From Hard Hits to Hitmen: The Darryl Henley Story Part One

Daryl Henley had it all, or so it seemed, when he made it to fame and fortune in the ranks of top NFL cornerbacks. But the pressure was apparently too much, and he descended into the dark world of drug trafficking. Join Jay Harris as he takes you deep into the scandal that rocked the NFL involving conspiracies, hitmen, and drug mules.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome back to playing Dirty Sports Scandals, where I veteran
ESPN sportscaster Jay Harris don my barista skills to serve
up the most shocking stories from the sports world. Today.
I've got a tail for you with twists and turns
that'll make your taste buds scream. Are you ready? I
hope so, because it's down the hatch with today's baleful broom.

(00:40):
By the time we get to the bottom of this
messy blend, we're gonna have some serious rinsing to do,
because today's dirty player is none other than the notorious
Darryl Henley. Darryl Henley was born in Los Angeles, California,
on October thirtieth, nineteen sixty six, the day before Halloween.
Even though his life would descend into horrors far greater

(01:03):
than not scary Farm, the Bates Motel, and the haunted
trail of Balboa Park all rolled into one from the outset,
Daryl seemed to have it made. His devoted parents, Tom
and Dorothy instilled strong values in Daryl, along with his
two older brothers, Thomas and Eric. There was no stepping
out of line tolerated in the Henley clan, but equally.

(01:24):
Theirs was a household where the children knew they were
loved and supported. Both Tom and Dorothy Henley were proud
college graduates who believed that education was the key to
success in life. They pushed their three sons to work hard,
and Tom's household rules as the patriarch forbade mediocrity. After all,
he and his wife were sacrificing to give their children

(01:47):
every advantage, and so understandably they expected their boys to
put their best efforts forward. Strict vigilance was maintained by
the Henleys over their son's activities. In stepping out of
line with any deviant behavior, especially drugs, was totally prohibited.
The La Times reported on the Henley household years later,

(02:08):
painting a picture of Tom and Dorothy Hindley, who were
too poor at times to buy a car. They walked
to work, saving to send their youngsters to Christian elementary schools,
and when it was time for high school, they moved
so they could send their boys to a better high school.
Damien and Laverne. These were parents who prioritized their children's

(02:29):
futures over their own comforts, who never dropped their watchful eyes,
and who had every reason to believe that their choices
were paying off. Tom Henley gave an example of how
his boys stood apart from the pack, proudly saying, when
the kids were growing up, everybody was smoking marijuana. I
would let my sons use the car and I would

(02:50):
check the ashtrays. Later I would go into their rooms
and check their drawers. I was searching because as a
parent I had that doubt, but I didn't find so
much much as a roach. Three kids, three sons, and
not that my kids are perfect, but not one problem.
Perhaps it was their doting parents' attention. Perhaps it was

(03:11):
their family's strong moral and religious foundation, with Tom even
serving as a deacon in church for over two decades.
Or perhaps Daryl, Thomas and Eric were simply destined for achievement.
In any event, Patriarch Tom Henley could say with confidence
in the late nineteen eighties that it was something special
being a Henley. And that's something special shone brightest under

(03:40):
the spotlight of Damian High School's gridiron, where Daryl and
Thomas Henley were football standouts. The brother's prowess on the
field was undeniable. Thomas was such a talent that he
was scooped up by Stanford University the play wide receiver. Meanwhile,
Darrell's athleticism and academic excellence earned him a scholarship to

(04:00):
UCLA just a few short years later. The Henley kids
were on the map when it came to higher education,
and their devoted parents were thrilled. At UCLA, Daryl continued
to feed Tom and Dorothy's parental pride. He was a
standout cornerback with a vibrant personality, known for his flair
and strategic thinking on the football field. Not only did

(04:23):
Darrel play defense, but he also contributed significantly to special teams,
particularly in punt and kickoff returns. This versatility earned Daryl
a spot on the nineteen eighty eight Consensus All American
Team his senior year, as well as first team All
Packed ten honers. To put this accomplishment into perspective, consider
that soon to be household named Dion Sanders was the

(04:46):
other corner on that nineteen eighty eight All American team.
Daryl was literally standing shoulder to shoulder with the greats
when it came to college football, and his academic performance
at UCLA was equally impressive. He graduated with a three
point three GPA in finance. Daryl was talented and smart.

