Houston cocaine trafficker faces life sentence after being convicted of murder for hire

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A cocaine supplier in Houston has been sentenced to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of multiple violent crimes, according to the United States Attorney's Office.

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Fifty-year-old Ronald Brown, who also goes by Nuk, Nook or Nookie, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder for hire, intentional killing related to drug trafficking, two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a murder, kidnapping and using a firearm in relation to the kidnapping as well as conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine.

Brown was sentenced after a six-day trial and a six-hour deliberation.

U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani said Brown hired a hitman in two incidents to kill his associates.

Good Samaritian rescues victim who escaped from kidnappers' trunk

On April 23, 2014, Brown and others kidnapped one of his associates who law enforcement seized 21 kilograms of cocaine from. The associate placed the bag in a vehicle at a Valero gas station, leading to the drug bust.

"Brown was upset by the loss and sidelined him from the drug operation at that time," Hamdani said in a news release.

One of Brown's drivers testified in front of the jury. He said he was robbed of about 56 kilograms of cocaine on April 18, 2014, which Brown suspected was conspired by two of his associates.

The kidnappers zip-tied one associate's arms and legs and put him in the trunk of Brown's girlfriend's vehicle, according to authorities.

The associate was able to escape from the trunk, and was taken away by good Samaritan who picked him up, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors said Brown shot the good Samaritan in the upper body and the associate in the head after following them. Both of them survived their gunshot wounds.

One of the kidnappers told the jury that after the series of events, Brown told him to dump the vehicle and gun used during the shooting.

Authorities said Brown also directed his girlfriend to report the vehicle as stolen.

Man killed after being ambushed outside northwest Houston parole office

Brown began to hunt for his second associate, who he believed was involved in the drug theft.

Prosecutors said testimony revealed Brown knew of the man's next parole visit and hired a shooter through a middleman, and provided him with a handgun.

On July 1, 2014, the associate left his parole visit and was shot and killed.

Eyewitness News covered the man's death, which happened outisde of a parole office in northwest Houston.

RELATED: Man fatally shot outside NW Houston parole office

Witnesses told ABC13 back in 2014 that they saw a man crouching in the bushes before rounds of gunfire erupted, sounding like "a rain of fire."

Afterwards, Brown paid the shooter and middleman $20,000 in the parking lot of a grocery store, accoriding to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Brown's attorney's tried to convice the jury that other members of his drug trafficking organization orchestrated the kidnapping and murder.

Jurors did not believe those claims and found Brown guilty as charged.

Brown's sentence is set to start on Jan. 29, 2024. At that time, he will get life in a federal prison. Brown has been and will remain in custody pending that hearing.