Some would say that's not bad for a kid with an 8th grade education, but as his legend grew, so did the stakes. Flenory, a genuine hip hop icon, has been in prison since November 2005 and is name-checked in rap lyrics by Drake, Lil Wayne and Jay-Z. ''Those tapes really hurt,'' said Anthony Chambers, who is Larry Chambers's lawyer but is not related to his client. ''There are just other fish in the pond getting more business.''. Now a 47-year-old man, White Boy Rick was a former Detroit drug dealer and an FBI informant. '', Dr. Mark A. R. Kleiman, an expert in drug enforcement and a lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, said the case could discourage drug dealers in Detroit from competing for the top spot the Chambers brothers held. The outside investigations into Detroit corruption during the late 1980s and 1990s, including Operation Backbone, were a late and insufficient response to a systemic lack of accountability within the DPD that had allowed misconduct and corruption to fester for decades. It was used on and off during the 1990s for nightclub functions until the owner, reputed drug dealer Joe Foster, 56, was shot to death a few blocks from the theater nearly 20 years ago. South Groman and his fellow agents named their investigation Operation Backbone. 0499. Eventually, that information helped Davis convince a prosecutor to drop the charges against him. In January 1988, he was incarcerated at the age of 17 for a non-violent drug crime. But jurors were questioned about whether they had seen them. And any large-scale drug investigation inevitably takes many twists and turns along the way, Gabel said. The FBI asked Wershe Jr. to introduce their undercover agent to Cathy Volsan-Curry, who they suspected of arranging police protection for the Curry organization. Ghost and Wizard Brown were killed within days of each other in December 1986. The story of the teenage informant who helped alert the FBI to police corruption in the DPD is so remarkable that it has been told in not one, but two separate feature length films: the 2017 documentary White Boy, and the dramatized 2018 production White Boy Rick, featuring Matthew McConaughey as Ricks father. Another explanation of why the scourge of drug corruption was never fully resolved in the DPD is that police officers enjoyed an astonishing lack of accountability. Its not adding up, McCoy said. Officers faced being socially ostracized and risked their career prospects if they chose to report the misconduct of their colleagues. Police towed the car and opened the trunk. Early in his career Harris actions initiated the Rochester St. Massacre, a deadly shooting between undercover DPD officers and a group of off-duty Sheriff's deputies. Herman Groman, Mike Castro, and others in Operation Backbone still believed that the corruption went deeper than what they had been able to uncover at that point in their investigation. In 1988 and 1989, the Detroit News ran several stories noting increases in high profile police crimes, many of which involved drugs and drug corruption. People Both Kincaid and Holloway were schooled in street affairs as youngsters on Detroits eastside by the old Murder Row crew, also known simply as the Detroit Black mob. James Harris actually moved up in the ranks after the Rochester Street Massacre. The car collection cost $519,000, or about 14 times as much money as Brown reported on his 2011 taxes, according to the search warrant affidavit. Mafia As the corruption of James Harris and the suspected corruption of Gil Hill makes clear, illicit police activities were in no way limited to officers specifically tasked with narcotics enforcement. Agents conducted undercover surveillance on the couples 6,900-square-foot house, which includes a secret Narnia-themed room hidden behind an armoire, and spotted Browns stable of luxury cars. The Chambers organization, he said, was clearly corporate. Ain't no telling how much is up there. Uncategorized Obviously they're not going to walk into a K Mart or General Motors and get a job. Drug Gangs His headquarters was the Chalk & Cue pool hall on Seven Mile and he opened up a chain of shoe and apparel stores called The Sports Jam, which Foot Locker was considering purchasing for tens of millions of dollars at the time of his death. In many respects, it is like a choose your own adventure book and each new page of the investigation presents new opportunities and challenges.. By Guy Gugliotta and. One witness testified that he saw a gang leader put the body of a rival drug dealer into a trash bin. Despite their sworn commitment to do everything within their powers to protect this very beleaguered community, they have contributed directly to the forces that have undermined further security," said then-U.S. Attorney Stephen Markman. BMBs videos are cinematic, dramatic and occasionally star Brown. The lawsuit appears to adopt scenes from the critically acclaimed movie Straight Outta Compton, Browns attorney Alanna ORourke wrote in a court filing. Youth Curfew Regulations and Devil's Night, Community Involvement in the War on Drugs, Interrogation: Torture and False Convictions, Crimetown: Police Sergeant Jimmy Harris Plans Drug Shipments on Undercover FBI Video, one of Detroits first major drug kingpins, widespread drug corruption in the 10th Precinct. A few weeks later, in August 2014, the Altima was back at the home in Skokie before returning to California. When Detroit police arrested Lakeas Davis, foreclosing the possibility of a serious inquiry into the alleged involvement of the Curry brothers, Groman was dismayed and attempted to contact Detroit homicide to convince the department that it had arrested the wrong suspect. News By that time, however, Wershe Jr. was deeply involved in the drug trade and he continued to buy and sell drugs without police supervision. Lewis has been a major drug dealer in Metro Detroit since 1990, the government said -- and previously was partners with Tommie Hodges, another major drug dealer before the . By 1975 Harris had been promoted to detective and was the head of a squad within the homicide division of the DPD. His behavior in the aftermath of Johnson's murder brought scrutiny. Edmond, 24, was sent to the Federal Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania to serve his sentence. He did six years in prison for peddling cocaine and heroin and got out in 2010. Detroit A prominent Detroit music mogul allegedly is one of the largest heroin dealers in the Midwest and using his rap label to launder drug money, according to sealed federal