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FBI: Alleged 'Delta Blues' leader ran drug ring

5:16 PM, Oct 21, 2011   |    comments
Leon Edwards
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Authorities say an eastern Arkansas man indicted in a wide-ranging drug and corruption investigation ran a drug ring out of an auto repair shop and bribed law enforcement.

Leon Edwards was denied bail in a court hearing Friday. He's one of 70 people indicted in "Operation Delta Blues." The investigation focuses on drug trafficking and corruption in and around the Mississippi Delta town of Helena-West Helena.

Prosecutors say Edwards and another man ran a major drug ring from a car shop near a middle school. On Friday, they revealed transcripts of conversations in which Edwards is accused of having ordered "a 9-piece chicken dinner" - code for 9 ounces of cocaine.

Authorities say Edwards also paid off a local sheriff's deputy to get a friend out of jail.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)