Take a look at the BMB Records founder Brian Browns alleged drug empire and locations targeted by federal drug agents. Interview ''. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Uncategorized Mr. The home is owned by Akia Browns property management company and is the address on Brian Browns drivers license, according to Warren property records and the search warrant affidavit. 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. He was indicted on a federal cocaine conspiracy charge in 1993 the case was dismissed and again in 1999. They were expected to be available around the clock. East Coast Offering Big-City Riches At Arkansas Auditions. Kincaid had allegedly employed the Milton brothers for extortion duties on his behalf in the past, FBI records contend. During that meeting, Johnny Curry allegedly told Groman that he had met with Gil Hill shortly after Damion Lucas was killed and given him $10,000 dollars with the understanding that Hill would protect the Curry organization. Crude charts of the organization's structure and handwritten bylaws found on the walls of several crack houses reflected rigorous discipline and a misguided work ethic. In time, the brothers became so arrogant that they made home videotapes of themselves, counting stacks of money and showing off the gold faucets in their bathrooms and other trappings of their wealth. In order to understand the emergence of high-volume policing in the mid- to late-1980s, understanding the infrastructure of organized gangs and the conversion of youth . Random After the bus busts, Black headed south. Operation Backbone was the name of an undercover investigation by the FBI into alleged police corruption in the Detroit Police Department (DPD). New York One witness testified that he saw a gang leader put the body of a rival drug dealer into a trash bin. Although James Harris and two other STRESS officers were charged with assault with intent to kill for their actions during the shootout, the Wayne County Prosecutors' case against them was notably weaker than it could have been given the evidence and a jury found all three officers not guilty. In addition to the phone call made from Johnny Currys phone to Harris unlisted telephone number shortly after the Lucas murder, a police raid of Johnny Currys home had produced a card listing multiple telephone numbers for both Gil Hill and James Harris. A woman was sentenced to a lengthy prison term for a non-violent drug crime after a relationship with a high-profile Detroit drug dealer. On September 17, 1990, Edmond was sentenced to . Two officers injured as police hold colleagues at gunpoint, unaware they are posing as drug dealers A Detroit narcotics officer. Menu. He got really big, really fast and changed a lot of the way business was being done. Chicago Agents listening to the phone call determined the voice belonged to Brian Brown after comparing the voice to videos Brown posted on social media, according to the DEA. The brothers themselves were brutal in their dealings with competitors. A Detroit News headline reporting the culmination of Operation Backbone. Harris refused to do so. Brown had access to vast sums of cash after creating the rap label. He said the presence of the media, and "the presence of a lot of kids in the courtroom created the atmosphere of almost like being a circus" every time they left the court. But the revelation of blatant drug corruption among police officers in Detroit also brought to light broader, deep-seeded problems within the DPD. A fourth, Carl Young, was arrested in California recently and charged with conspiracy in Michigan. After working with the FBI and DPD for several years, law enforcement eventually stopped using Wershe Jr. as an undercover informant. Sean "Diddy" Combs portrayed Barnes in the movie Carlito's Way: Rise to Power. Dr. Carl Taylor, an adjunct professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University, has studied youth gangs in Detroit and he divides gangs into two categories, scavenger and corporate. 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. But jurors were questioned about whether they had seen them. Although Operation Backbone was heavily sensationalized by the press, the involvement of Detroit police in narcotics corruption was by no means new to Detroit. 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. The independent labels stable of entertainers includes Ray J, a singer and actor who starred in a pornographic video with Kim Kardashian; rapper Bre-Z, who stars on the hit Fox drama Empire; and Charli Baltimore, a platinum blonde perhaps best known for dating the late rapper The Notorious B.I.G. 