1980s - Blog 2.0 - Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org
2024-03-29T00:20:01Z
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Pinky rings and murder: Brooklyn gangland of the ‘80s comes to life in new Mafia series Gravesend
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/pinky-rings-and-murder-brooklyn-gangland-of-the-80s-comes-to-life
2020-04-10T14:17:53.000Z
2020-04-10T14:17:53.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><strong><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/pinky-rings-and-murder-brooklyn-gangland-of-the-80s-comes-to-life" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237139092,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="9237139092?profile=original" /></a></strong>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>Is Brooklyn in the house? Hell. Yes. The brand-new mob series Gravesend just premiered on Amazon Prime and is set to become the latest Mafia epic to mesmerize viewers. Gangsters Inc. sat down with William DeMeo, who created the series and stars as its main character; a mob soldier moving through the New York underworld of the flashy and volatile eighties.</p>
<p>“Gravesend is trending number one on Amazon,” DeMeo says with a big smile when <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> talks to him. “A great feeling!” he adds. Anyone would be happy when his or her project becomes a success, but this is much more than that, to DeMeo, this is his baby. “Absolutely!”</p>
<p><em>Gravesend</em> tells the story of Benny Zerletta (played by DeMeo), a mobster who wishes to escape the underworld and live in peace with his religion. Most importantly, he aims to escape the life in one piece. A difficult task in the Brooklyn underworld of the eighties. </p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237139852,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="9237139852?profile=original" /></a><strong><em>Photo: William DeMeo in Gravesend</em></strong></p>
<p>DeMeo: “It’s a totally independent project that I put together myself. I started working on this series around three years ago. It was titled The Neighborhood back then, but after we finished shooting, another show used that name, so we changed it to Gravesend.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Brooklyn Gangland</strong></span></p>
<p>It turned out to be a much more fitting choice. “The series takes place in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gravesend" target="_blank">Gravesend</a>, a section in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brooklyn" target="_blank">Brooklyn</a>, New York, where I grew up,” DeMeo explains. “The name is catchy. It has the ominous sound: grave, as in death; end, as in the end of life. Which is typically the ending for a lot of gangsters who are part of ‘The Life’,” DeMeo adds. And a lot of mobsters came - and still come - from this neighborhood.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: </strong><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/only-the-dead-know-brooklyn" target="_blank"><strong>Only the Dead know Brooklyn</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>“We could throw in a hundred names and go on for hours talking about all these guys that are well-known gangland figures from Brooklyn. From Carlo Gambino and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/legendary-new-york-mafia-boss-carmine-persico-was-the-ultimate-su" target="_blank">Carmine Persico</a> to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/colombo-underboss-william-wild" target="_blank">Wild Bill (Cutolo)</a> to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Casso" target="_blank">Gaspipe (Casso)</a>, even <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gotti" target="_blank">John Gotti</a>, who was originally born here. The list of Brooklyn mobsters is long and infamous,” DeMeo concludes.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Couldn’t walk ten blocks without seeing twenty made guys”</strong></span></p>
<p>“Growing up there was fascinating,” DeMeo remembers fondly. “You couldn’t grow up in my neighborhood, hang out and play on the streets, and not know people that were connected to the mob. It was impossible. If you hung out on the corner with your friends, you couldn’t not know a gangster. That goes for everyone. Anyone that is from my neighborhood. You had to know one cause you couldn’t avoid them. They were part of the social fabric. I grew up on Avenue U and on every block there were two Mafia social clubs. You couldn’t walk ten blocks without seeing maybe twenty made guys.”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237140060,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="9237140060?profile=original" /></a><strong><em>Photo: James Russo (left) with Peter Gaudio (right)</em></strong></p>
<p>These guys made quite an impression on the youngsters hanging out on the streets. “They were bigger than life,” DeMeo explains. “Your father is working hard and these guys are just on the corner hanging out. They have nice cars, beautiful women, just having a good time.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Mafia violence of the eighties</strong></span></p>
<p>Still, everyone knew that underneath the layer of glamour streamed a violent undercurrent ready to explode when needed. “As a kid you just knew to stay in line,” DeMeo says. That violence is on full display in Gravesend on Amazon Prime.</p>
<p><em><strong>Watch the trailer below:</strong></em></p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iM4m9p-GaTU?wmode=opaque" allowfullscreen="" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<p>Are we seeing anything that happened in real life? “This is not based on any particular person,” DeMeo explains. “The mob families in Gravesend are supposed to be certain real New York crime families, but as a writer you take circumstances and real events and use and mold them to fit your narrative. I just used different stories and twisted them a bit. I took my inspiration from the entire history of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brooklyn" target="_blank">Brooklyn</a>. Right now, we made 4 episodes, but I have 10 more episodes ready to go.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: “I’m in waste management!” -</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/i-m-in-waste-management-genovese-mafia-family-soldier-frank-giovi" target="_blank"><strong>Genovese Mafia family soldier Frank Giovinco guilty of racketeering</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>The decade in which Gravesend takes place provided DeMeo with plenty inspiration. “In the 1980s, mobsters were much more out in the open, hanging out at social clubs,” he says. “Look, it’s always been a secret society, and certain guys rolled different ways, but back then they were everywhere. I think in that respect the 1980s were the heydays for the mob. You had the hit on <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Castellano" target="_blank">Paul Castellano</a>, John Gotti brought the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> into the spotlight and had hundreds of guys at his social club. Cosa Nostra at that time, right before the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family" target="_blank">Colombo family</a> war popped off, shined the most.”</p>
