Fresh Loaf

Big Meech led BMF's Atlanta hub

After spending three years in a suburban Michigan jail, Black Mafia Family co-leader Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory is back in Georgia.

Meech and his brother, Terry “Southwest T” Flenory, were sentenced in September to 30 years in federal prison on charges that they ran a continuing criminal enterprise. BMF is estimated to have moved at least $270 million in cocaine in less than two decades. Nearly 150 defendants with ties to BMF have been indicted in seven states, including Georgia.

Meech, a flashy hip-hop entreprenuer, was prosecuted in federal court in his hometown Detroit, though he had lived in Atlanta (and, for a short while, Miami) for more than 10 years at the time of his 2005 arrest.

During a brief phone conversation Saturday, Meech said he was upbeat about starting his 30-year prison sentence. He recently was moved from the Michigan jail to one in rural Georgia, where he’s awaiting transfer to a federal prison in Jesup, Ga. He requested that particular prison so he could be close to Atlanta, where he and his crew were once a legendary presence in hip-hop clubs and on billboards that proclaimed, “The World is BMF’s.”

“I’ve got a lot of love down here,” he said.

Bookmark It

Barima “Bleu DaVinci” McKnight, the rapper who became the face of the Black Mafia Family, was sentenced in Atlanta federal court today for handling cash and cocaine for the drug-ring-turned-hip-hop label.

McKnight and nine other co-defendants — most notably Sean “Diddy” Combs’ cousin Darryl “Poppa” Taylor — were scheduled for sentencing today, though at least one of them will be sentenced tomorrow because proceedings ran long.

BMF’s leaders, Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and Terry “Southwest T” Flenory, were indicted separately in Detroit, where they birthed their organization before moving to hubs in Atlanta and L.A. Last month, the Flenory brothers were sentenced to 30 years in prison.

McKnight received a five-year sentence — eight months less than the government’s recommendation, due in part to the fact that he agreed to share information with authorities. That information was not useful, however, because the government already had built most of its case against BMF.

McKnight also was not willing to testify against other defendants.

“He would have liked to have cooperated if he could have,” his attorney, David MacKusick, said. “But he didn’t have any useful information.”

McKnight released one album, The World is BMF’s, on Big Meech’s record label. Early in his career, he performed alongside such rappers as Young Jeezy, who also has been linked to BMF. Jeezy has not been charged with a crime in relation to the cocaine crew.

A tearful McKnight addressed the court at the end of the sentencing. He said he got involved in BMF the record label as a rapper — and took a detour into BMF the cocaine ring. He also said that Big Meech, who treated him like a little brother, tried to steer him away from the cocaine trade.

“Demetirus did not show me that part of his world when I first met him,” McKnight said. “I got onto the wrong side of the track.”

Bookmark It

DETROIT — Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and his brother, Terry “Southwest T,” were sentenced in federal court today to 30 years in prison for running the $270 million cocaine empire the Black Mafia Family.

BMF, which had one of its two hubs in Atlanta, has been linked to some of the city’s more sensational crimes and some of its best-known rappers, including Young Jeezy. Jeezy was implicated in BMF’s cocaine ring during the trial earlier this year of BMF’s third-in-command. The rapper has not been charged with a crime relating to the feds’ BMF investigation.

Meech, 40, and Terry, 38, pleaded guilty in November 2007 to running a continuing criminal enterprise. They’ve been locked up since their charges were unsealed in Detroit three years ago.

“I don’t think ‘I’m sorry’ is the right thing to say,” Meech told the judge minutes before he was sentenced. “’I’m sorry’ is what people say when they get caught.”

The CCE charge — which is similar to a RICO, or Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations case — can carry a life sentence, though the guilty pleas all but guaranteed that the brothers would serve less time. The government was pushing for 30-year sentences, though the judge indicated in November that he might be willing to go as low as the minimum 20 years. There is no parole in the federal system.

The Flenorys are among nearly 150 BMF associates who have been indicted in seven states: Georgia, Michigan, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri and California. The majority of those cases have been resolved — most recently, the federal trial in Atlanta of BMF’s third-in-command, Fleming “Ill” Daniels.

Daniels and several of his co-defendants, including the rapper Barima “Bleu DaVinci” McKnight, who pleaded guilty to cocaine charges, will be sentenced later this year.

More details to come at clfreshloaf.com.

(Photos courtesy of DeKalb County jail, top, and Wayne County, Mich., jail.)

Bookmark It

UPDATE: Flenory brothers get hefty sentences.

Three years after they were indicted for running the massive, multi-state cocaine ring the Black Mafia Family, the brothers Demetrius “Big Meech” and Terry “Southwest T” Flenory are scheduled to be sentenced in federal court this afternoon.

Meech headed the Atlanta headquarters of the $270 million organization and was a huge presence in the city’s hip-hop scene, with ties to well-known rappers including Young Jeezy. Terry, who had a falling out with Meech several years before the indictment and began to run a separate cocaine crew, oversaw BMF’s headquarters in L.A., where thousands of kilos of cocaine were shipped in from Mexico.

The brothers birthed the organization in their hometown  Detroit, where the sentencing hearing will take place. (I’ll be there to write about it and will post an update later today.)

A year ago, Meech and Terry pleaded guilty to running a continuing criminal enterprise, which is similar to a RICO — or Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations — charge. Had they gone to trial and been convicted, they would’ve faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

By pleading guilty, the brothers could serve as little as 20 years. The government is pushing for 30.

Bookmark It

George Bush was arrested for cocaine possession in Augusta.

Seriously.