(05:06):
It seemed a golden future awaited him in the NFL
and beyond. Draft Day in nineteen eighty nine came and
no one was surprised when Darryl Henley's name was called
in the second round by the Los Angeles Rams. Joining
the team fresh off a near Super Bowl run, Daryl
was viewed by Rams coach John Robinson as a strategic

(05:28):
choice to bolster a squad with big aspirations. The only
thing Daryl Henley is lacking is bulk at five feet
nine and one hundred and seventy pounds, coach Robinson told
the LA Times. But I think he's one of those
guys who bounces. Was coach John Robinson? Right? Would Daryl
Henley bounce to the top with his new team? The

(05:49):
Rams were counting on Darryl Henley paying off in their
pursuit of elusive championship glory at the next Super Bowl.
Darrel felt the enormous pressure of his new position and
was determined to transition from collegiate star to NFL player fast.
His upbringing had prepared him for hard work, and Daryl
did not disappoint. He pushed himself hard Darrel would often

(06:13):
stay laid in the weight room or on the track
to put in the extra reps required to become a
formidable NFL cornerback, and just as it always had done
for Daryl, the hard work paid off on the field.
Darrel established himself early on as a reliable cornerback, leveraging
his speed and agility to cover some of the league's

(06:34):
top receivers. Over his NFL career, he started fifty four
of a possible seventy six games, appearing in all of
them and intercepting twelve passes. After just two years, he
won a starting job and kept it for four seasons.
That's incredible. Daryl's consistent performance and ability to make crucial
plays made him a solid and respected component of the

(06:57):
Rams defense, and coach Robinson had every reason to believe
his pick had been a strong one. In a July twentieth,
nineteen ninety interview with The La Times, Darryl epitomized the
type of focused player NFL coaches aimed to work with.
Summing up his personal approach to the sport, it comes
down to sink or swim, Darryl explained, and I plan

(07:18):
on swimming off the field Darryl Henley's life was as
dynamic as you'd expect. A twenty three year old NFL
player pulling down six figures annually was going to have
plenty of options, including options which weren't always positive. While
Daryl continued to outwardly embody the discipline and ethics his

(07:39):
parents had instilled in him, the internalized pressures of professional
sports was taking its toll. He was young, the expectations
on him weighed heavily, and he had sudden, unfettered access
to everything he'd never before been allowed to have. During
Darryl Henley Lee's NFL career, which spanned the late nineteen

(08:02):
eighties and early nineteen nineties, it's important to understand that
the United States was deeply entrenched in the War on
Drugs and era marked by tough on crime policies that
aim to combat drug use and distribution. The War on
Drugs campaign was kicked off under Richard Nixon's presidency in
June nineteen seventy one, and subsequent administrations ran with the baton.

(08:27):
First Lady Nancy Reagan popularized the controversial anti drug slogan
just Say No, and President George H. W. Bush, who
served from nineteen eighty nine to nineteen ninety three continued
the aggressive anti drug agenda set by the Reagan administration.
It was a time characterized by widespread public fear about drugs,

(08:49):
heightened law enforcement actions, and stringent penalties for drug offenses. California,
where Darryl Henley was based, was a focal point of
the war on Drugs campaign. The state battled significant drug
related issues, particularly with the rise of crack cocaine, which
had a devastating impact on many urban communities. Crack was

(09:11):
far cheaper than powdered cocaine and easier to smuggle, sell,
and produce. It was also far more addictive, with users
reporting near immediate addiction and the desire to do almost
anything for another hit. Los Angeles in particular, was experiencing
high levels of drug violence, with frequent clashes between drug

(09:33):
gangs and law enforcement. The city struggles with drugs were
exacerbated by the Rodney King incident. On March third, nineteen
ninety one, Rodney King, a black man, was severely beaten
by Los Angeles police officers who arrested him for driving
while intoxicated after a high speed chase on the Highway.