<p>DeMeo knows the eighties well, he was a youngster during those years. Having fun, going to clubs, enjoying life. “I feel like the 1980s was such a great decade. Especially in New York! The Mets won the series in 1986, the Giants won the Super Bowl. The excellent <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Music" target="_blank">music</a>. The way we dressed! Gold chains and pinky rings. The cars we drove. It was a great time.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Brooklyn pride</strong></span></p>
<p>DeMeo managed to capture all of this in Gravesend. But most of all, this series is an homage to his native Brooklyn. “I’m a proud Brooklynite,” he tells us. “I had a really good time working on this. First of all: We had a tremendous cast! Really good actors who’ve been in a lot of critically acclaimed hits.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237139690,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="9237139690?profile=original" /></a>Not to mention that if you love gangster movies and series, you will see a lot of familiar faces in Gravesend. DeMeo himself has starred in The Sopranos, Analyze That, Boss of Bosses, and Gotti. He is joined by such veteran actors as Paul Ben-Victor, who most of you will know as The Greek from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Wire" target="_blank">The Wire</a>, James Russo, who starred in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brasco" target="_blank">Donnie Brasco</a>, Nicholas Turturro, Louis Lombardi, Leo Rossi, Chris Tardio, Bo Dietl, and many more. DeMeo knows and is friends with most of them and simply dialed their personal number to ask them to take part in Gravesend.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mafia-boss-vic-amuso-may-be-imprisoned-for-life-but-his" target="_blank">Vic Amuso may be imprisoned for life</a>, but his word is still law on the streets of New York</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>It made working on this project feel like hanging out on the street corner with friends. And not just any corner on some film set in Hollywood. No, a real corner in Brooklyn. Surrounded by all the people that live there. “All the extras were people I grew up with, am friends with, their kids joined too,” DeMeo says beaming with pride. “The beauty of this was that the whole neighborhood came together for this series. It was so amazing to be around all these people I grew up with creating something that would make them proud.”</p>
<p><strong>Get the latest on organized crime and the Mafia at Gangsters Inc.'s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=News">news section</a>.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Follow Gangsters Inc. on <a href="http://twitter.com/GangstersIncWeb" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRucl2n04Nd1FN7BgyMjdvg" target="_blank">YouTube</a>, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/GangstersInc/" target="_blank">Reddit</a>, and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/gangstersinc/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> and like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank">Facebook</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>
VIDEO: Smuggler talks about trafficking weed through the Florida Everglades
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/video-smuggler-talks-about-trafficking-weed-through-the-florida-e
2017-11-20T07:30:00.000Z
2017-11-20T07:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/video-smuggler-talks-about-trafficking-weed-through-the-florida-e" target="_blank"><img width="539" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237104260,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="9237104260?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Marijuana" target="_blank">Marijuana</a> can now be bought legally in many states in the U.S. but back in the 1980s it was a high-priced and highly illegal commodity. As such it was smuggled into the country by traffickers who knew the hidden paths. One such man now openly talks about his criminal past.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/buccaneer-the-story-of-drug-smuggling-pilot-jack-reed" target="_blank"><strong>Buccaneer: The story of drug smuggling pilot Jack Reed</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>The most infamous of marijuana routes into the United States was through the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Florida" target="_blank">Florida</a> Everglades. The documentary <em><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/square-grouper-godfathers-of" target="_blank">Square Grouper</a></em> gave audiences great insight into this region and its shady history. The tiny fishing town of Everglades City had only a few hundred inhabitants but it was grand central for smuggling weed between <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Colombia" target="_blank">Colombia</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Miami" target="_blank">Miami</a>.</p>
<p>Former smuggler Tim McBride played an integral part in this drug pipeline and shares his story with VICE.</p>
<p><strong>You can watch the video below:</strong></p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ySNSboTrzlw?wmode=opaque" allowfullscreen="" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<p><strong>Get the latest on organized crime and the Mafia at Gangsters Inc.'s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=News">news section</a>.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Follow Gangsters Inc. on <a href="http://twitter.com/GangstersIncWeb" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank">Facebook</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>
Teaser trailer for “650 Lifer,” new White Boy Rick documentary
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/teaser-trailer-for-650-lifer-new-white-boy-rick-documentary
2016-03-27T17:39:51.000Z
2016-03-27T17:39:51.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/teaser-trailer-for-650-lifer-new-white-boy-rick-documentary"><img width="500" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237057691,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237057691?profile=original" /></a>By Gangsters Inc. Editors</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Teaser trailer below.</em></p>
<p>He was a kid among men. Violent men. When Richard “White Boy Rick” Wershe Jr. was just a teenager he ran with a crew of drug dealers in 1980s Detroit handling multi-kilos of cocaine. He did so at the behest of the Detroit Police Department who had recruited the then 14-year-old as an informant.</p>
<p>In the years that followed, the teenager provided law enforcement with information that helped bring down <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-cartels">drug dealers</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/street-gangs">gang members</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/black-organized-crime">kingpins</a>, and a group of corrupt Detroit cops.</p>
<p>Then came his own arrest.</p>
<p>Wershe Jr. was pulled over at a traffic stop and when police searched his house later they found 17 pounds of cocaine. Teenage informant or not: The law showed no appreciation for his cooperation.</p>
<p>In 1988, 17-year-old Wershe Jr. was convicted and sentenced to life in prison under the 650 Lifer Law, a law that mandated an automatic life sentence, without parole, for carrying at least 650 grams of cocaine. The law was later rolled back and all the men sentenced under it – over 220 - have since been released.</p>
