Photo by Can Turkylimaz
A federal investigation led to the indictment of Dallas police officers who allegedly helped former East Dallas dance club Far West deal drugs and launder money.
Craig Woods, who lived on Gaston and retired a senior corporal in Dallas Police Department’s canine unit, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about Alfredo Navarro Hinojosa, who police say laundered money and dealt drugs at his night clubs across North Texas.
Hinojosa’s properties in included Far West, the western-style dance club in the Arboretum Village that induced a 2011 neighborhood protest for excessive noise, traffic and public drunkenness. Court records say that as many as 200 baggies of cocaine were sold each weekend, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The indictment claims that several officers, including Woods, worked for the club while off duty, and now face up to five years in prison. The officers helped impede investigations and kept employees out of trouble.
Wiretaps revealed that Hinojosa and his managers didn’t deal drugs directly, but hand-picked dealers to operate in the bathrooms of the clubs.
Woods left the department in March after more than 20 years of service.
