As a basketball player last winter at Georgetown University, JohnTurner was warned repeatedly about his association with Rayful EdmondIII, who was widely known to be the target of a major cocainetrafficking investigation. Turner was lectured by his coach, JohnThompson. Then he was admonished by a Drug EnforcementAdministration agent. 'He said, `You shouldn't hang around himbecause we're going to get him,' ' Turner recalled. 'I said, `Allright.' '
But Turner said he had no intention of dumping his long-timefriend. 'That was my buddy,' Turner said of Edmond. 'I'm not going toturn my back on a friend-even if he's in trouble.'
When Turner later sat with Edmond at a Washington Bullets game atCapital Centre, 'Coach Thompson heard about it and he was angry,'Turner said. After Turner spoke with Edmond outside a playground inNorthwest Washington, 'Coach Thompson called me about an hour later,'Turner recalled. '{He} said, `I want you to get your stuff off campusby tomorrow.' '
Turner, who now attends Phillips University in Enid, Okla., saidhe was forced to withdraw from Georgetown because he disobeyedThompson's orders. 'Coach Thompson said I can't leave the people onthe street alone,' he said. But a Georgetown spokesman said Turnerwithdrew for academic reasons.
'It cost me a lot,' Turner said of his friendship with Edmond.'But I don't think I made a mistake . . . Rayful is a good gentlemanand a good young man. Rayful is a loyal buddy and a friend toeverybody.'
This impression of Rayful Edmond III was widespread on Washingtonplaygrounds, where he has been portrayed by friends as a quiet,intelligent, even-tempered young man who had a passion forbasketball. Edmond competed in police boys and girls clubtournaments and hung around with college athletes such as Turner,Georgetown center Alonzo Mourning and former George Mason star EarlMoore.
But at the U.S. District Court House, where his cocaineconspiracy trial has entered its third month, Edmond, 24, is beingdepicted by the prosecution as a cold-blooded drug lord whosemulti-million dollar organization is said to be responsible for 30murders and the distribution in Washington of tons of crack cocaine.
For almost five years Edmond has lived with these two identities:drug suspect under regular police surveillance and basketball fanaticwho played and coached in tournaments benefiting Washington's No. 9Metroplitan Police Boys and Girls Club.
'When Rayful played the gym was always packed with little kidswho followed his team,' said Joe Styles, the club's program director.'Rayful was a big name-a big name. His teams were always good, andthe kids looked up to him.'
Edmond is not the first suspected drug dealer to be closelyidentified with inner-city basketball competition. Over the past twosummers, leagues in Detroit and New York have been marred bydrug-related violence. In Washington some youth-league coaches nowsay it's virtually impossible to keep suspected drug dealers out oftheir tournaments.
'A lot of times they'll drive up in the new Cherokee Jeeps or theBMWs,' Styles said. 'We allow them to play to keep them off thestreets. The more time they spend with us the less time they're outthere.'
'For the drug dealers playing basketball is like a doctor playinggolf,' said Steve Eskridge, the club's athletic director. 'They dotheir business, then they go play basketball. That's theirrecreation.'
The Can't-Miss Kid
When he first appeared on playground courts, Edmond wasconsidered a can't-miss high school basketball prospect. But when hearrived at Dunbar High-a school with a strong basketball tradition-henever tried out for the team. 'I was angry with Rayful,' said JamesSpeaks, director of the Wilson Recreation Center, where Edmondlearned to play basketball, 'because that boy could shoot. He couldscore 40 or 50 points a game.'
In the summer of 1981 Edmond met another boy who could shoot:John Turner. Their meeting seemed inevitable. Edmond's fatherworked with Turner's mother in the same federal government office.And although John Turner lived in Glenarden, he often spent weekendswith an uncle who lived less than a block from Edmond.
Turner was 13, three years younger than Edmond. But he became afrequent visitor to the Edmond house, where he met Bernice Perry,Rayful's grandmother, and Armaretta Perry, his aunt. 'His grandmotherused to bake us cookies and cakes all the time,' Turner said.'Rayful's grandmother and his aunt-they're both lovely ladies.'
While the 6-foot-7 Turner went on to become a basketball star atEleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Edmond sharpened hisskills on the D.C. playgrounds. Speaks said he repeatedly urgedEdmond to apply for a college basketball scholarship. 'I told him,`You'll miss out on something if you don't go to college,' ' Speakssaid. 'Rayful told me, `I'm thinking about it.' '
Edmond never attended college. But in the summer of '84 hedecided to try his hand at coaching. After a recruiting swingthrough his neighborhood, he formed 'Men At Work' and entered theteam in a tournament for 6-foot-and-under players at the No. 9 PoliceBoys and Girls Club. Washington's 11 boys and girls clubs operateindependently of the D.C. Police Dept. but are staffed by uniformedofficers.