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. Photo by Diane Weiss, published in the Detroit News. Detroit Drug Empire Showed All the Traits of Big Business, https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/18/us/detroit-drug-empire-showed-all-the-traits-of-big-business.html, Isabel Wilkerson, Special To the New York Times. BMB Records owner Brian Peanut Brown also is responsible for selling heroin laced with fentanyl, the synthetic pain medication fueling the nations deadliest addiction crisis, according to court records that chronicle a sprawling drug investigation involving Browns wife, a girlfriend, millions in drug profits and a mansion with a secret Narnia room. . Now a 47-year-old man, White Boy Rick was a former Detroit drug dealer and an FBI informant. Some would say that's not bad for a kid with an 8th grade education, but as his legend grew, so did the stakes. Gimlet Inc. Crimetown, Episode 8, "Operation Backbone. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents say they have seized at least one kilogram of fentanyl while investigating Browns alleged drug ring. Prosecutors seized them as part of a multi-agency effort to halt drug sales in nearby English Avenue, the area nicknamed "The Bluff" that is known as a hub of the Southeast's heroin trade. Him and Maserati Rick were childhood friends with pro-boxing champion Tommy Hearns and would travel with him and his entourage to fights. Yet Wersche remained in prison. Brown allegedly using his rap label to hide money earned through large-scale criminal activity is a modern twist on a Prohibition-era racket, said Carl Taylor, a Michigan State University sociology professor who has studied drugs and gangs. ", Gimlet Inc. Crimetown, Episode 7, "Who Killed Damion Lucas?". 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. Eventually, the investigators in Operation Backbone decided to see if the officers would take things a step further. A new series from Starz captures a slice of Motor City life as vividly as the HBO mob classic interprets Tony Soprano's New Jersey. She sat at her post 24 hours a day, sleeping ''when the traffic would slow down,'' she said, and taking turns on busy days with her 14-year-old sister, Alicia. African-American 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. Akia Brown is a real estate agent, motivational speaker and author. DETROIT (FOX 2) - In one of the largest racketeering and conspiracy busts in Detroit 's history, 40 members of the Detroit gang Almighty Vice Lords have been arrested on charges ranging from. dr hsu goals plastic surgery; lorraine moore yukon dead Midwest It can take years to investigate multi-state, large-scale drug rings. The rap mogul and wife Akia Brown have established several businesses, including BMB Records, to hide and disguise drug profits, the DEA alleges in the search warrant document. As a result of the impunity enjoyed by many DPD officers, problem officers were allowed to continue within the department and corruption and misconduct became chronic issues. Convinced that police corruption had compromised the Damion Lucas case, yet unable to prove it, Groman soon transferred to the public corruption unit of the Detroit FBI. Then, towards the end of the investigation, the FBI tried to convince James Harris to flip, asking him to wear a wire and collect evidence of corruption among Gil Hill and other higher-ups. Since Wersche's conviction, Michigan repealed its lifer law for major drug dealers and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that life sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional. Demetrius Holloway Black Mafia Family boss Demetrius (Big Meech) Flenory, born and raised in Detroit and America's most notorious dope boss of the last three decades, is alleged to have taken his. Moreover, several of the figures connected to the scandal had been working in the DPD for many years. And any large-scale drug investigation inevitably takes many twists and turns along the way, Gabel said. And since January 2015, more than $345,000 was deposited through ATMs in Detroit and Baltimore. The 44-year old Lattner once led what was known as the World Domination Gang, a drug crew operating out of Detroit's near Westside in the late 1990s and early 2000s. ''There's no difference,'' said Victor Hall, president of Crackwise, a anti-drug community group. Brown also supplied heroin to a convicted felon in Baltimore, a confidential source told DEA agents. The decision to arrest Davis and the failure to investigate possible connections to the Curry organization raised flags for FBI agents with knowledge of the case. 