(09:56):
A man named George Holiday saw the police brutality taking
place from his balcony, so he filmed it and shared
the footage with local news station KTLA. The horrifying police
mistreatment of Rodney King was picked up by news outlets
around the world, and the public was outraged. This precipitated
the La riots of nineteen ninety two, which underscored the

(10:18):
tensions between the community and the police. For many people,
they felt the police could and should stuff all the
policies they were supposed to be enforceick including the crackdown
on drugs where the sun don't shine, and their feelings
were understandable because the War on drugs has since been
proven to have been directly motivated by racism. In fact,

(10:40):
twenty three years after the War on drugs campaign was
first announced, John Erlickman, who served as Richard Nixon's domestic
policy adviser, revealed in an interview that the War on
drugs had been strategically deployed as a crusade to criminalize
blacks and the anti Vietnam War left. John Erlckman said, quote,
we knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either

(11:03):
against the war or blacks, but by getting the public
to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin,
and then criminalizing them both heavily. We could disrupt those communities.
We could arrest their leaders, raide their homes, break up
their meetings, and vilify them night after night in the
evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs?

(11:26):
Of course we did. Wow. That is a truly horrifying admission.
John Erlickman did ultimately serve prison time for his role
in Watergate, but the underhanded war on drugs policy he
helped develop plagued Americans for generations. With the social mobility
of blacks in America suffering massive collateral damage. Against this

(11:54):
prejudiced and divisive backdrop, Los Angeles became the burgeoning epicenter
of a cultural movement. They would have profound implications nationwide.
The rise of gangster rap. Artists like NWA, which included
Doctor dre Ice Cube and EASYE, were pioneering this genre,
which vividly chronicled the realities of life in neighborhoods plagued

(12:15):
by violence, police brutality, and systemic neglect. Their seminal album
in nineteen eighty eight, Straight out of Compton brought national
attention to these issues, portraying the struggles and frustrations of
urban youth with raw, unfiltered lyrics. Los Angeles, characterized by
both the glamour of Hollywood and the grid of its
inner city streets, inevitably influenced its sports figures. The city

(12:39):
of angels dual identity was mirrored in the lives of
some of its top athletes, athletes like Darryl Henley, who
found himself in his early twenties navigating the high stakes
of professional sports while being immersed in a local culture
marked by both creativity and crisis. For as long as
Darryl Henley was winning, for as long as the Rams

(13:01):
were realizing success, life, even in divided Los Angeles, made
some sense for the young man who'd been raised to
believe that hard work always pays off. The Henleys were winners.
That was what made sense to Daryl, just as it
had done for his parents. It was only when he
finally had to confront the reality that winning is not

(13:23):
an inevitability even with hard work, that the crack started
to form in his carefully cultivated persona. The La Rams
endured three consecutive losing seasons after Darrow's first spectacular season,
and it broke him. Daryl Henley recalled how his spirits
plummeted at this time, saying, I was used to winning,

(13:45):
and then suddenly everything just started to fall apart. It
was a tough period for me. Even so from the
outside looking in, it appeared that this was just a
blip in the Daryl Henley story. After all, he had
an enviable six hundred thousand dollars annual salary in the
nineteen ninety three season, a highly promising career, and the

(14:07):
glamorous life of a professional athlete. He'd already achieved so
much for someone so young, But Daryl could not shake
his malaise. He decided to seek a change of scenery
and relocate his personal home base to Atlanta, where he
knew few people. This move across the country from California
to Georgia marked the beginning of a significant transformation in

