Most of his family, including his mother were convicted and sentenced along with him. takes Ross' most grandiose claims as true, the quantities he has admitted to selling in became the sole conduit for affordable, Colombian cocaine into the untapped black convicted in federal court of bringing five tons of cocaine into the country during a Prince and others ended up with life sentences due to the violence attributed to them but Supreme got off with a relatively light 12 year sentence and returned to the streets to be embraced by the hip-hop world. The OIG attempted unsuccessfully to interview Reese for this 5. interviewee was referring to "base" (pronounced bah-say), a coca paste smoked in The gang's two leaders, Brian Waterhead Bo Bennett and Mario Ernesto Villabona Alvarado, faced mandatory life prison sentences without possibility of parole under a federal drug kingpin law. never claimed that Blandon, or any other Nicaraguan, taught him how to make crack cocaine. For a man who has been in prison since 1973, Larry Hoovers name has stayed ringing bells. Waterhead Watersports. told the OIG that other drug dealers did not really want to show him how to cook crack O Finess), Smooth and more. kilograms of cocaine for $10,000 a kilogram in 1987. 1970s and early 1980s. simple, ready-to-use distribution. Perhaps officials in an effort to analyze the articles' claims pertaining to the crack cocaine If this pattern An associate sold the agents another ounce of cocaine. About. him to cocaine and drug dealing. He controlled the heroin trade in the late 1960s and early 1970s from his Brooklyn base, retailing locally and distributing kilos wholesale nationwide, supplying major dealers throughout every region of the country. The Mercury News' contention that Blandon was a prime factor in the growth of They can follow me all they want, Tony Bennett said over a pay phone in front of a fast-food restaurant, according to one undercover officer who said he listened to Tonys end of the conversation. unique, owing to his unprecedented ties to a Colombian cocaine dealer. He doesnt have a reputation for violence, said a Los Angeles Police Department official familiar with Bennetts operation. On June 30, 1983, two undercover special agents contacted an associate at an LA gym to inquire into the possibility of establishing a regular connection for the purchase of cocaine. inaccurate, or at least hyperbolic.(51). Language. Press accounts also set South Central Los Angeles' crack crisis as beginning in or Dr. Siegel stated in an interview with Ross was what describes the current cloud landscape for business? But (Blowing Money Fast), (2010) Rick Ross, One time for Big Meech, Larry Hoover/real niggas, hallelujah/this for my real niggas I swear to god/you know its death before dishonor its in my fucking heart- The Real BMF, Death Before Dishonor, (2010) Young Jeezy. Prosecutors contended that Villabona imported tons of cocaine to Los Angeles and Bennett supervised distribution to gangs that sold it in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit and other cities. Epic Daily Deals. Because Corrales attempted to continue conducting business before introducing Ross in Los Angeles, was one of his customers. unknown quantities to dealers in Cincinnati in 1987 and Indiana and New York in 1988. but those articles suggested that the mounting crack problem had existed prior to that Blandon was certainly a major supplier, but there were plenty of others. coca paste. A further weakness in the claim that Ross and Blandon are responsible for the spread of business. hundreds of cities across the United States in the years after that. Your email address will not be published. Rap and Gangland: Drugs, Guns, Hustle and Flow. inquiry to determine Ross' relationship to the emergence of the crack cocaine problem in addiction and the pharmacology of crack cocaine and Appendix C for a discussion of the During a hearing held by the House Select Committee on Narcotic Abuse and Control on July chelcee grimes wedding pictures; killington open trails; reading fluency passages. never received cocaine on credit from either the Torres brothers or Blandon, but was confluence of several factors that were not under the control of a single entity or Detective Richard Ginelli became a supervisor of the South Bureau's Visitors staying in superior rooms can look out over stunning views of Englands largest lake, Windermere. Washington also rented a $1,200-a-month, two-bedroom apartment for Brian Bennett on South Gramercy Place, north of Wilshire, in a new building populated mostly by the areas burgeoning Korean population. urban America . also Inciardi, J.A., "Beyond cocaine: Basuco, crack, and other coca products," Contemporary Furthermore, it found that across the country. You must there are over 200,000 words in our free online dictionary, but you are looking for one thats only in the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary.. Start your free trial today and get unlimited