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 . First, through a meeting with Willie Volsan, they attempted to bring Gil Hill on board with their phony drug operation. Case Files By: Simon Shaykhet. Wersche's family said after his parole hearing that he is a changed man. Voice quavering, Rick Wershe Jr., who as a teen in 1980s Detroit was painted as a murderous drug kingpin, dabbed his eyes recalling one of the last conversations he had with his father, who he'd . Inside one of them, a dealer with a brown moustache handed a bag. Documentary The sly, cultured and fastidious 32-year old Holloway was gunned down inside The Broadway, a trendy urban clothier in downtown Detroit, on October 8, 1990. Two former high-profile drug dealers are trying to make a positive impact in their old Detroit neighborhoods. James Harris actually moved up in the ranks after the Rochester Street Massacre. The problem is acute in the Midwest. The lack of accountability for Harris put him in a position to abuse his power to help drug traffickers launder money and smuggle cocaine into Detroit. On social media, Brown portrays himself as a successful hood hero and last month posted a billboard near McNichols and I-75 promoting an upcoming self-help book. One former employee, Felicia Gilchrist, who is 19 years old, testified that she took her week-old baby with her to the crack house where she sold crack through a hole in a wall. Those in the DPD were not receptive to Gromans attempts to persuade them to reverse course in the Damion Lucas murder investigation and instead proceeded with their case against Davis. Please Donate - https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=ZV7RS7U9EU7QL In many respects, it is like a choose your own adventure book and each new page of the investigation presents new opportunities and challenges.. 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. Wershe grew up on Detroit's east side, living on and off after his parents' divorce in a small brick house on Hampshire Street, a front-row seat to the . Inside, investigators found 6 kilograms of heroin. Agents learned the rent for the Skokie home was being paid for via money orders. In the video of Harris meeting with undercover FBI agent Mike Castro in Miami, Harris appears relaxed and eager while engaging with people he believed to be major drug traffickers. ''The Chambers brothers came down here with fancy cars and fancy clothes and girlfriends and drugs and jewelry and offered these kids a life style they couldn't get in Marianna,'' said Police Chief Mark Birchler of Marianna. Edmond, 24, was sent to the Federal Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania to serve his sentence. Posted at 10:10 PM, Dec 21, 2021 . Twice in 2014, Brown allegedly arranged to have a large amount of cash picked up and sent to a large drug ring, according to the DEA. They were convicted of the hit a decade later. At his parole hearing last year, two retired FBI agents traveled hundreds of miles to support his bid for freedom. 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. He is currently part of the United States Federal Witness Protection Program and has reached his 8th decade of life. The FBI posed as drug traffickers and money. In the early 1990s, Wershe cooperated with the FBI while behind bars in Michigan, and helped set up a sting that netted a string of crooked cops. From legitimate jobs they moved into their first venture in the drug trade: selling marijuana out of a convenience store. 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. Harris was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but was released in 2008 after receiving a commutation from President George Bush. The seizure did not send Brown back to prison, but he forfeited a 2007 Harley-Davidson Road King. . Flint's location approximately 70 miles north of Detroit facilitates drug trafficking and gang activity within the area. I believe that the Altima had been loaded with drugs that were transported from California to Detroit for distribution by Brian Brown and members of his (drug ring), Popp wrote. Photograph courtesy of Vince Wade via Crimetown Podcast. biggest drug dealers who never got caught. Detroit Drug World Murder Timeline: YBI, Best Friends, Maserati & Original Big Meech Brought Chaos To Motown Streets In 1980s - The Gangster Report African-American Drug Gangs Featured Mob Hits Detroit Drug World Murder Timeline: YBI, Best Friends, Maserati & Original Big Meech Brought Chaos To Motown Streets In 1980s 6 years ago Scott Burnstein Without any promising options available to extend the investigation the FBI concluded Operation Bakbone with the arrest of 11 corrupt police officers and 5 civilians. The 63-year old World Benji came out of prison briefly in 2017, but was locked back up for a parole violation shortly thereafter. For countless other problem officers, a lack of accountability similarly enabled continued misconduct and corruption. It is inconceivable that Browns rap label generated millions of dollars to acquire expensive homes and vehicles, said hip-hop industry expert Regan Sommer McCoy, a Columbia University community scholar and founder of the New York-based archive project, The Mixtape Museum. There, about 90 miles northwest of Detroit, the Shiawassee River meanders past a hamlet of low-rent, brick apartment buildings. In the early 1970s, an internal investigation of the DPD uncovered widespread drug corruption in the 10th Precinct, despite investigators reporting major obstruction from others within the DPD. This Texas-based drug titan's palatial Arlington. 