Kai Franklin Graham admits guilt, mayor’s daughter will assist cocaine probe

(Photo of Tremayne Graham left courtesy Spartanburg County Jail; photo of Mayor Shirley Franklin by Joeff Davis)

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin’s daughter, Kai Franklin Graham, pleaded guilty in federal court Dec. 18 to playing a minor role in her ex-husband Tremayne Graham’s crime ring — and she agreed to cooperate in what one prosecutor describes as an “ongoing investigation” into the cocaine enterprise.

Mayor Franklin sat toward the front of the Greenville courtroom, her signature flower pinned to the lapel of her jacket, and watched as her eldest daughter pleaded guilty to a federal “information,” which bypasses indictment and allows the defendant to enter an immediate plea. After the hearing the mayor smiled at her daughter, and the two left the courthouse, declining to comment.

Eight months earlier, Tremayne Graham was sentenced to life in prison in the same courtroom. Graham was charged with cocaine distribution and was described in documents and in open court as an associate of two multistate drug rings, the Black Mafia Family and Sin City Mafia. Graham lived with his then-wife in Atlanta but ran multikilo drug shipments to Greenville, which was why both he and Kai Franklin Graham were prosecuted there.

Five months after Tremayne Graham’s arrest in April 2004, his co-defendant, Ulysses Hackett — and Hackett’s 24-year-old girlfriend, Misty Carter — were gunned down in Carter’s Highland Avenue townhouse. Investigators say Hackett was considering turning federal witness.

According to court testimony, Graham said he feared for his life and used that excuse to move temporarily into the mayor’s house. A few weeks later, Graham cut off his ankle monitor and jumped bond on his cocaine charges. No arrests have been made in the deaths, although Graham is suspected of ordering the murders.

Kai Franklin Graham pleaded guilty to making “structured financial payments” to avoid federal detection — a move that helped throw investigators off of her then-husband’s trail.