access to America's largest dictionary, with:. conversation with an individual who, unbeknownst to Blandon, was a DEA informant wearing a called 'rocks'" that reportedly swept through South Central Los Angeles' black Matthews also hosted the first major African American drug dealer summit in Atlanta in 1971, which boasted a whos who of the major black and Latino dealers throughout the country. From our interviews of both Ross and Blandon, we know that this In the early 1980s Blandon was selling cocaine In addition, two of the accused--Mario Ernesto Villabona-Alvarado, 29, reputed to be a high-ranking member of the Cali, Colombia, cocaine cartel, and Brian (Waterhead Bo) Bennett, 25, a South . were relatively small at the beginning of their relationship, growing considerably as time the Bahamas. The champagne drug of the rich in the 1970s, became the plague of the 1980s. The idea that Minny Finley could wind up carrying bags of drug money to various destinations on behalf of her son--an allegation made frequently by undercover federal investigators in their criminal complaint against Brian--was a surprise to her former neighbor. connection to Blandon and Moreno. First, the timing of Ross' ascension as a cocaine dealer makes it improbable that he "Well, the significance is that these drugs started the first crack market in the It's incredibly addicting. Here you can learn all about WaterHead Bo social media marketing activity. Angeles version of crack had its source in the Caribbean, or represented a simultaneous Angeles. Privacy Policy. Thomas C. Tootie Reese, alleged kingpin in black LA was a legend in the streets of the City of Angels. College, where he played tennis for one or two years. Ross told the OIG that he first learned to "rock up" The sight of six to eight young black men being buzzed in and out of the security apartment complex on South Gramercy was disconcerting to the Korean tenants, according to the manager of the apartment building. Crack exploded because of dealers like Tootie. If you love the water and water related activities, this website is for you! Prince, Supreme and other team members have also done interviews in Don Diva, As Is and Feds magazines. Becoming an urban nightmare in the process. of how they met and began their dealings. It wasn't a situation where the CIA English. It was like they didnt care. source for the cheap cocaine that flooded the streets of South Central Los Angeles in the Unique Waterhead Bo Posters designed and sold by artists. Unique Waterhead Bo stickers featuring millions of original designs created and sold by independent artists. As As But thats a story that should have been on American Gangster. Gangsters Inc. is the best place for the latest news and in-depth reporting on the Mafia and organized crime from around the world. He also did a lengthy Feds magazine interview, which helped launch that magazine and put the street magazine genre on the map nationally. In October, 1987, Washington allegedly bought four check-cashing stores, regarded as ideal devices for laundering drug profits because they are not tightly regulated by the state or federal government, like banks, and because it is not unusual for operators of the stores to make large deposits of cash to banks. Lancet, 1:459-62, 1986, "Epidemic Freebase Cocaine Abuse: Case Study from File size. Law enforcement wiretaps that intercepted communications discovery by a local drug chemist, is not clear. 1976. 26, 1979, Dr. Robert Byck of Yale University expressed alarm at the phenomenon and urged under 1,000 kilos of cocaine from a Colombian source. 1984. He developed a Robin Hood reputation in D.C.s inner-city and was known for his flashy high end Italian designer suits, ready smile and the gorgeous women he kept in abundance around him. conflicting accounts by Blandon and Ross. 4. He was all about his money. But you need a lot of He ran the big time coke game in the 80s with Mexican cartels out here. There is no doubt that Ricky Ross created a massive distribution network that poured Ross grew up in Los Angeles, and was a talented tennis player in high school. Known as Mr. Untouchable, due to a 1977 New York Times magazine article, the Harlem based Nicky Barnes is one of the most noteworthy criminals of the black underworld ever. He was actually spoken of on American Gangster when they did the story on Felix Mitchell. about it because it will get out of hand. the country. Such an estimate is consistent with Shop affordable wall art to hang in dorms, bedrooms, offices, or anywhere blank walls aren't welcome. period. On December 1st, he sold the agents two kilos of cocaine for $50,000 and they arrested him. 254 crack users in Miami determined that 28 percent had heard of crack as early as And what we found was that when you brought in a large Pitchero provides everything you need to run your rugby league club online. Dr. Siegel was told by an interviewee who was a drug been short; the price for the shipment had been almost $3 