By Lynn Safranek, World-Herald Staff Writer (Omaha, Neb.)
It started with three dead men.
The bodies of Benigno Dominguez, 27, and Frank J. Wilkinson, 22, both of Mesa, Ariz., and Faustino Garcia, 33, of Denver, were found May 4, 2005, burning in brush near 60th and State Streets. All three had been shot.
Then, in April 2006, Omaha police investigators confiscated 1,000 pounds of marijuana, worth $1 million, from the homes and storage units of two Omaha men, Dale Giles and Charmar Brown.
The triple homicide and the marijuana bust were linked by police report number 10536-F: Giles’ and Brown’s booking sheet number, which corresponded to the number on the report of the triple homicide.
And then, on Tuesday, Giles, 31, and Brown, 24, were arrested in connection with the deaths.
The two men were arrested on suspicion of three counts each of first-degree murder and three counts each of weapon use.
The deaths were part of a narcotics conspiracy reaching to Texas and Arizona and requiring unprecedented levels of cooperation with other law enforcement agencies, said Sgt. Teresa Negron, a police spokeswoman.
Giles and Brown had been in custody since April, when authorities raided their homes and storage units, seizing 1,000 pounds of pot, large amounts of cash and luxury cars.
The pot bust was one of the largest in Omaha police history. Both men, along with several relatives and associates, were indicted in a federal case that has yet to go to trial.
Brown’s attorney, Susan Bazis, said Tuesday that her client “denies 100 percent involvement in this. I don’t know what evidence they have that precipitated this (arrest).”
Giles’ attorney, Steve Lefler, declined to comment until he learned more about the case.
The Omaha police investigation was assisted by the FBI’s Omaha bureau, the Phoenix Police Department and the El Paso (Texas) Drug Enforcement Agency.
Lt. Alex Hayes, head of the Omaha homicide unit, said Omaha investigators traveled out of town to coordinate with the other agencies, then left the agencies to act on the information.
According to testimony from investigators in court and court filings:
Drug dealers in Arizona told investigators that they had been supplying large amounts of marijuana to a man in Omaha with the nickname “Clean,” a name used by Giles.
Giles also was identified in the photo lineup by an Arizona drug dealer as “Clean.” The man who accompanied Giles on the sales was known to the dealer as “Cousin.” He later was identified as Brown.
In spring 2005, Giles began buying drugs directly from Dominguez, who was known as a “multihundred-pound quantity dealer of marijuana.”
Giles and Brown once flew to Atlanta to buy marijuana from Dominguez, and they negotiated for Dominguez to bring a large load of marijuana to them in Omaha.
Later, Omaha police learned that the load delivered to Omaha was about 4,000 pounds.