A well-known celebrity disc jockey is on the run—facing life in prison—on charges of cocaine drug smuggling and transport plus more than million dollars cash seized. Life is not so good for the "Goodlife Clothing" owner: DJ Darrin Ebron is going to have a hard time showing, or not showing, his face--status and livelihood won't help the disc jockey, whom the DEA believes may have taken a plane to escape.
Heads of an entertainment company are among 14 people indicted in a cocaine drug ring: the FBI alleges use of private jets in transporting large amounts of the coke drug from Southern California to Baltimore. The alleged drug ring is and its 14 members are accused of smuggling hundreds of pounds of cocaine via private jets, during roughly six months’ time between May and November 2010. Nearly 300 kilograms of cocaine and $1.1 million dollars cash has been seized.
Celebrity DJ Ebron and three others are still being sought by investigators—Ebron believed to be on the run—facing up to life in prison if convicted in the cocaine smuggling ring case.
Drug trafficking and money laundering charges are being levied against big-time industry names including Darrin Ebron, age 43—who operates “Goodlife American Clothing” and is a top celebrity disc jockey. Ebron is known for serving as DJ at Eddie Murphy's 2008 wedding nuptials in Bora Bora. Separately indicted are Los Angeles-based men Ricky Brascom, age 28, and Charles Ransom Jr., age 36. The pair serves as co-chief executive officers of “Behind da Scenes Entertainment”, a company whose main artist is rapper “Paypa”.
Disc Jockey Ebron is suspected of farming out the drug in Baltimore—the celebrity DJ’s website claiming a clientele of music performers like Usher, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake and Kanye West.
Ebron is accused of conspiring to transport 100-plus pound loads of cocaine, smuggled via private planes, jets which carried loads totaling as much as $1.2 million dollars per run. U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agents say Ebron and an associate were caught discussing a drug purchase--for which the DJ would owe just under a million—or at least $900,000. The DEA says the disc jockey was later spotted at Los Angeles restaurant “Jerry's Famous Deli” discussing another cocaine shipment worth $50,000.
Ebron hasn’t been found, by authorities, to be charged. The DJ’s feared by prosecutors to be a flight risk—probably long gone on a private jet.
The celebrity DJ’s rise to fame is interesting: while he says he "was trained in four instruments" and worked at major record labels, "from BadBoy [sic], Def Jam Rocafella [sic]", the man Ebron himself has no paper trail.
The private chartered jet flights, that the ring allegedly used to transport the coke, cost between $20,000 to $50,000 per flight. Smuggling the coke isn’t cheap but the prospective payoff big, with the lack of regulation over chartered jets. Private jets are a prime trafficking method for drug and cocaine runners--the jet planes not subject to customs inspections like regular, commercial airplanes. "You can drive up to the plane and load up your cargo," says Villeza.
And that would be any cargo.
The coke’s been coming from a supplier in Los Angeles, is the allegation—believed to be coming mainly from the country of Mexico, possibly linked to the violent Mexican drug cartels.
Ironically, the life in prison and charges could have been avoided: the cocaine ring’s members had a clue back in September, that law enforcement would be aware of the smuggling and most likely crack down on the coke transport. Wire tapping has been used to track the coke shipments the past months—the smuggling ring not slowing its drug trafficking, after 50 kilograms of cocaine were found on a plane two months ago, during a refueling stop.
"It's amazing what greed will do to you," says Assistant U.S. Attorney Rob Villeza. "They knew something was going on [that the FBI or law enforcement was aware of the drug trafficking], but the next day they were doing it [trafficking cocaine] again. They were not prepared to stop." The extra months of continued smuggling activity led to the drug charges.
Darrin Ebron's been