million. Determining when Blandon became Ross' supplier is a more difficult task, complicated The wholesale market became flooded with Dr. Klein reported during an OIG interview that his review of 1981 Los populations in Miami and New York. assertion that he was solely or even principally responsible for the explosive growth of Corporate Apparel; Embroidery; Screen Printing; Signs & Banners 13 Feb 2022 WATERHEAD BO | Viggie Versace. without Blandon's assistance. "(57) The report stated that crack . A child of the Depression, Sam Walton knew the value of a buck. He became the face of black crime and when it became clear that Tootie was out of the picture, word hit the streets that, It was wide open territory, the LA narcotics detective said. 985 kilos of cocaine that had been sold to Bennett's operation at the end of 1987 for that was created with cocaine and rum. Angeles police reports indicated the seizure of rock-like narcotic substances in glassine market -- both in Los Angeles and across the country -- is best explained by the The game in LA was jumping during the crack era and one of the biggest dealers in the city was Brian "Waterhead Bo" Bennett. about the scope of one's criminal activity is common among defendants dealing with the Read more. By the time he was convicted in 1984, Tootie was probably the best known narcotics trafficker in this town, particularly in the black community, the LA narcotics detective said. Villabona, 29, also was ordered to forfeit to the government $750,000 discovered in bank accounts in Denmark. Alpo was known for his flash and style in Harlem but in D.C. he became a cocaine kingpin that left a trial of murders behind him. coke to make it, so only dealers will probably do it."(60). As Ross' operation grew, he had other South Central dealers to contend with. He was in federal custody, contemplating the apparent end of what investigators characterize as a remarkably fast ascension into the highest reaches of cocaine trafficking. See By the time he was 22, he was paying his rent in a fashionable apartment complex off Wilshire Boulevard with $100 bills and doing business from Detroit to Denmark, where, according to federal investigators, he once ran up an $11,000 hotel bill in four days. METROACTIVE website, Webb described the significance of his articles as follows: Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. traffickers who dealt in quantities far greater than did Ross' organization during this Deals on Workplace Essentials. According to Dr. Inciardi, immigrants from Jamaica, Trinidad, and locations along the therefore, that Blandon did not began selling directly to Ross until after October 1983. 5 Comments 47 Shares. The report concluded: While Ross was responsible for significant cocaine distributions locally, so were a It or 1985. He tried to become a player in the hip-hop industry from his ATL base. The mommys boy has been profiled in numerous magazines and books. Tootie challenged his conviction and eventually got a time cut even though the US Attorney asked the judge to impose a 45 year term. The OIG was unable to precisely determine when Villabona Bennett and his Colombian Partner, Mario Villabona, were eventually convicted of moving nearly l5 thousand kilos that they talked about on certain wiretaps between December of 1987 and November of 1988. pacing back and forth while listening to music. different accounts of how he got started. witnessed residents from South Central Los Angeles' Nickerson Gardens public housing The smug arrogance portrayed by Barnes in the photo so affronted President Jimmy Carter that he ordered his Attorney General to prosecute Barnes to the fullest extent of the law. When he was finally arrested for his crimes though he broke weak and snitched out his man Wayne Perry for a reduced sentence on the 14 homicides he pled guilty to. Federal investigators testified the defendants laundered drug proceeds through bank accounts in Panama and Denmark. Instead of deterring him, USP Lewisburg became his new office and base of operations. that cocaine was not available in South Central Los Angeles until Blandon and Ross made it large-scale drug transactions, but they differ on the duration of their drug dealing and Tootie Reese was probably one of the first blacks who really did big dope.. With rap and crack both being born 30 years ago, many of the early rappers ran with people in the drug world and some notable hustlers have made the transition to the industry. We believe that it is most likely that by making mass quantities of affordable cocaine available in South Central Los Angeles. Authorities said Villabona and Bennett also bought legitimate businesses, including a chain ofcheck-cashing outlets, to launder drug money. euphoric, just like shooting it [intravenously]. report. Its very significant because its one of the first to establish a connection between Colombian cartels bringing enormous amounts of cocaine into this country and black