<p>All except White Boy Rick.</p>
<p>Since 1988, Wershe saw many of his former colleagues, men who did much worse - convicted of murder even - get released from prison, while he remained locked up.</p>
<p>His case began receiving more and more attention from the media and now a new documentary titled 650 Lifer will shed light on this strange and unbelievable story of life and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in">crime in America</a> during the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-cartels">War on Drugs</a>.</p>
<p>The documentary is to be released later this year though no specific date has been set yet.</p>
<p><strong>Check out the teaser trailer for 650 Lifer below:</strong></p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/155725722" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/155725722">650 Lifer - Teaser #1</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/transitionstudio">Transition Studios</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Get the latest on organized crime and the Mafia at Gangsters Inc.'s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=News">news section</a>.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Follow Gangsters Inc. on <a href="http://twitter.com/GangstersIncWeb" target="_blank">Twitter</a> </strong></p>
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<p><strong>Check out our <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/photo">photo gallery</a>.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Check out our <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/video/video">video section</a>.</strong></p>
<p><strong>If you enjoyed this article you might also enjoy reading:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/interview-john-gotti-jr-sits-down-with-gangsters-inc">INTERVIEW: John Gotti Jr. sits down with Gangsters Inc.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/my-loving-dad-was-a-gangster-and-bugsy-siegel-s-close-friend">My loving dad was a gangster and Bugsy Siegel's close friend</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-message-dont-fuck-with">The Message: Don't fuck with Tony Accardo</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-american-mafia-bets-on-the-world-and-wins-big">The American Mafia bets on the world and wins big</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/how-bonanno-goodfellas-whacked-lufthansa-loot">How Bonanno goodfellas whacked Lufthansa heist loot</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sicilian-mafia-travel-guide-reveals-island-s-underworld">Sicilian Mafia travel guide reveals island's underworld</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-humble-origins-of-joe-masseria-and-lucky-luciano">The humble origins of Lucky Luciano and Joe Masseria</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/give-a-man-a-gun-the-story-of-carmine-dibiase">Give a Man a Gun: The story of Carmine DiBiase</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-scoop-on-the-man-who-brought-down-genovese">The scoop on the man who brought down Genovese</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-sits-down-with-fbi-agent-jack-garcia">Gangsters Inc. sits down with FBI agent Jack Garcia</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-man-who-stole-the-french">The Man Who Stole the French Connection</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/top-5-of-true-stand-up-wiseguys">Top 5 of true stand up wiseguys</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cops-make-the-deadliest-mafia-hit-men">Cops make the deadliest Mafia hitmen</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/joe-barboza-boston-barbarian">Joe Barboza: Boston Barbarian</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>
Profile: Armenian Power leader Mher Darbinyan
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/profile-armenian-power-leader-mher-darbinyan
2015-02-23T11:24:17.000Z
2015-02-23T11:24:17.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-armenian-power-leader-mher-darbinyan"><img width="520" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237043661,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="9237043661?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>It ain’t easy being a gangster in Los Angeles. The City of Angels is known as the birthplace of many notorious gangs like the Crips, Bloods, and La Eme. African-Americans and Latinos rule the streets where gang shootings are an everyday occurrence. Surprisingly it was this hostile environment that gave birth to Armenian Power, a gang comprised of white Eastern Europeans with influence reaching far beyond the streets of L.A.</p>
<p>When the Armenian Power gang was founded it had just one simple reason for existence: Protect Armenian youths from other street gangs roaming the schools and streets. According to evidence presented in court, “Armenian Power formed in the East Hollywood district of Los Angeles in the 1980s. The gang’s membership consisted primarily of individuals of Armenian descent, as well as of other countries within the former Soviet bloc.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img width="300" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237044061,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-right" alt="9237044061?profile=original" /></a>One of the group’s founding members was Mher Darbinyan (right), who molded the youth gang into a formidable street gang with circa 250 members as he himself transitioned from teenager to adult. While doing so he also changed the group’s modus operandi. Where they had first protected fellow Armenians from rival thugs, now they preyed on them, extorting their businesses and using threats and violence to assert control of the neighborhood called “Little Armenia” for its many Armenian immigrant settlers.</p>
<p>Members of Armenian Power were involved in extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and fraud. Money was pouring in from all angles as the gang grew in stature and started making friends in high places.</p>
<p>Though most criminals rather not think about it, there is a good possibility they will end up behind bars during their hunt for fast money. Once inside, they lose the protection their gang offers them on the outside. When that happens new friends are needed.</p>
<p>Darbinyan realized this and forged an alliance with La Eme, a California prison gang also known as the Mexican Mafia. They control much of the narcotics distribution and other criminal activity within California’s correctional facilities. La Eme would protect Armenian Power members and associates who were behind bars, while Armenian Power gangsters on the outside would help facilitate Mexican Mafia criminal activities.</p>
<p>Darbinyan is rumored to be so close to La Eme, federal officials say, that he became one of the Latino gang’s few white members.</p>
<p>Besides locking down California’s prisons and Los Angeles’ streets, Armenian Power (below) also sought to expand its international influence. They worked closely with powerful organized crime figures in Russia and Armenia, men known as “thieves-in-law,” who are the equivalent of the Italian-American “made” guy. They are hardcore old school <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview">Russian Mafia</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237043899,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="548" class="align-center" alt="9237043899?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p>With great power comes great responsibility. Cheesy, but true. And something the leaders and members of Armenian Power seemed to forget as they let the power get to their heads. All it takes is one informant and all that power becomes as useless as a Spiderman comic book in a gunfight.</p>