(14:30):
Daryl's social life. He quickly attracted a new group of
friends in Atlanta, and these relationships would prove to be catastrophic.
These were the kind of people I was used to,
Daryl reflected years later. The people I hung out with
in Atlanta seemed all right at first, but they didn't
really share my values or my goals, and so instead

(14:53):
of improving his mood, Daryl found himself struggling more than
ever in Atlanta to navigate the press and pitfalls of
his off field life with his professional career still. His
colleagues and coaches had no clue that Daryl was in
such a bad place mentally, after all, his playing continued
to be top notch. In fact, even as the Rams struggled,

(15:17):
Darryl Henley burned his individual value into the gridiron, leading
the team in interceptions during their final season in Anaheim
before the Rams moved to Saint Louis. Darrel's performance was
recognized by the Rams with a substantial one point two
million dollar contract offer to continue his career with the
team in Saint Louis, underscoring his value as a top

(15:40):
tier NFL cornerback. But despite this validation from the Rams,
Darryl Henley, an extremely loved and gifted human, was in
a dark place about to throw everything away. I'm going
to cleanse my palette now because this tale is about
to take a dark turn. Atlanta was not a move

(16:07):
that would prove positive for Daryl. His dissent was marked
by late nights in a revolving door of questionable acquaintances.
Quote for all intents and purposes, Yeah, the people I
hung out with were my friends. They came over and
we kicked it. They came and watched me work out.
Daryl explained this camaraderie from the Atlanta hangers on filled

(16:29):
a void that had been left after many of his
close teammates had been traded or waived by the RAMS management.
Feeling lonely and basking in his role, however superficial it was.
As the new local celebrity everyone wanted to be with,
Daryl was pulled deeper into circles and situations he struggled
to recognize. Spending time with guys who already had rap

(16:51):
sheets and who didn't share his own promising career prospects
likely made Daryl feel like the big man in the room,
offsetting his depress about the Rams losing Street. But according
to Daryl, any comfort he derived from his new pals
quickly turned sour as they pulled him into their world
of drug trafficking. Before I knew it, I was thickened

(17:14):
to something I couldn't identify, something I was into too
deep to get out of. Daryl would later reflect, I
was angry, confused, and most of all desperate, so desperate
that my thinking became irrational and warped to the extent
that I'd do anything to make it all go away.
Part of that anything involved pulling his ex girlfriend and

(17:36):
still friend Tracy and Donahoe down into the world of
dirty playing with him, Darryl Henley and Tracy and Donahoe
seemed to epitomize the perfect couple. He was a star
football player for the Rams and Tracy was a cheerleader
for the Embraceable use the Rams cheer squad. Both were
in peak physical condition, exuded outward confidence, and it maintained

(17:59):
their best friend's status even after splitting up romantically. But
of course, real best friends don't get you involved in
drug trafficking. According to Tracy, the nightmare started for her
in May nineteen ninety three when Darrell allegedly told her
she could work for his friend Willie McGowan to earn

(18:20):
some easy cash to pay her bills. All she had
to do was fly with a suitcase of cash from
Los Angeles to Memphis, trusting her ex lover and close
friend implicitly. At this point, Tracy picked up the suitcase
from Daryl's second home in Brea, California, and flew it
to Memphis. When she arrived, Gary West, another pal of Darrell's,

(18:42):
met her at the airport and then spent hours trying
to find enough cash to pay for her flight home.
Tracy thought this was strange and later told the La
Times she felt scared by the time she returned home
to Orange County, but not scared enough, apparently, because in
July nineteen ninety three, Trai agreed to make another trip
to Atlanta because it meant she'd be able to spend

(19:04):
some time with Darryl in person, who was holed up
in his Georgia residence. The ex lovers and best friends
would never enjoy more than a few fraught moments together again, however,
because on July fifteenth, nineteen ninety three, Tracy Donaho was
forced to face up to the glaring realization that Darryl
had grossly abused her trust. Drug Enforcement Agency or DEA