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. FOX 2 Detroit (WJBK) - Richard Wershe Jr., known since the late 1980s by his street sobriquet of White Boy Rick, claims he got his start in the drug trade as a 14-year-old informant for the FBI. Pedro "Pegy" Rosello, another drug kingpin, was convicted of smuggling cocaine in 1992. Two months later, while free on bond, Brown allegedly beat one of his rappers, Charli Baltimore, whose real name is Tiffany Lane-Jarmon. In 1987 Detroit police caught Wershe Jr. with a large package of cocaine. ''They didn't want to lose customers because someone was ripping them off,'' said Lawrence J. Bunting, an Assistant United States Attorney who helped prosecute the case. Brown remained free Wednesday after a federal judge refused to revoke his bond in a related gun case. in the 1990s. A BMB Records publicist declined comment. Philadelphia Black Mafia Family boss Demetrius (Big Meech) Flenory, born and raised in Detroit and Americas most notorious dope boss of the last three decades, is alleged to have taken his nickname from Demetrius Holloway, who was the king of the coke game in Motown during the late 1980s. Damion Lucas was killed accidentally during a drive-by shooting that by all accounts was targeting his uncle, Leon Lucas. He is a former assistant U.S. attorney who in 2014 successfully prosecuted three fez-wearing drug dealers involved in one of the largest narcotics rings in Metro Detroit history. In February 2014, an undercover DEA agent negotiated with Brown to pick up money at an Olive Garden restaurant in Livonia. He recruited the four towering and brutish Brown brothers (Rocking Reggie, Boogaloo, Ghost, & Wizard,) and their Best Friends crew to be his enforcement wing. ''You wonder what's happening to those kids,'' Mr. Bunting said. Now the brothers and the eight others convicted face prison terms of up to life when they are sentenced later this month. Bias shot to death. Not only did he retain his position as a police officer, he was soon granted a promotion. During the raid, agents found heroin and fentanyl, a synthetic substance that makes smaller doses of heroin more potent. The collection of 20 cars includes a $94,000 Maserati, an $88,000 Cadillac Escalade, an $81,000 Porsche Panamera and two Corvettes. 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. 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. The operation began in 1990 and ended in May 1991 with the arrest of 11 police officers and 5 civilians. New York Archives Darryl "God" Whiting was always so much more than a drug dealer. The alleged drug conspiracy also involves Browns main girlfriend in Detroit, according to a DEA informant. Stringent guidelines set out ways to be inconspicuous: stay within speed limits and never wear gold chains or flashy sneakers while dropping off drugs or picking up money. The Supreme Team was run by legendary gang leader Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, who reputedly funneled drug money. The next month, in December 2014, the investigations focus returned to Michigan. Investigations can be prolonged, especially, if there are money-laundering allegations involving cash, he said. cartel Interview Officers faced being socially ostracized and risked their career prospects if they chose to report the misconduct of their colleagues. "I don't know of anybody that I've dealt with over the years - and I've been in now, associated with the FBI for I'm going on 46 years - I've never seen anybody cooperate like Richard Wersche. The surge of crack-cocaine in the 1990s and 1980s rolled through the country and laid waste to many city areas. "I would bet my life on it, that he will be an asset to the community and I think he has an awful lot to offer to the youth of America to say: Look what happened to me, and you don't want that to happen. Akia Brown declined comment and referred calls to her lawyer, John Royal. Today, Joe stews in another prison, serving a 30-year sentence he received in 1996 on a second smuggling conviction. One FBI agent in particular, a man named Herman Groman, was especially suspicious of the DPD response to the Damion Lucas murder. Both groups of law enforcement officers apparently mistook each other for criminals and a gun battle broke out between them resulting in the death of one of the Sheriffs Deputies and the permanent paralysis of another. Low-level drug