<p>Law enforcement is always on the lookout for emerging criminal gangs, but it takes something special for authorities to take action. That is why it’s advisable to keep a low profile when involved in expansive and lucrative criminal rackets.</p>
<p>However, when you’re on top of the world, making millions of dollars hand over fist, have frightened people kissing your ass wherever you go, you might think you’re bulletproof or, better yet, “indictmentproof.”</p>
<p>And in the underworld there simply are times when you are put to the test on both accounts. If you want to be the baddest crew on the block then you better put your guns where your mouth is. Sometimes a gangster just can’t keep a low profile. Sometimes he has to go full Tony Montana “Say hello to my little friend”-mode on his rivals.</p>
<p>Mher Darbinyan and his goons in Armenian Power understood this all too well.</p>
<p>That is why members of Armenian power pulled out their weapons and started blasting when an argument between them and another California gang turned ugly on the streets of North Hollywood. Two of their rivals were killed as Armenian Power members fled the scene of the crime.</p>
<p>The shootout in May of 2008 proved their ruthlessness, but it also painted a large bull’s-eye on the gang’s back. Law enforcement and the FBI were now giving the group their full attention. The clock was ticking.</p>
<p>Darbinyan and his posse of thugs, however, had no clue yet as to the impending doom. Armenian Power members relished in squeezing their fellow countrymen for money. Through the use of intimidation and violence they usually succeeded in hitting jackpots. They would kidnap people off the streets and demand ransom money from their loved ones. Most Armenians paid up rather than going to the cops for help.</p>
<p>What Armenian Power was doing, in essence, came down to “shitting where you eat.” Founded to protect fellow Armenians, the gang was now feasting on them in a blood-soaked buffet. And whenever you shit where you eat, your food is going to get toxic.</p>
<p>In 2009, they kidnapped Sandro Karmryan, an Armenian businessman who shipped cars to Russia. For the poor man it was a horrible case of déjà vu as he had been kidnapped by Armenian Power before. That time they had released him after his family coughed up $50,000 dollars. This time things didn’t go as smooth. If getting kidnapped for a second time wasn’t enough bad luck, Karmryan was also shot by a friend while running away from his would-be kidnappers.</p>
<p>What happened next is described perfectly by journalist Hayley Fox in <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/news/taking-down-armenian-power-californias-modern-mafia-4824242" target="_blank">her in-depth article</a> about Armenian Power. “For nearly five days, he was moved from stash house to stash house as the kidnappers used his debit card to withdraw money from ATMs across Southern California. His ransom was set at $1 million, a fee they hoped his family in Russia would pay, [Assistant United States Attorney Martin Estrada] says. But his friend's gunshots had torn through Karmryan's abdomen, causing his intestines to rupture and leak fluid into his body. He was vomiting stool and bleeding severely internally, Estrada says, when the FBI tracked Karmryan to a marijuana grow house in Mira Loma. They found him in agony, blindfolded on an air mattress, with a pit bull standing guard over him.”</p>
<p>He eventually survived, but the trauma surgeon who operated on him later testified that he had never seen something like it. The gunshot wound had been festering for five days and was now a fountain of liquid stool that erupted from his stomach because of all the pressure that was building up.</p>
<p>You can only apply so much pressure. Whether it be to the human body or the human mind. At one point all this pressure reaches a peak point after which exploding is all that is left. Victims can only be scared shitless for so long. Eventually they will seek help from a force able to take the fear away. A force dressed in uniform and armed with guns. A force that outnumbers any gang in the United States.</p>
<p>One such desperate victim had taken out a loan with the gang only to realize he would never be able to pay back the interest. It’s a common technique used by organized crime, perfected by <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in">La Cosa Nostra</a>, the Italian-American Mafia. Armenian Power bled the man dry for everything he had. Then they asked for more, and more, and more still.</p>
<p>He walked into the offices of the FBI a broken man and offered his services. He had no other way out. He was terrified to his bones that Armenian Power would harm his family or himself. He had heard it all. At one point Darbinyan told him, “You are lying. I'll jerk off on the liar's mother's head.” Another member told him, “I will skin you ... if that deposit does not happen by 6 o'clock. I will not give a fuck. Good luck to you.”</p>
<p>With the FBI in his corner he was able to make his payments while also gathering intel on the gang’s activities for his FBI handlers. By then the Bureau already had wiretaps in place and was collecting invaluable information about a wide variety of crimes. That is how they were able to save kidnapping victim Karmryan in 2009.</p>
<p>Thanks to court-authorized wiretaps on 25 different phone numbers the feds monitored countless conversations and obtained a wealth of incriminating evidence as defendants spoke about “targeting wealthy Armenians for robbery, planning check fraud activity, making illegal firearms deals, installing skimmers on ATMs, watering illegal marijuana plants in a warehouse, mailing illegal narcotics to customers, planning kidnappings, and extorting money from victims using threats of violence.”</p>
<p>By 2011, they had enough evidence to charge 90 Armenian Power leaders, members, and associates in two separate indictments. Of those 90 charged, 87 have been convicted. Furthermore, they seized more than $3 million in fraudulently obtained luxury automobiles. And they interfered in several violent confrontations between rival groups, arresting more gang members and seizing firearms.</p>
<p>Among the convicted Armenian Power gangsters is their leader Mher Darbinyan. At trial he was convicted of 57 counts for his role in a racketeering conspiracy that included extortion, bank fraud, and a sophisticated credit and debit <a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237045257,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="350" class="align-right" alt="9237045257?profile=original" /></a>card skimming scheme. In this fraud scheme Darbinyan used middlemen and runners to deposit and cash hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent checks drawn on the accounts of elderly bank customers and businesses. Separately, he also organized and operated an elaborate debit card skimming operation targeting customers of 99 Cents Only Stores across Southern California. This scheme involved the installation and use of skimmers to steal thousands of customers’ debit card numbers and PIN codes.</p>