(19:29):
officers were waiting for her in Atlanta. Tracy had caught
the attention of federal narcotics investigators by paying cash for
a one way ticket from Ontario International Airport to Atlanta
on a pre dawn flight, a well known red flag
for drug trafficking, the agent seized Tracy's suitcase right in
front of Darryl Henley. Tracy must have been stunned. There

(19:54):
was her longtime companion Daryl just a few feet away,
but instead of stepping in to help clear things up
for Tracy, he revealed no knowledge of what was going on.
As the situation devolved, Tracy insisted that it wasn't until
she was being arrested that she realized the bag contained
twelve kilos of cocaine worth about two hundred and fifty

(20:15):
thousand dollars on the street. But Daryl clearly did know
what the bag contained, and given how close the two
had been, it must have been devastating for Tracy to
realize he was going to let her take the fall.
As Tracy was taken into police custody, Daryl returned to
his Atlanta home. His connections to the apparent trafficking operation

(20:36):
had not yet been clarified to law enforcement, and Tracy,
almost certainly still shell shocked by what had gone down,
didn't immediately point a finger at Daryl. Tracy wouldn't start
talking until the severity of the mess hit her and
she was forced to confront Daryl's duplicity. It turned out
that Tracy Donahoe's actions and arrests were not isolated events,

(21:00):
but part of a broader scheme later outlined by federal
prosecutors supported by her father, a retired police officer from
La County, Tracy at last came clean and cooperated fully
with pre trial services subsequent to her arrest and release
in Atlanta. Her allegations were shocking, pulling back the facade

(21:20):
of Daryl Henley's brilliant and talented public persona to reveal
him as a criminal. Daryl allegedly coordinated with Rafael Bustamante,
Alejandro Figaro Equavis, and James Timothy Says, among others, to
transport large quantities of cocaine from California to various destinations
across the country, and Daryl had made Tracy a mule,

(21:44):
a mule earning the measly sum of just one thousand
dollars per delivery in that operation. Thank goodness that mules
kick or this dangerous drug operation might have gone on
for far longer. Quote, Tracy is a nice person who
got caught up in a web of intrigue. Her defense attorney,
Stephen aide to Sales, told the La Times she was

(22:05):
a nineteen year old kid, She was naive, and she
was betrayed by someone she trusted. After she realized what
had happened, she told the truth. Without her, there was
no case, but with Tracy there certainly was a case.
And on December second, nineteen ninety three, warrants were issued
for Darryl Henley and all the other exposed participants in

(22:28):
the trafficking scheme. Darryll's attorney, Carl E. Douglas, who is
best known for being on OJ Simpson's defense team, declared
that his client would surrender to authorities in anticipation of
his arraignment in US District Court in Santa Anna, California.
We are prepared to face these allegations and will cooperate
with the judicial process, the ever confident attorney Douglas remarked.

(22:56):
Both Darryl Henley and Tracy Donaho were charged with one
count of conspierre in one kind of possession with intent
to distribute cocaine. They faced possible life jail sentences and
eight million dollars in fines if convicted on both counts.
There were also extortion charges against some of the other conspirators.

(23:16):
Now you may be wondering why Tracy, a naive participant
and key cooperating witness, was charged at all. While this
is standard protocol in such cases, prosecutors need to have
a serious charge to hold over a cooperating defend its head,
to ensure they delivered their full testimony, to receive a
lenient sentence, or in some cases, even a dismissal of

(23:39):
the charges. Certainly, both Tracy Donaho and Darryl Henley had
every reason to fear what was coming. The indictment painted
a grim picture of a highly sophisticated drug trafficking operation
extending from southern California across the nation to Tennessee and
of course Georgia. Assistant US Attorney Deirdre z Elliott emphasized

(24:01):
that it was not a simple case of possession, but
an elaborate scheme to distribute narcotics across state lines, with
Daryl Henley allegedly playing a pivotal role. While Daryl adamantly
denied that he was the mastermind behind the operation, a
chilling incident that transpired in October nineteen ninety three, on