court records. The media was all over the story of a 17-year-old drug lord. Inside, officers found $69,980 in a secret compartment underneath the passenger seat and a pay stub belonging to another alleged member of Browns drug ring. Although the law was changed in 1998, Wershe Jr. was not granted parole until 2017, having already served nearly 30 years in prison for a non-violent drug offense he committed when he was still a minor. Kincaid had allegedly employed the Milton brothers for extortion duties on his behalf in the past, FBI records contend. Wershe Jr. agreed and set up the meeting. She signed with BMB after the label paid for her $15,000 boob job, according to court records. Moreover, Harris demonstrated was the primary link between the undercover FBI agents and the other corrupt officers who helped protect drug shipments during Operation Backbone. A DEA informant called the alleged drug dealers cellphone and arranged to pick up the cash at a Bob Evans restaurant near Dequindre and 10 Mile in Warren. A Detroit News headline reporting the culmination of Operation Backbone. Wershe was dubbed "White Boy Rick" and tarred as a notorious drug kingpin peddling kilos of cocaine in a city "ravaged by drug. Detroit The Supreme Team was run by legendary gang leader Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, who reputedly funneled drug money. James Harris is arrested at the conclusion of Operation Backbone. At his peak, DEA records estimate he was moving hundreds of kilos per week across the Midwest. Random Internal investigations into police corruption, such as the major inquiry into widespread drug corruption during the early 1970s, were frequently stonewalled by regular officers and police higher-ups alike. He was sentenced to 24 years in prison, but was released after serving four and a half. When asked if he regretted his refusal to cooperate with the FBI investigation Harris had this to say: Im a loyal person. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Detroit Police Sgt. Brown owns the home, according to the DEA and property records. The DEA is investigating a local rap music mogul who is accused of being one of the largest heroin dealers in the Midwest. Federal drug agents already were investigating Black in the deaths of two rival drug dealers in Detroit. A BMB Records publicist declined comment. In March 1972, a group of STRESS officers conducted an impromptu raid on an apartment filled with off-duty Wayne County Sheriffs Deputies. Wershe was caught smuggling more than 17 pounds of cocaine from Florida to Michigan. ''How often is it that you get home videotapes made by the defendants? The prosecution chose not to use the tapes at the trial, saying the case could be made without them. Members Only South Rivalries often developed between the Southern recruits and the Detroit workers, bickering over favoritism and turf. They had as many as 500 employees, so many that they issued identification cards with snapshots to keep track of them, law-enforcement officials said. The rest of Detroit was meant to feel a little better, even though Wersche's conviction meant only one enemy had been taken out in the increasingly futile war on drugs. In August 2012, Detroit police raided his home in the 4000 block of Fullerton, near Dexter and Davison, on Detroits west side. Expanding to other cities in the 1990s, the brothers extended their small scale trafficking organization into a . Posted at 10:10 PM, Dec 21, 2021 . The tendency to overlook police misconduct was not limited to the rank and file officers, or even to members of the DPD itself. Bikers Through the mid-1980s, Detroit`s major drug entrepreneurs resembled Fortune 500 companies in their size and scope. Groman, for his part, remained deeply concerned about the possibility of high level corruption in the DPD. The gun belonged to Brown, his girlfriend told agents, court records show. Mr. As the empire grew, the brothers bought vacation property in Jamaica and were planning to expand the business to Flint, Mich.; Toledo, Ohio, and elsewhere in the Middle West. The brothers came here in 1983 after the eldest, Willie Lee, got a job as a mail carrier. Holloways drug empire was vertically integrated and cloaked in a web of shell companies, real estate holdings and offshore-banking protections. The 50-page federal court record contradicts Browns redemption story crafted after he emerged from a decade-long prison sentence for drug conspiracy in 2010. Get this The Pittsburgh Press page for free from Saturday, August 18, 1990 August 18, 1990 7 suspected drug By Janet Williams The Pittsburgh Press Seven suspected drug dealers went to a Green Tree . The money orders arrived in an envelope with the return address of a 1,900-square-foot ranch-style home near Masch Avenue and Eight Mile in Warren. ''But I'd like to think we put some fear in people. West Coast, Burnstein Op-Ed: Reports Of Chicago Mob Legend Jimmy Is Role As Informant Missing Context, Rewarding FBI For Hypocrisy, Bad Faith, Chicago Mafia Don Solly D DeLaurentis Not Present At Underboss Jimmy Is Wake, As Windy City Underworld Mourns Loss, Pagans MC Parties In The Ozarks As Part Of Expansion Agenda, Recruiting Rally In Branson, Missouri Runs Smoothly, GR SOURCES: Hells Angels Want Backing From Highwaymen MC In Fight With Outlaws MC For Brand Building In Michigan, The Golden Touch In Cicero: New Power Player, Louie Rainone, Emerges In Chicago Mob Circles, Per Sources. But even with organized crime Im speaking of the Italian and Sicilians they knew not to be too flashy.. Undercover FBI agent Mike Castro invited Willie Volsan and James Harris to meet with him in Miami. An upstart company in Detroit became a giant in its market by identifying a hot growth industry, shoring up its manufacturing and sales divisions, setting up strict quality control and advertising discount prices. Since 2013, Young consistently received 2 kilograms of heroin from Brown every month and paid $75,000 per kilogram. 5690-5694. The videotapes were confiscated by Detroit police officers in a raid of one of the organization's crack houses and later broadcast on Detroit television stations. The roster also includes rapper Kash Doll, a former exotic dancer. The money he was making was spread out all over the place. Philadelphia Random James Harris was, of course, one of the police officers arrested and convicted as a result of the probe. Tommy Milton, his younger brother, was waiting on the corner outside in a BMW to whisk him away from the scene. 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