<p>In November 2014, at the age of 39, Darbinyan was sentenced to 32 years in prison.</p>
<p>According to Agent Jeremy Stebbins, who worked the case out of the FBI’s Los Angeles Office, “With the arrests and convictions of nearly all senior leadership of Armenian Power, we dealt a serious blow to their ability to continue to operate in the manner they were accustomed. We also sent a message to the Eurasian organized crime community that they are being targeted and watched.”</p>
<p>Behind bars Darbinyan is no doubt mulling over all his bad decisions, but must also be somewhat pleased about just one decision he made years ago: His pact with the Mexican Mafia. Because for the coming decades he will probably need their protection in the California penal system.</p>
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<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>
Supreme: Gangster giant towers over Queens rap
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/supreme-gangster-giant-towers-over-queens-rap
2015-02-17T08:57:27.000Z
2015-02-17T08:57:27.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<p>By Seth Ferranti</p>
<p>Supreme is a towering street legend immortalized in both hip-hop and hood lore. An infamous drug lord with ties to both major players in the rap industry and a notoriously profitable and ruthless drug crew, The Supreme Team, that ruled the same Queens streets that later produced platinum selling artists like Ja Rule and 50 Cent. To both law enforcement and a generation of rappers and hustlers, Supreme is a black John Gotti, a larger than life figure whose underworld reach seemed limitless. He was the only one of the renowned drug kingpins of the 80’s to outlast the crack epidemic and law enforcement’s pounding. But the feds finally got their man and Queens Reigns Supreme author Ethan Brown probably said it best, “By taking the storm and not flipping Preme secured his spot as one of the baddest guys ever to walk the streets of NYC.”</p>
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<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-6"><strong>Chapter 8: The Struggle</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237039270,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237039270?profile=original" width="197" /></a>Preme (right) was coming up, striving to make it, but it was a struggle. He was trying to go straight in the music and movie business but when money was tight he still turned to what he knew best- hustling. Behind the scenes he was reviving his violent drug dealing career, authorities alleged. The Black Gangster album was a success selling over 150,000 copies but there was no interest from Hollywood for the movie so Preme decided to do another Goines title, Crime Partners and instead of Black Hand, he enlisted Murder Inc. as a partner. Irv Gotti went to Universal Music Group and told them, “Here’s a guy getting out of a life of crime, can you help?” And Preme landed his Crime Partners soundtrack distribution deal for $1 million, $500,000 of which was paid up front.</p>
<p>Preme brought in his sister, Wayne Davis and John “Love” Ragin to be his partners to produce the film through Picture Perfect Entertainment. With Irv’s help he got Snoop Dog and Ice-T to star in the movie. “It took 16 years,” Wayne Davis said. “But he kept the same passion and the same commitment about his thing up until the year 2001 and when we got back together in the world we made it happen.” It all looked good. Maybe too good. “Shit was good. He was going legit.” Bing says of Preme’s hookup with Murder Inc. “I was glad to see that. He was with a legitimate organization that was making millions of dollars. That was like hitting the lotto. Especially, how they looked up to him like they did.” Supreme was flying high like a Trans-Atlantic concord, but he was about to experience some turbulence.</p>
<p>In 1999, in an argument in Queens, Supreme’s man Black Just was shot. Guns were pulled and allegedly Supreme’s gun jammed and Black Just was shot by a wannabe rapper that went by E-Money Bags. Preme rushed Black Just to the hospital in an SUV registered to his partner in the Crime Partner venture, Love’s Tuxedo Rentals. Of the event it came out later in court that Supreme said, “I pulled a gun. It jammed. I ditched it at the scene and drove Blacky to the hospital.” But it was too late. Black Just died at the Southeast Queens Hospital.</p>
<p>Preme hoped to get through this situation but the streets were talking. When a street legend is involved in an altercation the buzz just reverberates. At around the same time Preme started working on the Crime Partners movie. So it was a trying experience. But Preme trudged on. There was no point in looking back. He bought the rights to four more Goines titles- Black Girl Lost, Death List, Kenyatta’s Revenge and Kenyatta’s Last Hit- with the money from the Def Jam deal. He envisioned a series of movies based on the Goines books and he was ready to see his vision through. But with the streets talking about Black Just’s death and Supreme’s name ringing the feds got involved.</p>
<p>“The first thing the feds say is that it’s drug money,” DJ, a friend of Preme <a href="http://www.gorillaconvict.com/product/the-supreme-team/" target="_blank">says</a>. “Everything he did when he came back to the streets was legal but still the feds say its drug money.” And Supreme’s lawyer had a similar defense. He said his client worked hard to make a legitimate life for himself in the entertainment world when he left prison and was unfairly targeted by investigators hell-bent to find criminal activity in the rap world. “Success would of been assured without interference from the feds,” T says, but it wasn’t to be. Even Preme said how “every rap related crime, they bring my name up.” To make matters worse his partner Love got caught up in illegal activities involving his tuxedo rental service and other business fronts, for his credit card fraud and ecstasy-dealing ring. So whatever Preme was doing, legal or illegal, the spotlight was on him because of his associations. Due to his past, he was under a microscope.</p>
<p>The murder of Black Just and Love’s credit card schemes cast a cloud of suspicion over the Crime Partners production but the worst was still to come. At the same time this was all happening a kid named Curtis Jackson from Queens took the moniker 50 Cent from a dead stick-up kid out of Brooklyn and started releasing a series of underground mixtapes including 2000’s Guess Who’s Back, which featured Ghetto Qu’ran and the following lyrics:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237038877,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237038877?profile=original" width="320" /></a>When you hear talk of the southside / you hear talk of the team / see niggas feared Prince and respected Preme / for all you slow muthafuckers I’m gonna break it down iller / see Preme was the businessman and Prince was the killer.</p>
<p>This wasn’t the first time the team had been celebrated in songs but the lyrics about Preme in his bulletproof BMW that reeled out a roll call of Supreme Team members like Black Just was the last thing Preme needed as he tried to pull it all together and go legit. And with 50 Cent’s ode, authorities had reason to believe Preme was back underground up to his old tricks with his life imitating his art.</p>
