Ex-Washington HS Basketball Player Murdered Last Month Was Key Figure In Massive Drug Probe

Ex-Washington HS Basketball Player Murdered Last Month Was Key Figure In Massive Drug Probe
By Mark Belling

The convicted felon who former Milwaukee Washington High basketball coach Freddie Riley refused to kick off his powerful 2019 team was a key figure in a massive drug bust announced this week by the state Department of Justice.

Deontay Long, the former Washington player, was murdered last month in West Allis. State officials, in announcing the charging of 14 local men in a fentanyl distribution ring, say long was a key player in that operation and his murder was linked to the drug ring.

Riley became notorious after allowing Long, already a felon when he was a high school senior, to play on Washington’s team which finished second in the state Division Two basketball tournament. The Riley-Long affair resulted in the WIAA implementing a rule banning felons from competing in high school tournaments.

Long was convicted in 2018 in a series of armed robberies that included a carjacking of an elderly woman on Milwaukee’s east side. He served six months in jail and was welcomed back to the Washington team by Riley. It was merely one of many refusal by Milwaukee Public Schools to implement any disciplinary standards in the awful school system.

Long had multiple college scholarship offers but most were rescinded after his conviction. Riley, the then-Washington coach, refused at the time to answer my questions as to why he allowed Long to stay on the team. Riley is now the head basketball coach at Menomonee Falls High School. Falls officials told me when Riley was hired they were aware of his refusal to discipline Long.

Long kicked around at a couple of small colleges but his basketball career amounted to little. But his criminal ways resurfaced. Long and another man were murdered last month in what authorities are now saying was directly linked to the enormous drug ring officials say they have now busted.

There is no way of knowing if Riley had forced Long to face consequences for his 2018 felony if Long would have gotten on a better path. It is certainly fair to say Long remained a serious criminal after his lenient treatment from Freddie Riley.

Mark Belling
January 29, 2025

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