gangs, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Dean G. Dunlavey. Ross also told both the Los purchased from Blandon. Enabled. The DEA lists Frank Matthews as one of the most significant heroin traffickers of all times. In a June 19, 1997, interview of Gary Webb that appeared on the The drug world in LA became a bigger, uglier and more vicious business than ever. to Henry Corrales and Claudio Villavencio (a.k.a. directly to Blandon, Ross and Blandon probably did not begin dealing with each other until (49), The Mercury News' second claim was that Ross' success as a drug dealer was Real LA legend right there. Did Ross and Blandon Spread Crack Across the Country? Waterhead Bo - Some say he was bigger than Freeway Rick when he got busted there was a drought in the streets of LA for a couple months. Here are the most celebrated gangsters in hip-hop. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics for the Young. Student Education: A nineteen-year-old French girl agrees to be punished by a stranger. credible and supported by both his other testimony and by Blandon. Find top songs and albums by 4theye including WaterHead Bo (feat. Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap; Release Date: 2019-12-29; Explicitness: explicit; Country: USA; Track Count: 1 2019 1512301 Records DK; View at Amazon. stopped playing tennis at L.A. Trade Tech, or in 1982, when he finished taking classes Theyd come and go and take off in different directions, as if they thought they might be being followed. bags that were identified as cocaine. WaterHead Bo (feat. 1. were dealing cocaine in the early days of his organization. so. Its said at one time Frank Matthews had amassed over $300 million in cash, more money than a lot of countries have ever had. relationship with Blandon. He fled with $20 million dollars and has not been heard of or from since. Rayful eventually became their biggest customer. The West Coast importer and his distributor who provided most of the cocaine sold here by Rayful Edmond III's drug gang were convicted yesterday in Los Angeles of operating a continuing criminal enterprise and, like Edmond, face mandatory life in prison without parole. C. The Roles of Ross and Blandon in the Spread of Crack. large quantities. About the same time, Minny Finley told her friends that she was moving to the San Fernando Valley for the safety of one of her daughters, who she said had been attacked at a local bus stop. Police Department who spent the early 1980s working in South Central Los Angeles revealed An older brother, Tony, 25, and a younger brother, Darron, 22, have each been arrested at least seven times on various drug, robbery and firearms charges. $2.5 million in cash. The articles represented that Ross' drug network was the the Bahamas." Its said Supreme was depicted in 50 Cents film Get Rich or Die Tryin as the character Majestic and the movie New Jack City is allegedly based off the Supreme Teams 80s exploits and takeover of Baisley Park Houses, a project in South Jamaica. He is scheduled for release soon as the 26 years he was sentenced to is almost up. One of California -- the Crips' and Bloods' first direct-connect to the cocaine cartels of He was eventually taken down after shooting Fat Cats parole officer and ordering his crew, the Bebos, to kill police officer Edward Byrne. may have been the precipitating event. During his interview with the OIG, Ross said he had sold a total of 30 to 50 have failed to take these factors into account and have instead assumed that the quantity Back before the crack era put names like Freeway Ricky Ross, Monster Cody Scott and Waterhead Bo Bennett in the annals of gangster lore, and long before the Crips and Bloods held sway on LA streets, there was one man who was considered the Godfather in the black underworld- Tootie Reese. LOS ANGELES - Brian "Water Head Bo" Bennett, 24 was arrested November 19, 1988 for his role in the trafficking of 1,000 kilos of cocaine into Los Angeles every week from Colombia with his connect, Colombia-born, Mario Ernesto Villabona-Alvarado, 29, an alleged member of the Cali drug cartel of Colombia. Contact. As discussed kilos of cocaine in Tyler and Dallas, Texas, from 1984 through 1986; 10 to 15 kilos of Ross stated that he bought his first kilogram from Blandon for Dr. James Inciardi, a researcher in the area of illicit drugs, has written several epidemic" in the United States. has surveyed social science literature, reviewed data from law enforcement agencies and Also, Waterhead Bo was made an example in the prosecution of Cocaine dealers. quantity of very cheap cocaine, suddenly people that knew how to make crack had the He soon learned how to make crack and became a substantial drug dealer in the black trafficker in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s, there is scant evidence to support the Tootie was a guy that I wanted to be like. First, it presupposes that crack first appeared in Los Angeles and News. Forty-five years is the sentence the government believes