<p>“It was good that he paid homage to us for who we were and what we did,” Bing says of the verses. “But I felt different about it when I first heard that shit. It is what it is.” <a href="http://www.gorillaconvict.com/product/the-supreme-team/" target="_blank">Preme’s legacy</a> was now aired to the world and right at the most inappropriate time. The storied street dude was getting out of the life but the lines between hustling and hip-hop had blurred casting suspicion on his ventures. But 50 wasn’t the first to rap about Preme.</p>
<p>In Nas’s Memory Lane on 1994’s Illmatic he rhymes: Some fiends scream about Supreme Team / a Jamaica Queens’s thing.</p>
<p>And it wouldn’t be the last as Murder Inc.’s Ja Rule joined the fray with his intro on the Survival of the Illest CD: Funds unlimited / backed by Preme team crime representatives.</p>
<p>That was something that the feds would eventually pick up on. It seemed the rap lyrics struck a chord with law enforcement officials. While many of the figures heralded in hip-hop lyrics were either dead or in prison, Supreme was in the streets - a real live gangster. He was both a figure in raps lyrical lore and an upcoming hip-hop movie-maker. “Preme is a legend. He’s proven and he’s not a rat,” Tuck says. “That fact alone in this day and time says a lot. Stand up men are no longer the rule they are the exception to the rule.” The rappers 50 and Ja Rule’s status was less clear, as they started beefing about a world that Supreme had known far better than either of them. “The Ja Rule/50 Cent beef was partly because Supreme spoke up for Ja Rule and 50 Cent took this as a rejection of him,” T says. “Supreme thinks 50 cent is an angry young man that been venting, and his venting could be construed as ungangsta, because real men don’t put stuff out in the public that could bring about an investigation.” Adds T, “Supreme looks at 50 like he’s confused. If half the things that are said about 50 and Preme are true than 50 needs to send half his loot to Supreme.”</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent#mediaviewer/File:50_Cent_2012.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237039500,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237039500?profile=original" width="230" /></a>In the streets, it was also rumored that Supreme had something to do with 50 Cent’s mother’s death. Sabrina Jackson allegedly was a Supreme Team member who got strung out on crack and fucked up some of Preme’s money. She was found dead in her apartment. Somebody had put something in her drink and turned the gas on. Her body wasn’t found until four days later. In the streets it was seen as a message- Don’t fuck with Supreme’s money or product. “That’s some bullshit.” T says. “That’s just something that got picked up on. Supreme couldn’t even tell you what she looked like. She didn’t have anything to do with the Supreme Team.” But as rumors swirled and 50 Cent (left) caught wind of them after he’d grown up he went on the offensive escalating the beef with Ja Rule and Murder Inc. He must have figured fuck Supreme, if he’s not with me, he’s against me. And that’s how it played out. “I try not to entertain what spills out of his mouth,” Preme said referring to 50. “Because I don’t wish to engage in a war of words. I’m not at war with him nor did I ever have a beef with him. I never knew his mother. I knew of her and from what I know she was cool people.”</p>
<p>A couple of physical confrontations that turned violent ensued. One at an Atlanta club that resulted in Ja Rule’s chain being snatched and another at a Manhattan recording studio where Murder Inc. cronies assaulted 50. These confrontations fueled the beef and it was suggested by police that the Ghetto Qu’ran rap caused bad blood between 50 Cent and Supreme. “Men that have been in the life you just don’t put their business on wax.” T says. “Preme showing love to Murder Inc. ostracized him from their counterparts.” But in reality T relates that, “Supreme never gave 50 Cent any thought because barking dogs don’t bite and 50 never been in the life. He’s a perpetrator to the death of the game.”</p>
<p>50 Cent built his career on the feud though. He called Murder Inc. out for what they were, making references to their menacing acquaintances in magazine articles and in verse. His pre-superstar hit Wanksta was a thinly veiled attack calling Ja Rule a fake gangsta wannabe, perpetrating a tough guy image. And in a battle rap 50 gave his take on Irv Gotti- Don’t nobody respect you nigga/you Preme’s son nigga/muthafucker been getting extorted since day one. The feds took this to mean that Murder Inc. was bankrolled by Supreme. They listened to 50’s lyrics like they would a wiretap. 50 Cent said the song Ghetto Qu’ran was a memorial to the street legends he grew up idolizing but The Source magazine took an anti-50 Cent stance and labeled him a snitch. Supreme even said as much, “When we was coming up there was a code of conduct. You didn’t speak about dudes who may still be in the streets.”</p>
<p>And the truth of the whole matter was that Supreme was trying to squash the beef between 50 and Murder Inc. “I sat down with 50 and said, ‘Listen man, this is nonsense.’ But 50 loves to keep things going. He would say ‘Yeah, all right Supreme, I respect you man’ and then turn around and go totally contrary to what we talked about.” And about Preme and the beef T says, “He’s a very diplomatic individual who feels that violence is an option that can’t be afforded. I think he feels if a situation can get to the point of physical violence and he knows both parties he would feel obligated to find a peaceful situation.” And Supreme did just that as 50 cent pointed out, talking about the Murder Inc. beef, “I had a conversation with an older god body that was holding them down. He was like yo, leave this little nigga alone. You know they pussy but this is my food. I was like okay.” And the god body 50 Cent was referring to was Supreme. “I was intervening to squash the issue because I thought it was meatball. I think he said Ja Rule didn’t say hi or something. Plus security can’t stop a real beef.” Supreme said of the situation. But it all came to a head.</p>
<p>On May 24, 2000, as 50 and a friend sat in a car outside his grandmother’s house on 161st Street in South Jamaica a gunman rolled up in a vehicle on his left side and pumped nine shots into his body, hitting him in the hand, hip, calf, chest and face. 50 Cent survived and went on to become a superstar but the shooting has always been connected to Supreme. After he recovered, 50 put out a song, Fuck You, that said: 50, who shot ya? You think it was Preme, Freeze or Tata?</p>
<p>And Jon “Love” Ragin said later that he met with Preme the day of the 50 shooting and Preme said, “I got him.” Supreme, “Explained to me that they caught him coming out of his grandmother’s house and he got into a car and that’s when he got shot. There was a lot of blood.” Love recalled Preme telling him. The New York Post ran the headline, Slay Plot vs. Fitty, indicting Supreme of the crime. But even in court the shooting was never pinned on Supreme.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.gorillaconvict.com/product/the-supreme-team/" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237039680,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237039680?profile=original" width="194" /></a>The subject of 50 being a snitch has been hotly debated also. “This dude sensationalizes everything. All his statements are incendiary. The government believes every lyric- and then he says, ‘Read my lyrics.’ Where I come from that’s dry snitching.” Supreme said and on the whole beef with 50 he said, “Kid you’ve never been through nothing. I walked around wolves, man. I walked among giants.” And he’s right. Maybe 50 is a snitch, maybe not. “The chump 50 Cent wouldn’t even be a factor in the rap game today if his lyrics weren’t snitch oriented,” T says. “He owe his success to the media and his beef with Murder Inc. 50 ain’t never been nowhere but to boot camp. A place guys like Supreme wouldn’t even go to. With dudes yelling in your face telling you to do 50 pushups. How gangsta is that?”</p>