'Rayful coached the team but he also played,' said Styles, whoorganized the tournament. 'He had some good players on the team buthe was going to shoot the ball most of the time anyway. It was histeam. Nobody was going to say anything.'
'Rayful was a confident player,' said James 'Boo' Coleman, whocoached in the tournament. 'When he talked about another player he'dsay, `I'll go get him. I'll shoot him out.' And he could shoot fromanywhere, man.'
By 1985 Edmond also was being closely watched by DEA and FBIagents, who said they had learned that he headed a neighborhood gangthat was selling kilogram quantities of cocaine, primarily in theOrleans and Morton place 'Strip,' several blocks from the boys andgirls club in Northeast Washington, according to law enforcementsources and records.
The alleged Edmond operation-based in his grandmother'shouse-eventually would employ about 150 people to 'obtain, packageand distribute narcotics, launder profits and violently enforce thecode of conduct within the organization,' according to an affidavitfiled in U.S. District Court.
Edmond's employees allegedly included his aunt, Armaretta Perry,and two of his basketball teammates: Emanuel 'Mangie' Sutton Jr. hishalf-brother, and Columbus 'Little Nut' Daniels. Perry, Daniels andSutton were later charged along with Edmond and have pleaded notguilty to drug-related charges. Edmond's grandmother was not chargedwith any offense.
Edmond's Men At Work won the No. 9 Police Boys and Girls Clubtournament championship in 1985. Over the next three years, coachesatthe boys and girls club said, Edmond's teams included bothcollege-experienced players such as George Mason's Earl Moore andtough neighborhood players such as Sutton.
NCAA rules prohibit college athletes from competing inunsanctioned tournaments such as the boys and girls club's. Moore, aguard at George Mason in 1985-89, declined to be interviewed for thisstory. 'My attorney told me not to comment on anything about RayfulEdmond,' he said.
One summer, after disagreeing with a referee's call, Sutton'walked off the court and destroyed a 12-foot ladder that was in thegym,' one coach said. 'He took that sucker and tore it apart with hishands, man.' Sutton later bought two high-quality basketball goalsfor the Wilson Recreation Center, according to Speaks.
Edmond, with his arching jump shots and engaging smile, seemed tobe the main attraction at the tournaments: Whenever his team playedthe gym was packed with adults, pre-teenage boys and jewelry-bedeckedgirls, coaches said. 'And when Rayful's game was over the gym wouldclear out-even if another game was coming up,' Styles said. 'Theselittle kids would follow Rayful in, then follow him out.'
Styles said that by the summer of '86 he had received reportsthat Edmond was paying his top players $1,000 a game. 'That's what Iheard from some of the guys who played for him,' Styles said. Edmondtold The Washington Post, through his co-counsel James Robertson,that he never paid any players. The tournament has no rulesprohibiting payments.
Styles said he also heard talk that Edmond was selling drugs-andthat the children who followed him in and out of the club wereemployees of a suspected drug operation. But Styles said there wasno hint of drug activity at games. 'At the club Rayful dressed normallike we dress,' he said. 'No gold chains. He didn't ever get fancy.'
Styles said he feared trouble only when Edmond competed againstplayers who allegedly worked for rival drug gangs. 'You've got peoplethat are coming in that don't like him,' he said. 'He had a territoryand another group had a territory. You wonder if there's going to bea gunfight or something.'
The club's supervisor, D.C. police officer Keith McGregor, saidhe had no knowledge that Edmond was involved in any illegal activity.'If I'd had knowledge of what he was allegedly doing, he would nothave been allowed to compete,' McGregor said.
At the time, the streets around the club were being targeted byOperation Clean Sweep, a police anti-drug program. 'Edmond was wellknown,' a D.C. narcotics officer said. 'My partner introduced me tohim on a street corner one day. Right in front of Edmond, my partnersaid to me, `I want you to meet Rayful Edmond, one of Washington'sbiggest drug dealers.' Edmond just stood there and smiled.'
'When he came by to see us, Rayful would be driving Porsches,maybe some BMWs,' Speaks said. 'You could watch the eyes of thelittle kids who saw him. It was like, `Wow, I hope I can get me oneof those cars.' They were mesmerized.'
One evening Edmond arrived at the boys and girls club in achauffeur-driven Cadillac limo. 'He had the cars,' Eskridge, theclub's athletic director, said. 'I mean, all I saw was cars.'