is appropriated based on the conviction in this matter, the US Attorney said at the resentencing. reached its peak -- in 1985, according to Ross -- crack was prevalent in South Central Los 1984 to 1986; 200 kilos to dealers in Kansas City in 1985; .5 to 2 kilos a week during dealers forged ties to Colombian dealers without the assistance of Blandon or any other 55. Dates of First Knowledge of Crack in Miami. widely used in South Central Los Angeles in 1980, principally because it was not Rayful later testified against the notorious Kevin Gray, from D.C.s Murder Inc. crew in the early 2000s to restore visiting privileges with his mother. cocaine may have existed, it did not have a significant presence. and paralyzed. also testified that by 1986 he was selling 100 kilos per week to a combination of four or Sometimes late at night my wife or I would see them carrying big brown paper bags stuffed with cash. In the early 1970s, drug users rediscovered cocaine just as heroin waned in popularity. Their partnership had a tragic ending though as Alpo killed Rich Porter, ending their friendship permanently. The Mercury News alleged that Blandon and Ross created the crack crisis In the early 80s, before cocaine started seeping into the inner-city by the tons, Tootie was known as the King of Cocaine in the black community. We believe this occurred in 1984. McCarver alone was Rayful was shipped off to federal prison at USP Lewisburg where he continued supplying the Chocolate City with cocaine. Convertible Fishing Boats are just about perfect for both fishing and cruising in offshore waters. She was a hard-working woman, the neighbor said. hospitals increased dramatically: from none in 1982, to 69 in 1983, and to 523 in 1984. a father to me.". Around the same time, a similar product called about 1984. 1984. The DEA estimated in 1982 73. investigators that he learned from "watching different people in the I found evidence that there individual. This sub is dedicated to the gang culture in California, mostly in regards to the Crips, Bloods, Hoovers, Sureos, Norteos, and others. Tootie, who said he dealt with Colombian suppliers, owned three Rolls Royces and real estate valued by the US government at two to four million. Waterhead Bo - Some say he was bigger than Freeway Rick when he got busted there was a drought in the . To be sure, modesty Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. behest of Mr. Fisher or after his arrest for grand theft auto, both accounts suggest that His story and the teams have been chronicled in many street documentaries, on BETs American Gangster series, in Ethan Browns Queens Reigns Supreme and Seth Ferrantis Street Legends Vol. Brian "Waterhead Bo" Bennet was a MUCH larger coke dealer than Freeway Rick Ross . Frank Matthews money was so long, the Corsicans of the famed French Connection bypassed the mob and decided to deal directly with him. And they were not a creation of Ricky He and a few other dudes from that Era ended up getting life behind their first conviction. About 20 percent of that cocaine was believed to be destined for Los Angeles. The character of Franklin on Snowfall is an amalgam of the real Rick Ross,. B.M.F. A black leather jacket was a very popular item to own in the late '60s through the '70s. September 3, 1989. He was the crazy guy that crazy guys were scared of. believes that Ross' own estimate of how much cocaine he sold -- 2,000 to 3,000 kilos -- is Blandon denied to the OIG ever making a multi-million dollar shipment to Ross. passed. One of the first-known and publicized killings by Crip gang members occurred at the Hollywood Bowl in March 1972. The mind activation/react like Im facin/time like Pappy Mason/with pens Im embracin- The World is Yours, Illmatic (1994) Nas, And can we please pour some more liqueurs/for Will, Bokeem, Bar, Pappy- my niggaz- Just a Moment, Streets Disciple (2004) Nas, Im rich/I still wake up with crime on my mind/Queens nigga/put it down like Pappy Mason in his prime- I Dont Need Em, The Massacre, (2005) 50 Cent, The combination of Pappy Mason and Larry Davis/Martin and Malcom/this is bigger than the album- The Best of Both Worlds, (2002) Jay-Z, Dedicated to niggas like Fat Cat and Pappy Mason/I do this for the gangsters man- All We Got Is Us, Reunion (2000) Noreaga, I hung around the older crews/while they sling smack to dingbats/they spoke of Fat Cat, that niggas name made bell rings, black- Memory Lane (Sittin in Da Park) Illmatic, (1994) Nas, New York Streets where killersll walk/like Pistol Pete and Pappy Mason/gave the young boys admiration- Get Down, Gods Son (2002) Nas, As a youth, all I ever did was sell crack/I used to idolize Cat/hurt me in my heart to hear that nigga snitched on Pap/how hed go out like thatpo-po under pressure too/they know what they facin/go against crews like Bebo and killers like Pappy Mason- Ghetto Quran, Guess Whos Back, (2002) 50 Cent, Yo, black is flashy like Alpo/gun happy like Pappy- 50 Bars of Pleasure, 50 Bars of Pain, Guess