players, Lester (Little Les) Milton and Tommy (Toe Tag) Milton, wound up being convicted for carrying out the Holloway slaying. Just as the FBI had suspected, Volsan-Curry told the undercover agent, whose real name was Mike Castro, that she could use her connections in the DPD to provide police protection for him to bring cash and drugs into Detroit. One important fact to note when considering this question is that the problem of police narcotics corruption was not unique to Detroit. In August 2012, Detroit police raided his home in the 4000 block of Fullerton, near Dexter and Davison, on Detroits west side. ''But I'd like to think we put some fear in people. The informant was a teenager by the name of Rick Wershe Jr. who had started working as an undercover informant for both the FBI and Detroit police when he was just 14 years old. Usergen The two young men, both drug dealers, had been friends for a year. Since 2013, Young consistently received 2 kilograms of heroin from Brown every month and paid $75,000 per kilogram. DEA agents allege Brown was a hands-on leader of the drug ring. There are other reasons to belive that James Harris actions during Operation Backbone were not his first time engaging in corruption. "I think he's very remorseful for the crimes that he's committed, especially while incarcerated. During his professional career, which lasted from 1981-85, Chambers told Burnstein that his corner team sometimes included notorious Detroit drug kingpin "Maserati" Rick Carter, one of many. African-American '', Everyone in Marianna knew when the brothers were in town recruiting. The Detroit Police Department considered him the most powerful dope boss in the city at the height of the crack epidemic and dubbed him Public Enemy No. Yet the lucrative nature of vice markets and the countless opportunities for corruption available to those tasked with enforcing them, only goes so far in explaining the persistence and extent of drug corruption within the DPD. It's like an alternative to Little League. Brian Brown agreed to deliver the money to the Bob Evans restaurant in the Detroit area, the DEA agent wrote in the search warrant filing. You will not have too much time for parties and concerts. 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. Podcasts On the afternoon of October 8, 1990, Little Les Milton went into the Broadway clothing store and shot Holloway in the back of the head as he was purchasing a pair of designer Ralph Lauren socks at the front counter. South The authorities also confiscated six kilograms of cocaine. Authorities claim that they were responsible for over a dozen homicides. At his peak, DEA records estimate he was moving hundreds of kilos per week across the Midwest. cartel With hundreds of employees, the ring dominated the drug trade in entire areas of the city. Read more: '', See the article in its original context from. Drug distributors in Flint are typi- ''There are obviously people out there who have taken over the crack business,'' Mr. Coonce, the Federal agent, said. Undercover FBI agent Mike Castro invited Willie Volsan and James Harris to meet with him in Miami. One of those officers, a decorated narcotics cop named Henry Marzette, later became one of Detroits first major drug kingpins, organizing massive narcotics transactions and other illegal activities until his death in 1972. Kincaid was locked up for a murder he committed as a teenager in 1975. The guy could have taught a class on how to make your dirty money work for you and become clean money. An Empire Is Crippled But Not Vanquished. Ghost and Wizard Brown were killed within days of each other in December 1986. However, when Groman asked Curry to record the storyin an affidavit, Curry refused, claiming that the meeting he had previously described never took place and that there had never been a direct quid pro quo between himself and Gil Hill. Anyone can read what you share. The man was cut from a different cloth.. Holloways kingdom of cocaine began showing cracks by late 1986, as the Brown brothers branched out from muscle work to wholesale distribution and declared war on their former boss. What other factors might help explain the pattern of police crime and corruption that plagued the DPD for decades? It felt like it happened that fast. More than $1 million flowed into the rap labels two bank accounts between June 2013 and October 2015, according to court records. It was through his father that the FBI and DPD were introduced to Wershe Jr. and began soliciting information from him about suspected drug dealers that he knew from the neighborhood in which he lived. Bikers 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. ''If you are planning on getting rich you must forget about your girlfriends and family. 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