Former friend of Rian Thal gives Phila. court an insider’s view of drug trade [The Philadelphia Inquirer]

Nov. 17--Rian Thal was where Leon Woodard wanted to be: bringing together pro athletes, entertainers, and celebrities at parties that would be remembered among Philadelphia's young nightclubbing set.

And the diminutive, blonde Thal took the 6-foot-4 Woodard under her wing, getting him a job at the Bluezette restaurant in Old City and helping him smooth the rough edges of his South Philly street origins.

"She taught me about party planning, to make it sexy and stop doing the street stuff, to try to be a better person," Woodard, 42, told a Philadelphia jury Wednesday.

But Thal became much more than a mentor, Woodard testified.

"She was my homey," his associate in an illegal drug business that he said regularly did half-million dollar cocaine deals, Woodard told the jury.

Woodard was the main witness in the third day of the prosecution's case against three men accused of killing Thal and her friend Timothy Gilmore in 2009 in a botched plot to steal drugs and cash hidden in her new apartment in the Piazza at Schmidts complex in Northern Liberties.

Woodard -- now serving a 21-year, no-parole federal drug sentence in Texas that grew out of the June 27, 2009, slayings -- gave the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court an insider's view of the drug trade that he said made him and Thal rich.

He also talked about the night of the killings and disclosed that a friend and associate of Thal's -- identified in court by the street name "Danny Diamonds" -- appeared to have been part of the alleged scheme that led to her death.

Diamonds, 38 -- born Vernon Williams -- died March 28, 2010, when he drove his car into the back of a bus on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.

Three men -- Will "Pooh" Hook, 43, also known as Keith Epps, the alleged mastermind of the robbery-turned-murder; alleged gunmen Edward Daniels, 44; and Antonio Wright, 30 -- are on trial for felony murder in the deaths of Thal and Gilmore.

Thal, 34, and Gilmore, 40, were shot dead in the hallway outside Thal's seventh-floor apartment in the Piazza's Navona building.

Prosecutors say Gilmore, a long-distance trucker from Ohio, was hauling drugs from Texas to Philadelphia for Thal and Woodard to sell.

The gunmen confronted Thal and Gilmore, who tried to flee, and the gunmen opened fire.

The gunmen ran off, leaving behind what they came for: more than $100,000 in cash and 81/2 pounds of cocaine that police later found in Thal's apartment.

Woodard outlined the events between June 25, 2009, when Gilmore and trucker Edward Emerson Jr., 43, arrived from Texas with the cocaine, and Thal's and Gilmore's slayings two days later.

The cocaine, stored in Gilmore's black duffel bag, was taken up to Thal's apartment, where it was stashed under her bed, and Woodard, Thal, and Gilmore discussed details of how it would be sold.

Woodard said he had promised his Texas supplier $28,000 a kilogram -- 2.2 pounds -- and planned to sell each kilogram for $30,000.

One potential customer, Woodard told the jury, was Diamonds, a party planner who specialized in hip-hop entertainment and who was an antiviolence advocate in the city's poorer neighborhoods.

Diamonds was eager to buy three kilograms, Woodard said, but Thal did not want to deal with him.

"Don't mess with him, he robs people," Thal warned, according to Woodard.

On Friday and early Saturday, Woodard said, he strung Diamonds along but planned to tell him that the drugs had sold out.

In the meantime, Woodard said, he and Thal took turns showing Gilmore and Emerson the city.

On Friday night, Woodard said, he took the men and met others at the Onyx strip club on South Columbus Boulevard near the Walt Whitman Bridge, where they spent about $15,000.

On Saturday -- the day of the shootings -- Woodard said he was again trying to deal with Diamonds. About 6 p.m., he said, Diamonds was in his Jaguar sedan heading toward the Piazza for what Diamond believed was the drug purchase.

As they neared the Piazza, Woodard said he received a cellphone call from Darryl Shuler, owner of the Plush nightclub at Eighth and Callowhill Streets, where Thal was a manager.

"Rian's dead," Shuler said, according to Woodard.

Woodard said that when Diamonds heard the news, he blurted out, "I hope you don't think I was trying to set you up."

"He jumped out of the car and ran and he didn't come back," Woodard said.

Later, Woodard said, he discovered that Diamonds had left his cellphone in the car.

When he opened the cellphone, Woodard said, he saw a text message from Diamonds to a number identified as belonging to Pooh Hook.

"Yo dawg, we need this," the message read. "This is a big one. We can't let this get by us."

Woodard said he decided to keep the cellphone as "an insurance policy" and told his wife: "If anything happens to me, the men responsible are on that phone."

Contact staff writer Joseph A. Slobodzian at 215-854-2985, jslobodzian@phillynews.com, or @joeslobo on Twitter.

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