
ARRESTS SHOCK WESTERN NEW YORK RACING COMMUNITY
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Western New York's harness racing community is still reeling from the news that a group of racers are accused of being involved in a drug-smuggling operation.
A federal grand jury has indicted five Buffalo-area residents with being part of one of the biggest methamphetamine operations in North America. Federal agents say the operation involved dozens of people from Manitoba and Ontario, Canada to California and Mexico.
In July, harness racer Louis Russo of Batavia was arrested after Customs inspectors at the U-S-Canada border at Niagara Falls found more than 400 pounds of ephedrine packed into bags hidden in his horse trailer.
Also arrested were four other people with connections to harness racing, including Hugh Stevens, a racehorse owner from Derby, and his wife Sandra, owner of a nightclub in Lackawanna.
All five deny the allegations.