Georgia man linked to drug ring

ELLENWOOD, Ga. — Federal prosecutors say they have connected a Henry County man to an international cocaine trafficking ring believed to have racked up as much as $1.8 billion in drug sales.

Police arrested 37-year-old Kiley Murray on Wednesday after raiding his home.

Federal officials in Illinois said they linked Murray to a Chicago group with ties to Mexico.

"He was a customer of a Chicago distribution crew that was getting cocaine wholesale from the Mexican cartels," said Randall Sanborn, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

Murray is charged in a federal indictment with conspiring with others to distribute five kilos of cocaine and one kilo of heroin.

Murray was to appear before a federal judge in Chicago for a detention hearing.

Murray was one of 43 alleged drug leaders indicted last week as part of a federal crackdown on narcotic sales between the U.S. and Mexico. The indictments include 10 Mexican drug cartel leaders, said Laura Sweeney, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Murray, who also goes by the names "Cali," ''Kal" or "Hollywood," worked with several other drug traffickers in Chicago, according to the indictment. All of the other arrests were made in Chicago and New York, Sweeney said.

In addition to the arrests, police are working to seize a total of $1.8 billion in cash proceeds from the drug sales, said U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald of the Northern District of Illinois.

The Chicago ring handled 1,500-2,000 kilos of cocaine a month, Fitzgerald said. They used submarines, private planes, cargo ships and tractor trailers to transport the cocaine, prosecutors said.