5 Members of Drug Ring Sentenced in Laundering

Five members of an international drug ring that supplied cocaine-dealing street gangs in Los Angeles with their drugs were given prison terms Monday ranging from nine to 10 years for their roles in laundering the organization’s proceeds.

The five were lesser figures in the ring, allegedly headed by Mario Villabona-Alvarado, reputedly a high-ranking member of one of two major Colombian drug cartels involved in the case, and Brian (Waterhead Bo) Bennett, a former South-Central Los Angeles dealer who police said supplied rock houses with cocaine and laundered the proceeds through front businesses.

Michael D. Robinson, David Paz, Jairo Sanchez, Miguel Rodriguez and Joseph Gough were arrested at a motel in a Detroit suburb by federal agents who seized $5.4 million headed to Colombian money launderers.