A cousin of Ronald Waddell has written New York Judge, Dora Irizarry asking her to reject confessed drug trafficker Roger Khan’s guilty plea and to let him “answer to the full court of law”.
Sheila Waddell, who Stabroek News learnt is the first cousin of Waddell, in the August 21 letter, filed with the New York court yesterday and seen by this newspaper, said it was with “sadness and emotions” she penned the letter to the judge, adding that the information that Khan may only serve 15 years for his crimes is very upsetting and discomforting to me.”
Khan’s guilty plea to drug trafficking, witness tampering and gun running was accepted by Judge Irizarry last March and the prosecution and defence had agreed that a 15-year sentence would be suitable even though the judge had indicated that she has the final say on how many years he serves.
“I am a decent law-abiding citizen, of Guyanese parenthood. One of my relatives (Mr Ronald Waddell) suffered a cruel and vicious death at the hands of (Khan’s phantom gang) … for which Mr Khan NEVER faced justice,” Sheila Waddell said in the letter.
She further described Khan as a “vicious and ruthless drug lord” in Guyana and said his reign lasted for seven years. She said he operated with “immunity from the law” and his group may have been responsible for the deaths of over two hundred persons.
“Ever since his incarceration here in the US, citizens of Guyana are able to live a more peaceful and normal life.”
“It is my fervent and passionate hope, and may I implore you, to please reject that plea agreement and let Mr Khan answer to the full court of law.
The gains from his drug exportation to this country facilitated a lot of grief and devastation to many families in Guyana. No one in Guyana wants to see him resume his despicable and ignominious activities, in the next 15 years,” she added.
While Khan was never charged in the US with the death of Waddell, during the just concluded trial of his former lawyers, Robert Simels and Arianne Irving, Selwyn Vaughn, 34, a self-professed former member of Khan’s “phantom gang,” stated that Khan ordered the hit on Waddell.
Vaughn, who is in protective custody and under special immunity that shields him from prosecution in this matter in the United States, during his testimony had said that he was in a Burgundy AT 192 motor car when four other named members of the ‘Phantom Squad’ turned up and shot Waddell. He told the court he had been the lookout man who was tracking Waddell and he called Khan on his cell phone that night and reported that the talk show host had left his residence and his car was idling on the roadway. Within minutes, four members of Khan’s squad, all former members of the GPF named by Vaughn, turned up and shot Waddell.
The former talk show host, Vaughn explained to the court, was criticizing Khan and was connected to a gang of prison escapees based in Buxton, East Coast Demerara.
Waddell, 57, was killed in January 2006. According to reports at the time, a dark-coloured car took the gunmen to the scene, where they were apparently watching Waddell’s movements from the seawall. According to reports, as soon as Waddell stepped into his car, two gunmen ran across the road and opened fire on the vehicle. They then ran back across the road, jumped into their car and sped away east along the highway. Police had arrested freed murder accused, Shawn Hinds and two relatives of dead ‘hitman’ Axel Williams, but the men were all released. It was believed that a city-based death squad with links to the underworld carried out the killing.
Khan was charged with conspiring to import cocaine into the US over a five-year period, from January 2001 to March 2006. The US government said that he was the leader of a cocaine trafficking organisation based in Georgetown.
It also asserted that he was able to import huge amounts of cocaine into Guyana, and then oversee exportation to the US and elsewhere. The US government had charged that a significant amount of the cocaine distributed by Khan went to the Eastern District of New York for further distribution.
As an example, it cited a Guyanese drug trafficking organisation based in Queens, New York, which it said was supplied by Khan. The Queens organisation was said to have distributed hundreds of kilos of cocaine in a two-month period during the spring of 2003.