(Tip o’ the crack pipe to Rogue109 at Peach Pundit)

Bookmark It

Amount of drug money former state Rep. Ron Sailor told an undercover FBI agent he was willing to launder: $300,000

Amount the agent, posing as a coke dealer, eventually gave Sailor: $375,000

Months after Sailor agreed to cooperate with authorities that he illegally obtained a $250,000 loan using his church as collateral: 3

Maximum years Sailor could spend in prison as a result of his June 17 guilty plea in Atlanta federal court: 80

Minimum years the Black Mafia Family’s third-in-command will serve as a result of his June 16 cocaine-conspiracy conviction in Atlanta federal court: 20

Amount in drug money that a witness in the BMF trial claimed to have counted in a single sitting: $6 million

Cost of a bottle of Cristal champagne that BMF members favored while partying in Atlanta clubs, according to another witness: $600

Months by which former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell hoped to reduce his 30-month federal tax-evasion sentence by seeking counseling for being a champagne-aholic: 4

Minimum number of witnesses — including Campbell’s witness — who told federal investigators that Campbell did not drink: 2

Number who told them Campbell did drink: 0

Sources: U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. District Court Atlanta, U.S. District Court Miami

Bookmark It

After a three-day trial that shed new light on the legendary excess of the Black Mafia Family, high-ranking BMF member Fleming “Ill” Daniels was convicted in Atlanta federal court today of one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

The jury, which deliberated for two days, could not reach a conclusion on Daniels’ second count, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. The jury announced its verdict at around 4 p.m.

The government’s case against Daniels relied heavily on a half-dozen witnesses who were indicted on BMF-related drug charges in other jurisdictions. The witnesses testified with the hope of receiving reduced sentences.

One of them, a lower-level BMF member named Ralph “Ralphie” Simms, implicated Atlanta rapper Jay “Young Jeezy” Jenkins in BMF’s $270 million cocaine ring. Jeezy has not been charged in the feds’ multi-state BMF investigation, which has netted nearly 150 defendants in seven states. Both the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta and Jeezy’s attorney in New York declined to comment on the allegation.

Daniels, who faces a minimum 20-year sentence on the federal conspiracy charge, is also under indictment in Fulton County Superior Court for the 2004 murder of Rashannibal “Prince” Drummond. Drummond was shot to death in the parking lot of Midtown’s now-defunct Velvet Room.

Bookmark It

Testimony offered yesterday in the federal government’s cocaine-conspiracy case against alleged Black Mafia Family member Fleming “Ill” Daniels revealed a stunning allegation: According to a witness, Atlanta hip-hop superstar Jay “Young Jeezy” Jenkins received kilos of cocaine from BMF.

Jeezy has not been charged with a crime in relation to the allegation. When asked whether there is an open investigation into the rapper, Justice Department spokesman Patrick Crosby said he had no comment.

Scott Leemon, the New York-based lawyer who represented Jeezy on weapons charges out of Miami in 2006, told CL “obviously, I am not going to comment on anything. I will look into it.”

The allegation was raised in U.S. District Court in Atlanta this week by a BMF member named Ralph “Ralphie” Simms. Simms was indicted last year in a related federal drug case in L.A. He told the jury that in exchange for his truthful testimony in the case against Daniels, he hoped to receive a reduced sentence.

Simms testified that his job was to unload BMF’s cocaine from limos outfitted with secret compartments. He said he piled as many as 100 “bricks” of cocaine at a time inside the basement of one of BMF’s stash houses, an ultra-modern Buckhead mansion nicknamed “Space Mountain.” And he said that on one occasion, in the fall of 2004, he was ordered by high-ranking BMF members Chad “J-Bo” Brown and Martez “Tito” Byrth to set aside multi-kilo cocaine “shipments” for two customers. Simms said the customers picked up the coke from him at Space Mountain.

When asked by assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McBurney who the customers were, Simms gave two names: William “Doc” Marshall, a high-level BMF co-conspirator who testified earlier in the trial, and “Jeezy.”

“Young Jeezy the rapper?” McBurney asked.

“Yes,” Simms answered.

Jeezy’s name cropped up several times in the first two days of testimony, but only in relation to his well-publicized friendship with BMF’s Atlanta-based leader, Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory. In November, Flenory pleaded guilty in Detroit to running a continuing criminal enterprise. He faces a minimum sentence of 20 years.

BMF is believed to have employed 500 people across the country in its $270 million cocaine ring — nearly 150 of whom have been indicted in seven states. According to testimony in Daniels’ trial this week, BMF only dealt in multiple kilos of cocaine, which were distributed to other cocaine dealers.

Daniels, who was described during testimony as BMF’s third-in-command under Flenory, was indicted along with 15 co-defendants last year in Atlanta. (Daniels also faces a murder charge in Fulton County Superior Court.) He is the only local defendant to go to trial on the federal charges. Nine of his co-defendants, including the rapper Barima “Bleu DaVinci” McKnight, pleaded guilty over the past two weeks. Another four are fugitives.

Jury deliberations in the case against Daniels began today. (UPDATE: Young Jeezy arrested on unrelated charges; Daniels convicted on one count.)

Bookmark It

Knock-off designer accessories aren’t the only things cheaper in New York than in Atlanta.

According to an article by Ken Dermota in the July/August issue of the Atlantic, cocaine costs four times as much in Atlanta as it does in New York.

Quoting U.S. government stats, Dermota says cocaine cost $80-$100 per gram in Atlanta in 2005. In New York the same year, it cost $20-$25.

Note: The Atlantic is not trying to be Clark Howard for cokeheads. The story is actually about how Plan Colombia, the U.S. government’s $4.7 billion effort to attack cocaine production in South America, has coincided with an overall drop in the price of cocaine. In other words, Plan Colombia is a failure.

Bookmark It