(24:22):
the heels of Tracy's initial July nineteen ninety three drug
bust certainly painted a picture of Daryl's deep involvement. Three
of Darrell's associates, Rafael Bustamante, Alejandro Figaroaquavis, and Eric Manning
confronted him at the RAMS training facility in Anaheim, demanding
payment for the cocaine shipment that the DEA had confiscated

(24:44):
from Tracy Donahoe. According to court documents, Rafael Bustamante jumped
over a security fence and pointed a gun at Daryl.
Then Rafael forcibly took possession of Darrell's nineteen ninety two
Lexus and his Glock nine millimeter semi automatic handgun. Just
hours later, Eric Manning was found dead outside his Cavina apartment,

(25:05):
with shellcasing from a nine millimeter weapon similar to the
one allegedly stolen from Daryl Henley scattered nearby. Although no
direct link was established between Daryl and Eric Manning's death,
Rafael Bustamante clearly seemed to have pulled strings in both
men's lives, and he was clearly extremely dangerous. Darrel had

(25:30):
every reason to fear that he was next on Rafael's
hit list. According to the La Times, a week after
the shooting of Eric Manning, two men identified by authorities
as Alejandro Figaro Quavas and Rafael Bustamante showed up at
the home of Darrow Henley's parents in Upland and told
Darrell's brother Thomas that they had Darrell's lexus and demanded

(25:51):
the money they said they were owed. When someone from
the family called police, the men fled. Fortunately for Daryl,
Anaheim Aloradies moved quickly, and a federal grand jury indict
at Rafael Bustamante, Alejandro Figaro Equavis, and a third associate,
James Says, on charges of attempting to extort at least
one hundred thousand dollars from Daryl Henley on threat of death.

(26:16):
Their indictment revealed the degree to which Daryl Henley's one
time friends now held his life in the balance over
a failed cocaine deal, and demonstrated how deeply entrenched the
cornerback had become in the drug world. The bad guys
held Darrel Henley accountable, and the good guys would soon
hold Darrow Henley accountable too. With nowhere left to hide

(26:38):
his true goings on. Daryl Henley's entire world unraveled virtually
overnight after the attack at the RAMS training facility. He
had to step away from the team, with his future
in professional football hanging in the balance. His teammates, taken
aback by the charges, struggled to reconcile that Daryl Henley
they knew what the shocking allegation. RAM safety Michael Stewart

(27:02):
described the loss of Daryl Henley as almost like losing
a brother. You lose a brother and naturally it's going
to have an impact on you. Chuck Miller, who played
football with Daryl at UCLA, tried to rationalize what had happened, saying,
any black athlete can tell you that he knows a
drug dealer. When you hit it big, the first thing
they come at you with is loan me some money.

(27:24):
I'll pay you back, And that could very well be true.
Even so, Willie flipper Anderson, a longtime friend of Daryl's
and his teammate from UCLA, found the news hard to digest.
It's hard to see anybody getting involved in something like this.
I can't imagine it being the athletes we are and
making the money we do It's hard to see anybody

(27:46):
getting involved in something like that. It's a shame about Daryl,
a shame indeed, just washing out the remnants of my
juice de jure blueberry and BlackBerry with the sprinkle of
chia seeds. Like the Tale of Darryl Henley, this blend
is dark, complex and lingering. You know you need to

(28:09):
find out what happens next, So join me your host
in Brave Maurista, Jay Harris, to find out how Daryl's
saga devolves further or next week's episode of Playing Dirty
Sports Scandals. Playing Dirty Sports Scandals is a production of

(28:32):
Dan Patrick Productions, Never Ever Productions and Workhouse Media from
executive producers Dan Patrick, Paul Anderson, Nick Panela, Maya Glickman,
and Jennifer Clary. Hosted by Jay Harris, Written and produced
by Jen Brown, Francie Haiks, Maya Glickman, and Jennifer Clarey.