<p><em><strong><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-contributor-seth-ferranti">Seth Ferranti</a> is author of numerous true crime books, <a href="http://www.gorillaconvict.com/product/the-supreme-team/" target="_blank">The Supreme Team</a>: The Birth of Hip-Hop, Prince’s Reign of Terror and the Supreme/50 Cent Beef Exposed is one of his latest releases. You can order it online at all bookstores or visit Ferranti’s website <a href="http://www.gorillaconvict.com/" target="_blank">Gorilla Convict</a> to get your copy there. You can also follow Ferranti on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/SethFerranti" target="_blank">@SethFerranti</a></strong></em></p>
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Profile: Washington D.C. drug boss Rayful Edmond
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/profile-washington-d-c-drug-boss-rayful-edmond
2015-01-22T10:04:38.000Z
2015-01-22T10:04:38.000Z
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<p>By Seth Ferranti</p>
<p>To many in his hometown of Washington, D.C., during his 1980s reign as the city’s biggest cocaine and crack dealer, Rayful Edmond was public enemy number one. At the height of Dodge City’s brutal crack epidemic in 1987, this 22-year-old man was responsible for distributing 60 percent of the cocaine that flooded the city’s streets. In the Chocolate City, Rayful was the undisputed king of cocaine. He was street royalty with a certified gangster resume.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237029491,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237029491?profile=original" width="277" /></a>At his peak Rayful (right) sold 2,000 keys a week, reaped gross profits of $70 million a month and ran an operation with over 150 soldiers to support him. By his early twenties he had established himself as the city’s most notorious drug kingpin. In the high profile and glamorous life he led, champagne flowed like water, trips to Las Vegas, New York and Los Angeles were commonplace and $50,000 shopping sprees were the routine. Rayful personified the big city drug lord and his stature epitomized all the accolades that position demanded.</p>
<p>To the mainstream media, he encompassed all that was wrong with the city’s crack epidemic, but in the streets Rayful was a hero, an inner-city gangster who made it to the top echelons of the drug trade. A Lucky Luciano, Billy the Kid-type figure. But there were consequences to his reign. His volcanic rise coincided with an unprecedented explosion of street violence and drug addiction in the capital city. The era is remembered for murder, mayhem and bloodshed. Historians have blamed the crack storm that seized D.C. on Rayful, but Rayful maintained he was only trying to help his family live a better life and enjoy the finer materialistic trappings of capitalism that were often denied denizens of the ghetto.</p>
<p>To the block huggers, four corner hustlers and hood mainstays Rayful was beloved, even worshipped. His appeal crossed boundaries and he was adored by children and adults alike. But to others he was feared, a man who wreaked havoc on his community. Neighborhood people saw the effects of his crack enterprise outside their front doors and it wasn’t pretty. A community divided was in essence, a community destroyed. But regardless of what people thought of Rayful, he was an enigma, the president and CEO of what authorities called “the largest network for cocaine street sales in Washington D.C.” He was a gangster legend of epic proportions, until he tarnished his legacy by turning snitch.</p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong>Excerpt from Rayful Edmond: Washington DC’s Most Notorious Drug Lord</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5"><strong>Chapter: In Prison</strong></span></p>
<p>“Through history, all the bad things happened to the good guys,” Rayful said. “So I’m a good guy and just something bad happened to me and I’ll overcome it sooner or later.” But Rayful was in prison staring multiple life sentences in the face. His prospects were bleak, but he tried to make the best of a bad situation. “I will be home one day soon in a couple of years after my appeal,” Rayful said. “We will all be home in a couple of years. I’m not a violent person. You can ask 1,000 people. In high school I was only in two or three fights. I was tried for murdering one of my best friends. Ask his family. They got to see that I ain’t no murderer or nothing. Maybe I was a drug dealer, but I’m not all that bad of a person.”</p>
<p>Exactly who and what Rayful was caused a lot of disputes in the Chocolate City. One woman, quoted anonymously in The Washington Post said she was pleased by the conviction because Edmond was responsible for “a whole lot” of bad things that happened to children with drugs. But a man recalled that Edmond gave his family money for flowers when a brother died and occasionally gave extra money for medicine and bus fare. “He may have been guilty of knowing the wrong people,” the man said. “But Rayful wasn’t no dope pusher.” The director of a recreation center said the neighborhood children would miss Edmond. “They looked up to him. They respected him. If they ever had any problems, they could come and talk to him. They saw him as a big brother.” He said.</p>
<p>Despite his life sentence without parole, Edmond was making plans for when he got out. He dreamed of opening a nightclub. In one room he would have big movie screens. In another room there would be pool tables. And in a special room, people could watch “like nasty movies.” There would be a room for dancing and “a bar where they could buy all they want or whatever they want.” There would be a dress code, “casual shoes, slacks and a jacket.” Rayful knew it would be a success. “I could just put my name up there and people just come because they say ‘Oh, that’s Rayful’s club.’” Rayful was a little delusional to say the least.</p>
<p>Edmond’s long term home was a small cell at U.S.P. Marion. He described U.S.P. Marion as a place where prisoners wanted to take their frustrations out on each other. “I wish I was in another institution,” Rayful said. He explained that U.S.P. Marion was for the most dangerous criminals and that he wasn’t violent.</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t wish this place on anybody.” He said. When he wanted to hear the sound of another voice he had to call out carefully in a low voice, because he didn’t want to risk having another prisoner tell him to shut up, an act of disrespect he’d have to respond to.</p>
