[NFL] Travis Henry Busted for Cocaine Trafficking

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Ex-Bronco Henry busted as 'money guy' in drug ring


Former Denver Bronco running back Travis Henry is portrayed as the ruthless "money guy" in a cocaine trafficking ring who threatened to kill two accomplices and their families if they didn't repay $40,000 in stolen drug money, according to court records.

In what may become the fallen NFL star's last run, Henry was busted Tuesday as he tried to flee a Centennial home where he and another man had received 11 pounds in a federal sting operation.

"Henry ran from police and was apprehended a few houses away after a short pursuit," U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Diane Jenkins wrote in a a criminal complaint against Henry and an accomplice filed in Denver federal court today.

Henry's alleged accomplice, James Mack, "immediately went to the ground" as police closed in, the agent wrote.

In lurid detail, Henry is described "cooking the cocaine" in the kitchen of the Centennial home to confirm its quality after it was "rocked," Agent Jenkins wrote. Then he and Mack shoved six "bricks" of cocaine into a duffle bag and tried to leave.

Both men are charged with federal drug trafficking offences and appeared briefly in U.S. District Court in Denver this afternoon.

Henry's defense attorney, Harvey Steinberg, said his client was held without bail and will appear for a detention hearing Monday in court.

The DEA recorded six conversations that an informant had with Henry or Mack about the 11-pound cocaine deal that, in part, would supposedly repay the ex-Bronco for the $40,000 in lost drug money. The DEA supplied the bricks of coke.

The bust continues a humiliating descent for the once-promising running back who failed to catch on as a free agent with another team after the Broncos cut him in June for repeatedly missing offseason training sessions.

Henry successfully challenged a failed drug test for mar1juana issued last year by the NFL.

But his NFL future was again clouded when league officials confirmed in July that Henry faced a one-year suspension for a new violation of the substance-abuse policy in the weeks before the Broncos cut him.

Drugs weren't Henry's only off-field problem.

A Georgia child-support court case revealed that he had failed to make support payments for nine children that he fathered with nine women across four southern states.

The cocaine investigation took off on the night of Sept. 16, when the DEA and Montana State Police stopped unidentified drug couriers in a Chevrolet Impala on Montana's Interstate 90.

A search turned up a black duffle bag holding 6 pounds of mar1juana and 6.6 pounds of cocaine, according to the complaint by Jenkins, the DEA agent.

Caught with the goods, the unidentified passenger rolled over and became a confidential informant for DEA investigators.

The informant said he was transporting the pot and coke to two different drug customers of Henry and Mack in Billings, Mont.

Henry was going to pay the courier $5,000 for selling the drugs for a total of $63,600 and bringing the cash back to the ex-Bronco in Denver, the DEA agent wrote.

Henry was the "money guy" in the trafficking ring, the informant told agents.

He said Henry was angry with him because the informant had introduced the ex-Bronco to a Billings drug client who'd supposedly lost $40,000 in drug money owed Henry during a home burglary.

The informant accused Henry of threatening that he, the Billings drug client and their families 'were all 'dead' if they did not come up with the money," the statement said.

"In order to avoid being killed by Henry (and) Mack" the informant came up with a plan to rip off another cocaine buyer in Billings by supplying 2.2 pounds of real cocaine and 4.4 pounds of "fake" cocaine (crumbled Sheetrock), according to the DEA statement.

Then he would sell the 4.4 pounds of real coke to repay Henry the $40,000.

The hitch: He was arrested in Montana with the mixture of real and bogus drugs in mid-September.

Working with the DEA, the informant made the first of several recorded phone calls two days later on Sept. 18.

He lied to Mack, saying he'd successfully ripped off the Billings drug buyer, but was busted and all the drug money was seized on his way back to Denver to pay off Henry, according to the DEA statement.

Four days later , the tape was rolling when the informant called Henry and arranged to "front" him 6.6 pounds of coke to repay the drug money seized in Montana.

Last week, the informant increased the deal to 11 pounds of coke in a phone call with Mack. Henry's accomplice allegedly agreed they would pay $40,000 for the additional cocaine, the DEA statement said.

Henry okayed the deal in a Monday phone call with the informant, according to the statement, and he agreed to the Tuesday meeting in Centennial where federal and local authorities would be waiting.