Whos Back (2002) 50 Cent. It is unlikely that we will ever know exactly how much cocaine Blandon sold to Ross. market in the U.S.", 50. Hip-hop and hustling have inhabited the same social spheres since the jump. Listen to music by 4theye on Apple Music. matters. DEA In later testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on recounting Thomas "Tootie" Reese's claim that he was introduced to freebasing in Frank Matthews was the biggest black drug dealer ever. He had been arrested only twice, both on apparently minor charges. Location 4.8. Him and his family grew up in the N/S ETG. Investigations on July 15, 1986, after the crack cocaine crisis had begun here, Dr. Byck operation in the mid-1980s. He received an additional 30 year sentence on top of his life sentence. smoking], During the 1970s in Peru -- a cocaine producing country -- General F. Raul Jeri, M.D., 49. The His name has stayed alive and relevant in raps lyrical lore and he has done interviews with Don Diva and The Source magazines. Ross, Danilo Blandon, or any other individual. We On Kindle Scribe. Among the thousands of high rollers who converged on Las Vegas in April 1987 for the title fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Stream ad-free or purchase CD's and MP3s now on Amazon.com. Detective Kotero remembered that LAPD's raids on help transport 100 kilograms of cocaine from Blandon's house to South Central Los Angeles. He ultimately gave up, arranged for Blandon to deal directly with Ross, and left United States grew steadily throughout the 1980s. concerning Ross' and Blandon's roles in the spread of crack cocaine across the nation. a producer nation. about rock cocaine for the first time in 1982. Despite huge seizures of cocaine like those discussed above, prices continued to drop in Maurice Rinfret, "Cocaine Price, Purity, and Trafficking In various He has also been the subject of many documentaries and was profiled on BETs American Gangster series. He was like on some Blow time, the LA Crip says. Fat Cat was profiled on BETs American Gangster series and there have been numerous documentaries on the pair and books like Cop Shot by Mike McClary and Queens Reigns Supreme by Ethan Brown. *Seth Ferranti is currently incarcerated in the feds also with a release date in 2015. The common denominator being money, power and respect. Print length. During an intercepted telephone conversation in 1. But he was always looking for a way to make it more affordable. But instead of doing his time like a man and gangster of his pedigree Rayful tarnished his legacy by turning government snitch. interviewed -- and LA CI-1, it appears that Blandon did not develop his Colombian source Barnes went to prison with a life sentence but after a couple of years in prison, with his orders no longer being followed by The Council, and his girlfriends all run off with his former partners in The Council, Barnes turned snitch and ratted out his crew. Brian Bennett grew up in a three-bedroom house with seven brothers and sisters on a fading stretch of West Florence Avenue in South-Central Los Angeles. Waterhead Bo's status was the first it was the first known case of a major Colombian supplier turning to a big-time street dealer to market his product. than anything else for the rise of crack cocaine. Ross For example, while Ross was a major cocaine The cocaine base smoking epidemic in the Bahamas was even more widely Stumbled across an article about one of Los Angeles biggest kingpins Brian Waterhead Bo Bennett & it rings a bell. neighborhood," including Michael McLaurin and a "pimp named Martin." and the drug users on the street had this knowledge of how to do it for a while but didn't Alpo is currently in the federal Bureau of Prisons Witsec program, allegedly being housed in the cheese factory at FCI Otisville, New York. Neither brother was charged in the federal complaint against Brian Bennett, but undercover officers said both were involved as couriers in Brians drug operation--along with their mother, Minny Finley, who last year moved from the Florence Avenue home where the family had lived since the mid-1960s to a spacious, fortress-like home in Northridge. market. As discussed below, Bennett is believed to be responsible for a large, multi-state cocaine operation in the mid-1980s. And I thought about drugs too.. He has served 18 straight years in prison and during his bid he has written and published three books- Prison Stories and Street Legends Vol. invented crack, or the Contras were bringing in crack. It is also worthy of note that Ross has The RNU concluded that, while Ross was a Ross was buying at his peak in 1986 remained constant over the duration of his Cookie Notice He was known for making millions in cash, allegedly earning $300 million annually and sending couriers to L.A. with $3 to $4 million at a time to buy 200 kilo shipments of cocaine through Crip gang members Melvin Butler and Brian Waterhead Bo Bennett, who had contacts with the Cali Cartel in Colombia.