<p>“In Marion you just really don’t have too much communication,” he said. “And sometimes you feel lost and then the people, they not really functioning right. People tend to age a lot at Marion, they worry. They don’t wanna be here. People be loving their families and they can’t call them. It’s lonely here.” Rayful couldn’t call his family anyhow, because they had been spread far and wide, to prisons as distant as California.</p>
<p>“I’m going through the hardest,” Rayful said. “Probably harder than anybody else been through, but I don’t let it bother me. I just try to be me, just be Rayful. Like a lot of people come to jail and they get caught up into what’s happening in the institution, but that’s not what life is about. Life’s about being free and living in the streets. “If I ever went home, I would never come back. I’m just here until one day when I catch a break, get back in court and maybe get some of the time back and have a date to go home. I just be thinking of that. I’ll get out in a couple of years from now, probably two years.” But Ray was dreaming.</p>
<p>“Everybody is trying to make it seem like drugs is all that bad. I’m saying it is bad, when it gets to the kids that don’t know what it is. It’s bad. But when you of age, it’s not bad. When you of a certain age, it’s not bad. When you of age you make your own judgment.” Rayful said.</p>
<p>“People abuse anything in life. Like men have good women and they abuse them. People have nice kids and they abuse their kids. So that’s just part of life and a way of life. People be trying to survive, then you got a lot of money, so somebody might try to rob you and kill you. Drugs are all over now. That’s just life. They are everywhere.</p>
<p>“I would say white people are more conservative and tend to handle it a little better than black people. Maybe their system be a little stronger as far as with drugs. I don’t try to judge people. People just look for ways to survive. And if drug dealers do wrong, their intention is not to hurt anybody, not to hurt kids.</p>
<p>“People just say, ‘Drugs are bad.’ But it’s so many people that are out there talking about, ‘Drugs is bad,’ that are using drugs themselves. Just like Marion Barry. All this stuff he going around talking about drugs this, drugs that. I’ve been locked up for years and the streets are worse than ever. If I was the problem everything should have been cleared up by now.”</p>
<p>In 1990, after a short stint at U.S.P. Marion, Rayful was transferred to U.S.P. Lewisburg where he had more freedoms like walking the yard, using the phone and having the run of the compound. Not much, but better than 24 hour lockdown. U.S.P. Marion was the maximum security prison in the federal system while U.S.P. Lewisburg was only a high security institution. Rayful settled in nicely to the less restrictive environment.</p>
<p>“He came in with great accolades,” an old time mobster who was at the prison when Rayful came in says. Lewisburg is a very gothic style prison, like an old English castle. Hawks and other birds of prey inhabit the steeples built into the structure. Also there is a historical wall that can’t be altered. The wall is 50 feet high. The population at Lewisburg when Rayful arrived consisted of Italians, Asians, blacks and Irish. All the major ethnic groups were represented and Lewisburg was a hub of criminal activity as it is located between all the major East Coast cities and the most densely populated areas.</p>
<p>“All illicit activities are going on there because all the major cities are a stone’s throw away,” the old time mobster says. “The prison housed some of the most famous prisoners of the United States from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-disappearance-of-jimmy">Jimmy Hoffa</a> to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-boss-john-gotti-sr">John Gotti</a> to biker leaders from the Outlaws, Pagans and Hell’s Angels. Big drug dealers from all the major cities were there including Peanut King, Little Melvin, Big Melvin Stanford, Cadillac, the Nicky Santoro crew, Sam the Plummer’s crew, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-associate-james-jimmy">Jimmy “The Gent” Burke</a>, members from all the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in">five families</a>, the big Colombian dealers and a lot of guys from the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-new-england-crime-family">Raymond Patricia family</a>, Frank Valente, Angelo Leonardo and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-rebel-crazy-joey-gallo">Joe Gallo</a>. John LaRocca’s Pittsburgh family with Nick the Blade and the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bruno-crime-family">Philly Nicky Scarfo crew</a> were there. The gangs weren’t popular then.”</p>
<p>Ray quickly took advantage of the situation. He learned that it was even easier to deal drugs from behind bars to people on the outside. He had access to phones on the B cellblock practically whenever he wanted. There was the mail and there was his full contact visits. All privileges he didn’t have at Marion. He got his visitors to smuggle small amounts of cocaine, heroin and marijuana in to him.</p>
<p>“Those were the basic four: cocaine, crack, heroin and marijuana,” he said. Rayful brought the drugs in through the visiting room. He hired other prisoners, whose girlfriends, during contact visits, would pass the drugs packed in small balloons. It was a simple routine. The oldest trick in the book.</p>
<p>“She might kiss him, and he put ‘em in his mouth. Got ‘em all inside. Then he get back inside the institution, he spit ‘em up. I’ve seen somebody bring in like 60 balloons before. It keeps the jail mellow. Keeps people patient. They be able to get high and chill.” Rayful said.</p>
<p>Lewisburg was the center of criminal activity on the East Coast. When you have a bunch of people of such a high magnitude from the criminal underworld in one place illicit activities are going to occur. “Drugs were so prevalent people developed bad drug habits to wash away the memory of their sentences,” the old time mobster says. “There were crap games, alcohol- homemade or smuggled in, every drug imaginable. They even had a Monte Carlo night, where you could play blackjack or dice like in a casino.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237030654,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237030654?profile=original" width="198" /></a>Making the most of his circumstances, Edmond reinvented himself, becoming a broker- bringing inmates with sources of cocaine together with his friends and associates back home who had the customers. “I wanted to make more money,” Edmond said. “At that time my mindset was I had to still have people look up to me and prove that I was still capable of making things happen.”</p>
<p>Ray wasn’t in Lewisburg two weeks before the FBI started getting reports that he was still dealing. The clever Edmond just moved his office to the penitentiary. He was doing the same thing from prison. And he found dealing drugs was even easier from prison.</p>
<p><strong><em><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-contributor-seth-ferranti">Seth Ferranti</a> is author of numerous true crime books, Rayful Edmond: Washington DC’s Most Notorious Drug Lord is one of his latest releases. You can order it online at all bookstores or visit Ferranti’s website <a href="http://www.gorillaconvict.com/" target="_blank">Gorilla Convict</a> to get your copy there. You can also follow Ferranti on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/SethFerranti" target="_blank">@SethFerranti</a></em></strong></p>
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