Drug and/or counterfeiting ring

It's pretty easy to reach the conclusion that Darlene knew her killer and there is a thread on that already but I thought this subject needed a thread of its own. Darlene was believed to have been involved in a counterfeiting ring although she probably just played a small role in it if she was involved. She was also to be believed to be a small time drug dealer and there was some serious drug trafficking going on in the area so maybe she wasn't just a small time dealer or maybe she was but she pissed off someone higher up the chain in the drug or counterfeiting ring. Maybe these two things tie together and the same people were doing both.

Ophion found an article about two men being arrested in the early 70s for flying close to 1000 lbs of Marijuana into California. There is a possible tie to the Albany Red Phantom of 1947. We can do more digging on the counterfeiting ring and the drug ring and see if there are any new leads that develope from doing so.

I was looking through some old threads and ran across one that mentioned 25 people arrested in a drug raid in San Bernardino County from 1966. Just thought I would post it in here as well and see if any of the names are familiar to anyone...

https://www.newspapers.com/image/61537926/?terms=Riverside%2Bman%2Barrested

o probably not

I have always been under the assumption that the attack was directed at Darlene and Mike was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Being a waitress in Oakland, I met Sonny and several other Hell's Angels who came to where I worked to have dinner. When ever a group of them would come in, the other customers wouldn't. The drug bust above was probably the one that my cop friend was a part of. He had told me that he was the one who kicked in the door. He wasn't afraid to do that , but when he met my stalker, it put the fear of God in him! He told me to stay away from that guy, he is very dangerous and crazy. These guys would not be involved with Darlene selling drugs. I think that Don Porter was her supplier and he got the drugs from someone in San Francisco, is what I believe.

Was your guy involved with the Hell's Angels? I remember something about a drug bust the same night as one of the Z murders and I think it was at a Hell's Angels hideout or something along those lines. Gee, my memory is getting a little rusty.

No my guy would never make it around any of the Hells Angels that I knew. I actually went to them for help. They treated me with the utmost respect. If you act like a lady they will treat like one. When you are not, well that is a different story. The drug bust that you read about was on Lake Herman Road on Dec 20th 1968. But the H.A's didn't live at that house.
I didn't know any of the ones from Vallejo, I knew the president of the Richmond chapter and Oakland.

I love learning about the Hell's Angels! And thanks for clearing that up, I knew there was a drug bust right before one of the Z murders, but forgot it was Lake Herman Rd. I coulda swore I read that it was a Hell's Angel's hangout that was raided.

I have a Hells Angel story for you being that you like hearing about them. I was out with my adult daughter , we were at a local restaurant waiting for a table. We were sitting at the bar when this very handsome guy came in wearing a 3 piece suit. We looked at each other and he kept looking as he walked into a wall. He then came over and introduced himself and asked us to join him and his friend for dinner. It was a enjoyable conversation and he mentioned being in the video tape business. That was in the late 80's. About a week later my daughter and I were at a night club down town. We noticed about 6 or 8 bikers parking their bikes. Hells Angels have to wear their colors when they ride. (Their colors are their jackets) All of a sudden I see the handsome guy I had dinner with the week before wearing a Hells Angel jacket parking his bike. I have to say I was a bit shocked. We became good friends for many years until he was killed in a car accident. It seemed odd that he would die that way , being he was also a race car driver. I went to his funeral in Richmond Ca. where he had once been the president of the Richmond chapter. There is a newspaper picture of me with others standing on the hill near his grave ,where his brothers each put a shovel of dirt on his grave. I went there with my boyfriend on his bike, so yes I had my biker jacket, boots and chaps on. I am not a biker Ma-Ma but you would never know that I wasn't, because I fit in so well LOL. My stalker wasn't bothering me so much then. That was exactly what I was hoping for. I will always wonder how that accident happened ? My life would make for a good book without adding Zodiac to it.

That is a great story. Those types of things in life are always funny. I can see you as a biker, Sandy!

Is that photo of you at the funeral posted anywhere? I want to say I have seen that one, but not too sure.

No I never posted it, but I do have it. As soon as I find it I will post it here. If you still have that trial newspaper site look for Michael King/ Hells Angel funeral in Richmond Ca. It was in the mid 80's. It was on the front page of the Contra Costa Times newspaper. It is with all of my Z stuff and I have boxes and boxes of it to go through to find it, so it will take a while.
I remember we could see the feds watching and taking pictures of all of us , as it was a long parade of Hells Angels.
I could almost hear one of them saying : Isn't that blond chick Sandy Betts, who thinks she knows who the Zodiac is? LOL Most people can't visualize me in full leather gear on the back of a motorcycle, let alone riding with a rebel gang! It is amazing what you will do to try and scare a psycho killer into leaving you alone. The accident that my HA friend had was caused by someone forcing him off of the road. Was that someone my stalker? I doubt that I will ever know that answer.

Checking newspapers.com now... I can see you on the back of a Harley. I think I would have been a Hell's Angel if I were alive back then lol. Most of my uncles are bikers...

That would be crazy to see the Feds all over the place. Kinda like being in the mob, gotta be careful about everything.

I'm having no luck finding the newspaper article.

The site that you are using may not have the Contra Costa Times for that time frame ? I tried to find his death date to see if I could narrow down the time. There were many guys with that name who died in the time frame I thought it was. I found one that looks like it could be him? Michael R King born 11-15-1946 died in Stanislaus Co 2-27-1990.I know that he was headed towards Stockton when he was forced off of the road, so Stanislaus co. makes sense.

I am going through boxes today to find it for you.

Thanks, Sandy. I looked for quite a while and had no luck. A lot of the newspapers I cannot access on that site because I am not one of their VIP members, or whatever they call it. Paid $80 or $85 (I think) for a 1-year subscription - for that kind of money I should be able to access every single newspaper in their archives.

Give them a call and complain, they will go out their way to look for it for you. I have done that and it worked.It could also be in the Richmond Ca. paper as well as the Contra Costa Times.

I am getting a message here that I need to down load Flash player ????

Sandy, are you on a PC or a phone? I get that message if I try to access the site from my phone, but never had a problem when using a computer.

I am using a computer, I hate to get pop ups that ask me to down load anything. I have had many virus's doing that. My desk top was hacked about a month ago, so I had to disconnect it. Who ever did it, got a list of everyone I was emailing and tried sending them a virus, by asking them to click to read the message that I didn't send.
People who come to my home can't believe that strange things that happen. My TV comes on all by its self and it is not programed to do that. cable company said it has to be the power strip ? How can a power strip turn on both the TV and the cable box each Sunday morning is odd I think. Sorry this is way off topic you can delete or move all that are off topic.

Wow, that is some really odd stuff. Someone has to be doing it to mess with you. Maybe they broke into your house when you weren't there and can access certain things in your home?

I am currently reading about a couple of guys who were big shots at Disney who were involved in a drug ring out of Napa Valley, and they also owned a real estate company. Apparently one of the guys also conned people out of millions of dollars.

I looked through a few boxes today, but haven't found the article yet. I was trying to find a couple of obituary's of Jim Phillips family for someone who likes him as a suspect. He makes one of the best suspects of all I have looked at , except my own. He had motive, opportunity and was into cypher's.His car was very much like the shooters car at Blue Rock.

Do you know anything about Phillips putting a crosshair logo on an envelope. I forget who he sent a letter to or where I even saw this from...

Yes it was on a card sent to a catalog company in England. He drew the middle finger and the Z logo on the card.
I think he did this knowing that VPD was coming back to his home with a warrant to search. He sent it with under postage, just so it would be there to taunt the police is what I think. I do not like this jerk at all !