2 Named In Major Los Angeles-Detroit Heroin, Cocaine Trafficking Operation
Delano “Bop Bop” Leflore is a Fugitive, Sought by Law Enforcement
LOS ANGELES - As part of a DEA investigation stemming from a multi-kilogram narcotics seizure at Los Angeles International Airport last month, two men have been named in a federal criminal complaint that alleges they were key operatives in a drug trafficking organization that shipped cocaine and heroin from Los Angeles to Detroit.
A Pasadena resident - Kevin Blair, also known as “Wood,” 45 - was taken into federal custody yesterday morning and was ordered held without bond at a court hearing late yesterday afternoon. The second man charged in the complaint - Delano Leflore, also known as “Bop Bop,” 37, of Detroit - is a fugitive who is being sought by federal authorities.
The complaint charges Blair and Leflore with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute heroin and cocaine, a charge which carries a potential penalty of life in federal prison.
The case follows the seizure of approximately two kilograms of heroin and approximately one kilogram of cocaine at LAX on March 7. After the narcotics were discovered in checked luggage, federal prosecutors charged a 28-year-old Detroit woman with being a drug courier. Last Friday, a federal grand jury indicted the woman, Kennsha Mason, on three counts: conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute heroin and cocaine, possession with intent to distribute heroin, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Mason, who remains in federal custody in Los Angeles, is scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment this afternoon.
During the investigation of Mason, investigators with the DEA Los Angeles International Airport Narcotics Task Force developed evidence that Blair and Leflore coordinated the shipment of narcotics that Mason was allegedly ferrying to Detroit.
According to the criminal complaint filed yesterday, Leflore hired Mason to transport narcotics and made arrangements for her to travel from Detroit to Los Angeles. Once in Los Angeles in early March, Mason travelled to a townhouse on South Oakland Avenue in Pasadena, where Blair allegedly supplied the narcotics that were discovered in Mason’s suitcase.
Blair was taken into custody on Friday by the Pasadena Police Department pursuant to an outstanding felony warrant for assault with intent to murder that was issued by a court in Wayne County, Michigan. After he was arrested, authorities found a receipt for a UPS shipment sent from Los Angeles to Detroit.
Yesterday morning, law enforcement authorities in Michigan intercepted the package Blair sent by UPS, and they recovered one kilogram of suspected heroin and one ounce of suspected fentanyl.
Blair was transferred to federal custody after the criminal complaint was filed yesterday. At yesterday afternoon’s court hearing, Blair was ordered to appear in United States District Court for a preliminary hearing on April 17 and an arraignment on April 21.
The DEA Los Angeles International Airport Narcotics Task Force, an inter-agency task force based at LAX, is conducting this investigation. The Pasadena Police Department provided assistance. In addition to the DEA, the Task Force is made up of representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Los Angeles Airport Police, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The Task Force also works closely with the United States Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration. The case against Mason is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Reema M. El-Amamy of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.
