==Harlem==
1970s
Frank
Lucas was a heroin dealer in
Harlem in the early 1970s. He claims to have grossed
$1 million a day selling drugs on 116th Street.<ref
name=
"nym2000">
"The
Return of Superfly,"New York Magazine, August 14,
2000</ref> Federal judge
Sterling Johnson, who was special
narcotics prosecutor in New York at the time of Lucas's crimes,
called Lucas's operation "one of the most outrageous international
dope-smuggling gangs ever . . . an innovator who got his own
connection outside the U.S. and then sold the stuff himself in the
street."<ref name="nym2000"/>
He is particularly
remembered for the "Cadaver Connection," in which the coffins of
dead American servicemen being returned from
Vietnam would also include a dozen or so kilos
of 98% pure heroin.
According to the article "The Return of
Superfly", Frank Lucas assaulted his attorney Gino Gallina, a
mouthpiece for the Italian mob. However, the article was written
based on information gotten directly from Frank Lucas. Lucas made
threats about killing Gino, and is often given credit for his
murder.<ref>
"The
Return of Superfly,"New York Magazine, August 14,
2000</ref> However, according to FBI reports, Gino was
most likely killed by the special kill squad of the
Gambino crime
family (the .22 Caliber hitters), to prevent his testimony
against them when he switched sides.<ref>
Victim
No. 21,
TIME Magazine, November 21 1977]</ref>
In 1976,
Lucas was convicted of both federal and (
New Jersey) state drug violations, and
sentenced to 70 years in prison. The next year he began giving
evidence that led to the prosecution of numerous government law
enforcement agents and eventually led to the convictions of more
than 100 other drug criminals, and in 1981 he was released from
jail for his cooperation. Two years later he was arrested once
again and charged with conspiring to distribute heroin. In 1984 he
was found guilty of the new charge and sentenced to seven years in
prison.<ref>
U.S. Jury
Convicts Heroin Informant,
The New York Times, August
25, 1984</ref><ref>
Drug
Dealer Gets New Prison Term,
The New York Times,
September 11, 1984</ref><ref>
Victim
No. 21,
TIME Magazine, November 21 1977</ref>
Actor
Denzel
Washington portrays Frank Lucas in the film
American
Gangster directed by
Ridley Scott, due for release on
November 2,
2007.
==
Guy Fisher==
Guy Fisher is
a former
New
York City drug dealer who once owned and operated the
Apollo
Theater in New York. Along with
Nicky Barnes, Fisher was one of the top
two
heroin dealers in New
York City in the mid to late 1970s.<ref name="sg">
The Guy Fisher Story: A
New York drug dealer, streetgangs.com, accessed
January 24,
2007. </ref> Fisher is currently serving a
25 year sentence in prison. He was put there in part by the
testimony of Barnes who turned State's evidence in order to avoid a
life sentence himself.
Fisher was the first
African-American to
own the Apollo Theater when he purchased it in 1977.<ref
name="sg"/> Fisher's life was the subject of a 45 minute
documentary entitled
The Guy Fisher Story and will be
featured in the new movie "American Gangster
.<ref
name="sg"> </ref>
1980s
==Queens==
1970s
=1980s=
==Kenneth McGriff/Supreme Team==
Kenneth
"Supreme" McGriff (born 1961) is a notorious drug dealer and leader
of New York's defunct Supreme Team gang who was sentenced to life
in prison in 2007 for conspiracy to commit murder. McGriff
served ten years for a 1989 drug conviction, and when released, he
helped finance the rap label The Inc. Records, formerly
known as Murder Inc. Records, with neighborhood associate
Irv Gotti. He was part of the major indictment on Murder
Inc. in 2003, and was publicly associated with Lorenzo "Fat Cat"
Nichols and Gerald "Prince" Miller. The book Queens Reign
Supreme details his life, and some claim that the fictional
characters Nino Brown in the 1991 film New Jack City and Majestic
in Get Rich or Die Tryin are based on him.
McGriff was known for
his brutality. He would order military style raids on
rival drug dealers, with gang members storming a home in vans and
automatic weapons on execution missions. The downfall of
the Supreme Team occurred with the murder of an undercover cop,
Edward Byrne, in retaliation for police activity against Pappy
Mason. The law enforcement attention was so great that
George H.W. Bush carried Byrne's badge on the campaign
trail in 1988.
McGriff is alleged to have a hand in the murder of
Run D.M.C. D.J. Jam Master Jay, and the shootings
of 50 Cent. Persistent rumors have it that McGriff felt 50
Cent had exposed just a little too much on the kingpin of Jamaica,
Queens and others involved in the drug trade through the lyrics of
his 2000 mixtape song "Ghetto Qu'ran". Allegedly, McGriff
ordered a rap industry blacklisting of 50 Cent as a result of this
track, which Jam Master Jay violated when he helped the
then-unknown artist launch his career. Prosecutors in the
money-laundering case against Irv Gotti and his brother Christopher
Lorenzo also alleged that the The Inc. Records founders
had known of the assassination plot against 50 Cent [1].
On
February 1, 2007 McGriff was convicted for murder-for-hire in
Federal court, on charges he paid $50,000 to have two rivals gunned
down in 2001 (rapper Eric "E-Moneybags" Smith and Smith's
associate, Troy Singleton). The jury deliberated for five
days before finding McGriff guilty of murder conspiracy and drug
dealing. On February 9, 2007, the same jury sentenced
McGriff to life in prison.
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