Officials: Spending led to drug suspect

The key to tracking the wanted man believed to be behind a multimillion-dollar, coast-to-coast drug ring was to follow the money he couldn't stop spending, federal and Suffolk authorities said.

During the summer, Suffolk police and prosecutors broke up what they said was a drug ring that shipped cocaine and marijuana hidden in high-end cars from California to Deer Park. Police arrested several men at the Deer Park end of the pipeline in July, but the man at the other end disappeared.

William Wright, 34, may have abandoned West Hollywood and his lavish lifestyle that saw him party with Paris Hilton and NFL players, but prosecutors and federal marshals said he took his exclusive American Express Black card, which he used to rent private jets, and his checkbook with him.

By the time detectives got to his home, all that was left were financial records that had been ripped up and partially flushed down the toilet in his haste to leave, said District Attorney Thomas Spota. To track him down, Spota said, "We asked our friends in the U.S. Marshals Service to help us."

Critical information came from watching the suspect's financial activity, said Robert Fagan, chief of the Marshals Service's northeastern fugitive task force.

In particular, a $3,000 check he wrote as a deposit on a lavish condo by the water in a gated community in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, led authorities to his doorstep, said Assistant District Attorney Jacob Kubetz.

Marshals based in Mexico City and Mexican police kept him under surveillance until a hurricane warning forced Wright to leave the community, Fagan said.

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"God looks out for good people in law enforcement," he said. "Through great police work and Mother Nature, we apprehended Mr. Wright."

Mexican authorities deported him because he was an illegal immigrant.

Wright is charged with operating as a major drug trafficker and faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

Wright's attorney, Michael Brown of Central Islip, did not respond to a request for comment. Brown argued earlier this month that he was a professional gambler and racehorse owner.

"While he may be a professional gambler, he's also a professional drug smuggler," Spota said.