Robertson, Edmond's lawyer, declined to answer questions aboutEdmond's cars. However, when asked about the Cadillac limo,Robertson said: 'Rayful told me it was driven by a friend who used totake him and others gambling-you know, to private after-hoursgambling places. Rayful said the TV in the limo didn't work and itdidn't even have a phone.'
After competing in the 6-foot-and-under tournament for fourstraight years, Edmond failed to enter a team in 1988. 'That summer Icalled his house to ask, `Are you going to have a team?' ' Stylesrecalled. 'But I was unable to get in contact with him. He was outof town.'
Later, Styles attempted to contact Edmond through his formerteammates. 'They didn't tell Rayful I called,' Styles said. 'Theyknew that {alleged rivals of Edmond} were also going to be playing .. . The players realized there might be some trouble if his teamcame into the tournament.'
Law enforcement officials said Edmond was engaged in a turfbattle at that time with an alleged rival, Brandon Terrell. On theevening of June 23, 1988, after an argument with Terrell in theChapter III nightclub in Southeast Washington, Edmond instructed'Little Nut' Daniels, by then one of his key lieutenants, to shootTerrell, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court.
Terrell died at the scene. Daniels, 19, was rewarded with a$51,000 Mercedes-Benz, according to a law enforcement source. InJuly 1988 Daniels was shot three times in the chest, spine andabdomen, apparently in retaliation for Terrell's shooting, policesources said. Edmond and Daniels, who is permanently disabled, havepleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder.
Edmond didn't stay away from basketball for long. Later thatsummer he played in the Sugar Ray Leonard Basketball League at thePalmer Park Recreation Center in Landover. 'Rayful was a scoringmachine,' said Dennis Barksdale, who organized the NCAA-sanctionedleague. 'The guy was very unassuming. He just played the game andleft. He was a perfect gentleman.'
Edmond played on a team called 'Clean Sweep,' and at varioustimes his teammates included Moore, newly recruited Georgetown centerMourning, former Cheyney (Pa.) State guard Clarence Green and Turner,who was entering his second year at Georgetown.
'Rayful shot the ball extremely well,' Turner said. 'He's got agood jump shot. Loves to shoot the jump shot. His weakness wasrebounding. He wouldn't go down there and rebound with the bigfellows. He'd say, `I'll let the big fellows rebound. I'll stayback on defense.' '
Turner at Georgetown
Turner-known to Edmond as J.T.-was first recruited by Georgetownin 1985 as a high school senior. He said he was not offered aGeorgetown scholarship that year because in two attempts at theScholastic Aptitude Test he scored no more than 650 out of a possible1,600. (The average SAT score for incoming Georgetown students is now1,263.) Turner attended Allegany (Md.) Community College for a year,then enrolled at Georgetown in 1987.
From 1987 until last winter Turner socialized with Edmond atbasketball games, restaurants such as Houston's in Georgetown andnightclubs such as Classics, East Side and Chapter III. Turner saidthat Mourning joined him on some of these outings when they becameGeorgetown roommates last fall. Mourning declined to be interviewedfor this story.
As a Georgetown student Turner said he heard rumors that Edmondwas selling drugs. 'D.C. is so small, everybody knows basically abouteverybody,' he said. '. . . I was hearing accusations . . . peopletalking on the street, talking about Rayful's this,Rayful's-basically he-say, she-say.'
Turner said he did not ask Edmond about these rumors or whetherhe held a job. 'I figured that ain't even my business,' he said.'Whatever he's supposedly doing . . . that's his business and if hewants to tell me, he'll tell me . . . Maybe he was just unemployed.'Edmond worked at various times as a chef and salesman, according toRobertson.
By last winter a joint FBI, DEA and D.C. police investigation ofEdmond was in high gear. And Turner was attracting some of theirattention. Not only had federal agents seen him with Edmond, theyhad heard his name mentioned on court-ordered wiretaps of Edmond'sphone conversations, according to law enforcement sources.
One afternoon in February, Turner was visited on the Georgetowncampus by two federal agents.
'We'd just finished basketball practice,' Turner said. 'CoachThompson gathered us around and said, `All right, that was a goodpractice you all had. John, do you know what D-E-A means?'
'I said, `No, sir, I don't.' He said, `Anybody know what D-E-Ameans?' Somebody answered his question. Coach Thompson said, `Yeah,Drug Enforcement {Administration} . . . And, John, they want to talkto you up in the office when you finish taking a shower.'
'I said, `Drug enforcement? Talking to me?' '
Turner was interviewed about Edmond by the agents in Thompson'soffice. 'I told them what I tell everybody: me and him came uptogether. We're just good friends. We play basketball together andthings like that,' Turner said.
