Drug Kingpin Paid Voodoo Priestess For Protection Against Prison Sentence

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Drug Kingpin Who Paid Voodoo Priestess For Protection Convicted

LAFAYETTE, Louisiana

The head of a multistate drug ring that paid a voodoo priestess for protection from federal agents might want a refund.

John Timothy Cotton of Houston faces a life sentence after being convicted in a Lafayette, Louisiana, federal court of drug trafficking.

The 39-year-old defendant was accused of leading a Houston-based organization that dealt crack cocaine in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Kansas. Prosecutors say that netted an estimated 43 (M) million dollars over ten years.

U-S Attorney Donald Washington says most of the drugs came from Colombia and the Dominican Republic. He says Cotton and other members of the drug ring paid thousands of dollars for voodoo hexes against federal agents and for protection.

Cotton's wife, Trina Rauchelle Jackson, and another relative, Otis Charles Jackson -- both of Houston -- face 20 to 30 years in prison for drug conspiracy. A fourth defendant was acquitted.