash that was hidden in a vehicle driven by one of Stanley’s couriers, according to court documents. The task force also recovered 24 kilograms of cocaine, stolen cars and 26 firearms, according to court documents.

In their plea agreements, both Stanley and Bennett disagree with the government’s contention that pleading guilty to the crime will automatically lead to a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

At a court hearing Tuesday, Rafeedie told the two defendants that he would permit them to raise the sentencing issue at a future court session. However, he said his current view is that a life sentence would be proper. Rafeedie set sentencing dates of Nov. 18 for Bennett and Dec. 1 for Stanley.