Turner informed Edmond of the meeting. 'I asked Rayful, `Why didthey ask me questions about you?' ' he recalled. 'He told me, `Idon't know. They're on my back about something.' '
Thompson ordered his players to stay away from Edmond and fromnightclubs known to be drug hangouts. Thompson, who declined to beinterviewed for this story, told ABC-TV's Ted Koppel that he hadearlier invited Edmond to his office for a chat. 'Do me a favor,'Thompson said he told Edmond. '. . . If you see anything going onout there, use whatever resources you have to stop it fromhappening.'
Edmond told The Washington Post, through attorney Robertson, thatthe meeting with Thompson was arranged by Green, the former CheyneyState player. 'Thompson wanted to speak with me since he had heardhis players were very fond of me,' Robertson quoted Edmond as saying.'Thompson asked me if I would speak to his players about spending somuch time at clubs. I agreed to do it and, in fact, I did it. Therewas never any discussion at all about drugs.'
Late last winter, Turner and Mourning were interviewed at theDEA's Washington District Office by representatives of the DEA, FBIand U.S. Attorney's office. At the time, federal officials wereinvestigating Turner's use of the Mercedes that Edmond allegedly hadpurchased for Daniels, a law enforcement source said.
'They had me in an office, questioning me and questioning me,'Turner said. 'It seemed like a movie. You know, you go see a movieand they're trying to question {someone} and make them say somethingeven if they don't know something.
'They asked me a lot of questions like: `Has {Edmond} ever givenyou money, a large sum of money?' I told them, `No, he hasn't evergiven me a large sum of money.' They asked me if I drove any carsthat I saw Rayful drive. I said, `No.' They asked me again and Isaid, `No.' '
Turner told the law enforcement officials that he drove Daniels'sMercedes and that Edmond bought him some clothes and dinners,according to a source familiar with the meeting. Turner told TheWashington Post that he drove for several days a Mercedes that wasparked at the house of Daniels's mother. He said the car belonged toa friend named 'Miss Johnson.'
Turner's grandmother and legal guardian, Mary Robinson, said hergrandson drove one of Edmond's cars. '{John} told me, `Yeah, I'vedriven Rayful's car when he's going out of town. He didn't want toleave it on the street,' ' she said. 'He said, `I'd just ride it,then, you know, leave it where he tells me to leave it.' '
Early last spring Thompson learned that Turner was again beingseen with Edmond. Turner, in the recent interview, said he simplycould not ignore Edmond when he saw him at a game or nightclub. 'Thatwas my buddy,' he said, 'and if I see him at a club I'm going to sitthere and just talk to him.'
Turner said he was dismissed from the Georgetown basketballprogram because of his continued association with Edmond. 'CoachThompson said I was hardheaded, that I don't listen,' Turnerrecalled. 'He said, `There's nothing that can scare John Turner-noteven the DEA.' '
A Georgetown spokesman, Bill Shapland, said Turner withdrewvoluntarily because he had not made satisfactory progress towardearning a degree. At the time of his withdrawl, Turner wasacademically eligible to play ball.
In early April, Robinson said she warned Turner and Mourning thatEdmond was 'about two minutes away' from being arrested. She saidthe tip came from a member of her family who 'was in the penitentiarywith these guys that supposedly were Rayful's friends.'
About two weeks later Edmond was arrested with 16 members of hisalleged gang, including Sutton. One charge against Edmond-that heoperated a continuing criminal enterprise-carries a sentence of lifeimprisonment without possibility of parole.
`I Wanted to Cry'
On the morning of Aug. 31 John Turner visited his basketballbuddy, Rayful Edmond III, in the D.C. Jail.
It was a melancholy visit, Turner said, because in several dayshe would be leaving Washington to enroll at Phillips University-wherehe will be eligible to play basketball in January-and Edmond would bestanding trial as the city's alleged drug kingpin.
'Just seeing him in that {orange prison} suit hurt me inside,'Turner said. 'I thought about us coming up together and playing balltogether. I wanted to cry, seeing my man like that.'
Turner said he choked back tears as he spoke to Edmond by phone,through a plate-glass window.
'Rayful told me, `Man, God is the only one who knows the kind ofperson I am,' ' Turner said.
Turner said he left the jail several minutes before his visitingtime was up.
'I just couldn't take it anymore,' he said. 'Before leaving, Iwished Rayful good luck with his trial and he wished me the best withmy school. Then Rayful told me, `Man, just stay out of trouble.You've got to be careful with the people you'll be around. It'sgetting real bad out there.' '
