February 06, 1986|By Greg Bailey, Special to The Tribune.
ALTON, ILL. — Richard Dial Thorp, former head of The Company, a marijuana smuggling ring that has been called the biggest ever in the U.S., has pleaded guilty to 44 criminal counts in federal court here.
Thorp, 38, who entered his plea Monday, will be sentenced March 14 by U.S. District Judge William L. Beatty. Thorp faces up to 303 years
imprisonment or life without parole and fines of up to $945,000.
The Company allegedly smuggled about 900 tons of Colombian marijuana worth about $55 million between 1976 and 1977. At its height, the group operated a fleet of cargo planes and trucks and owned a chain of airfields and warehouses throughout Illinois and Missouri.
Thorp, a native of Wood River, Ill., formed The Company in an Alton restaurant meeting in 1976 with James C. Dugan of Bethalto, Ill., and James A. Mitchell, of Brighton, Ill. Both Dugan and Mitchell have served prison terms, as well as about 200 former company members.
Thorp had eluded police since 1979 when he fled from a Georgia drug trial. He was arrested under assumed names in Kansas and Florida in 1982, but both times was released on bond and fled before his true identity was discovered.
Federal authorities searched for Thorp for five years. The trail led them through the United States, Mexico and the Bahamas.
Thorp was captured July 26 when he walked into a Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Mexican restaurant, where dozens of FBI agents were attending a farewell dinner. One of the agents recognized him.
Thorp pleaded guilty to one count of participating in a continuing criminal enterprise, one count of reacketeering conspiracy, 26 counts of interstate travel in aid of racketeering, 12 counts of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute and one count of filing a false income tax return.