Jury Convicts Fowlie, Ending 20-Year Probe

LOS ANGELES —  Daniel James Fowlie, the alleged patriarch of a massive marijuana smuggling ring based at a remote Orange County ranch, was convicted on drug charges Friday, ending a 20-year effort by law enforcement to bring him to justice.

Fowlie, 58, was found guilty on 15 of 26 felony counts in U.S. District Court after a six-week trial in which federal prosecutors characterized him as the kingpin of one of the largest marijuana trafficking outfits in the United States in the mid-1980s.

“It has been an unbelievable episode,” said U.S. Customs agent Robert Mattivi, who has worked on the case for six years. “During our investigation, we heard that he would make comments like, ‘They’ll never catch me.’ He was always one step ahead.”

Fowlie, who once painted a great horned owl for Mexico’s President Carlos Salinas de Gortari while fighting his extradition from Mexico to the United States, was convicted of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, conspiracy, illegal transfer of currency outside the United States and operating a continuing criminal enterprise. The last charge carries a possible life sentence.

As the verdict was read, Fowlie sat poker-faced, his chin resting in his right hand. The only emotion he displayed were small smiles exchanged with defense attorney Michael Abzug when acquittals were announced on several of the lesser charges.

His other lawyer, James Riddet, who argued that the government’s case “was tainted” by the use of drug traffickers as witnesses, said both he and Abzug “were disappointed” by the verdict.

“But we’re not discouraged. We have a lot of very good issues that we’ll bring to the attention of an appellate court,” Riddet said. “It’s always depressing to lose, and this was a very difficult case.”

Fowlie, the ninth person convicted in the case, including his two sons Gus and Danny Jr., is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler on June 10.

“The government is pleased with the jury verdict,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Elana S. Artson, one of the prosecutors. “Both co-counsel James Dutton and myself are very happy.”

The government presented evidence indicating that Fowlie and his underlings smuggled at least 30 tons of marijuana--the bulk of it hidden inside tanker trucks--from Mexico into the United States during the early to mid-1980s.

Using a string of witnesses who once had participated in the ring, the prosecution detailed how the “Daniel J. Fowlie Organization” obtained massive shipments of pot from the drug cartel of Rafael Caro-Quintero and his middleman, Javier Caro-Payan.

Quintero was among several major Mexican drug smugglers who were convicted in Mexico and the United States of the kidnaping and murder of U.S. narcotics agent Enrique Camarena in 1985. Payan was convicted of trying to help Quintero flee from prosecution for Camarena’s death.

The evidence showed that Fowlie, his two sons and others processed and packaged marijuana for national and Canadian distribution at warehouses in Orange County and at Rancho del Rio, a 213-acre property straddling the Orange/Riverside county line.

The ranch, used by President Bush as a backdrop for a national address on drug abuse two years ago, was raided and seized by federal authorities in 1985, but Fowlie was already out of the country.

In his defense, Riddet and Abzug contended that the government witnesses “lacked credibility” because many of them had already been arrested on drug-trafficking charges and had worked out favorable deals in exchange for their testimony.

One witness in question was Robert Brook, a former Canadian drug dealer turned member of the Federal Witness Protection Program. Court testimony showed he was allowed to keep $1 million in assets from drug profits, including a $550,000 Laguna Beach home, two Mercedes sedans, a BMW, and other property and assets in Canada.

As part of the deal to gain Brook’s cooperation, he was never arrested by FBI agents and was not booked for any crime; moreover, charges of money laundering against his wife were never filed.

Other prosecution evidence showed that Fowlie’s organization grew so big, couriers were employed to deliver flower-patterned French luggage “filled with cash” to Fowlie in the Netherlands.

There, prosecutors argued, Fowlie and his cohorts laundered at least $1 million in cash through an oil business with offices in Laguna Beach and in the port city of Rotterdam. Although the defense contended it was a legitimate business, Artson said it “didn’t make a cent.”

Fowlie eventually was arrested at a Mexican seaside resort in 1987 and incarcerated at a prison on the dusty outskirts of La Paz in Baja California, where he fought his extradition for three years.

In March, 1990, The Times reported that he had managed to carve out a comfortable existence while contesting his return to the United States. He was improperly released from prison several times by Mexican authorities to go to Cabo San Lucas, a tourist haunt where he was involved in a construction business and had a beachfront home.

In addition, Fowlie said he earned about $30,000 by selling his own oil paintings of marine fish and fowl--works that were often displayed at galleries in Cabo San Lucas. He once was commissioned by a Baja California bar association to paint a horned owl, which was presented to Mexico’s president. In July, Fowlie was finally returned to Orange County to stand trial. It was believed to have been one of the first formal extraditions from Baja California in more than 100 years.

“Justice certainly has been served. He was living a comfortable life down there,” said Special Agent J.D. Miles of the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, which participated in the Fowlie investigation. “From the prosecutors’ side, they should be very pleased with the result.”

Fowlie’s extradition was a significant break in almost two decades of investigations that had led federal, state and local authorities from Orange County to Central America and Europe in pursuit of him.

Authorities first suspected Fowlie of being involved in drugs in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when police said they linked him to the infamous Brotherhood of Eternal Love in Laguna Beach. The founder of the group was Timothy Leary, the Harvard University psychology instructor who espoused the use of mind-altering drugs, such as the hallucinogen LSD.

Laguna Beach Police Chief Neil Purcell, who investigated the Brotherhood as a detective, said Fowlie was suspected of being part of the organization’s drug distribution network, which was broken up with the arrests of 46 members in 1972.

Fowlie, who lived in South Laguna at the time, was never arrested in the Brotherhood case. He left the country and went to Costa Rica, where he bought farmland, beachfront property that included a popular surfing spot, and a mansion from fugitive financier Robert L. Vesco.

Times staff writer Paul Lieberman contributed to this report.