Recent article from scott burstein on gangster report website.


BMF Alive & Well in Detroit, ATL, Still Standing Almost 10 Years After Bust

Nearly a decade removed from the DEA’s titanic Operation Motor City Mafia bust that brought down the entire hierarchy and command structure of the notorious BMF (Black Mafia Family) drug empire, reputed to be the biggest urban narcotics conglomerate in American history, a second generation of the pop-culture staple of a crime syndicate has emerged in the city of Detroit and beyond, per sources on the street and Michigan federal law enforcement.

BMF was founded by brothers Demetrius (Big Meech) Flenory and Terrance (Southwest T) Flenory in Detroit in the late-1980s, eventually expanding and setting up loosely-connected “franchises” across the country, with main hubs being stationed in Southeast Michigan, Southern California, Atlanta, Georgia and St. Louis, Missouri. The organization literally made hundreds of millions of dollars and towards the end of its run was purporting to be a rap-music label, setting up billboards on interstate highways from Michigan all the way down to Florida that flashed the BMF emblem and declared “The World is Ours,” evoking the mantra from the gangster-film classic Scarface (1983).

Big Meech himself has reached epic levels of fame and notoriety in the hip-hop community and certain factions of African-American youth culture. Despite being locked up the past decade, the 47-year old Flenory’s name is more recognizable today than it was when he was free, morphing into a iconic gangland moniker name-checked in rap songs and associated with legendary street-status and a gaudy, affluent, in-your-face lifestyle.

In the fall of 2005, a series of indictments spawning from the decade-long Operation Motor City Mafia investigation began unspooling and eventually imprisoned more than 150 members of BMF for drug-dealing and racketeering offenses. The Flenory brothers both pled guilty and were hit with 30-year prison sentences.

At the time of their arrests as the lead defendants in the historic indictment that finally dropped in Detroit federal court in October 2005, the Flenorys were no longer on speaking terms, with Big Meech residing in Atlanta and Southwest T in Los Angeles, but overseeing activities in Michigan via his aide-de-camp Eric (Slim) Bivens and Bivens’ right-hand man, Benjamin (Blank) Johnson. Bivens and Johnson ended up cooperating with the government.

Just as the original first-wave of BMF were going away to prison in the mid-2000s, a fresh group of eager gang-bangers stepped to the forefront and filled their slots and, in a more limited capacity, began rejuvenating operations in Detroit and Atlanta, per sources and police intelligence files . Some of these figures are original BMF members that have either been released from jail or are about to be.

“We’re looking at a second generation of BMF,” said one DEA source. “This is something that can’t be overlooked. They’ve taken back territory by force, here in Detroit and other places. We haven’t forgotten about them.”

Two of the leaders of the “new-age” BMF in Michigan, according to these sources and files, are Chauncey (C-Bear) Peguese and Darnell (Cuckoo) Cooley.

Peguese, who is headquartered in Detroit’s Downriver area, is the brother of Darryl (Chipped-Tooth D) Peguese, one of Big Meech Flenory’s primary lieutenants in his heyday in Atlanta, and is slated to be sprung from prison next month after serving a decade in the Operation Motor City Mafia bust – he’s alleged to be “calling shots” from his jail cell and has been installing his own crew bosses across different areas of Southeast Michigan in anticipation for his return over the last several years.

“C-Bear is “The Man”, he’s the guy Meech wants looking after things in Detroit,” said one source in the Flenorys’ old stomping grounds. “He did his time like a soldier, while a lot of dudes from “The D” ratted everyone out and ran for the hills. Now, he’s got the power.”

A number of Michigan-based BMF under Terrance Flenory’s auspice flipped, compared to very few gang members that worked for Big Meech in Atlanta turning informant. The majority of the damning audio surveillance in the indictment emanated from Southwest T’s camp, too.

Cooley, 39, was just released from prison after serving five years for second-degree murder. He walked free on August 8, almost five years to the very day him and two of his bodyguards, Deandre (Boo Dollar) Woolfolk and Eiland (Golden Child) Johnson, stomped, beat and strangled a fellow nightclub patron to death in a fight that erupted on the evening of August 9, 2009.

Their victim, Robert Alexander, was celebrating his 35th birthday that evening at Arturo’s Jazz Club in Southfield, Michigan, a suburb on the northern outskirts of Detroit, along with his best friend, Anthony Alls. Alexander’s birthday celebration was taking place in the VIP lounge next to a table of reputed BMF members, at the head of which sat Cooley and his entourage. The altercation between the two parties was prompted by one of Cooley’s friends touching the buttocks of one of Alexander’s female companions as she walked by their table to use the restroom.

Alexander, flanked by Alls, approached Cooley’s table to confront them about the rude behavior, however, before he could finish his opening remarks, Cooley slugged him with a punch to the face and Woolfolk struck him in the head with a glass bottle of Grey Goose Vodka. With Alexander bleeding and unconscious on the floor and Alls watching on in horror, Cooley and Woolfolk began violently kicking Alexander in the head, stomach, back and side. Johnson grabbed the nearby velvet rope that separated the club’s VIP section from the dance floor and started to strangle him. By the time Arturo’s security guards could break up the melee, Alexander was dead.

Alls reported what and who he saw to responding police detective and was set to testify at a grand jury proceeding on August 28. The evening of August 27, Alls was slain execution-style, viciously shot-gunned to death as he tended to his car outside the barber shop he worked at in the northwestern section of Detroit. Police records related to Alls’ murder tell of an alleged $50,000 contract placed on All’s head by BMF brass.

Their lone witness on a slab in the morgue, Oakland County (MI) Prosecutors were forced to settle for a plea and Cooley, sometimes known as “Bey Bey” or “D-Bird,” Johnson and Woolfolk copped to aggravated manslaughter and were slapped with 3-to-6 year terms behind bars. Johnson walked free last year. Woolfolk was convicted of another murder while locked up on the Alexander case.

Cuckoo and his crew have a widespread reputation as being heavy hitters.

“Darnell Cooley is one bad man, he’s the Grim Reaper” said one source on the street that he grew up with. “Him and his boys have put in a ton of work. They’re as serious as cancer.”


Woolfolk was indicted for a murder in 2008, after a retaliatory strike on a man he mistakenly believed had shot Cooley and put him in a coma in the hospital wound up killing a teenage girl he was with instead, but had the charges dropped when the judge in the case tossed Woolfolk’s confession, ruling it inadmissible.

I ran across the mentioning of BMF when watching a rap video of Chicago rapper Lil Mouse ( he was wearing a BMF necklace and he's a GD from the wild 100s) on another forum and the posters mentioned that BMF was still active in Detroit. Guess it's true after all. Possibly future indictments to come.

If it's true it will be the first real "black" mafia in a long time, they've proven when the leaders get locked up other people will take over

I would disagree to say first real in a long time due to a general lack of information on other groups activities particularly BGF & Black Souls. Also fair mentions to the VLN, MCN, and BGN.

Whatever the Vice Lords were in their inception, they're no longer a Mafia like organization, they're a common street gang, same goes for the Black Gangster Disciples, and the Mickey Cobra's.

bmf entertainment was a short lived record label founded in the early 2000s. it's just outright false to claim that they were an organized crime group dating back to the 1980s. if that's true,then why is there no record of their existence before 2004? if someone can produce any documents, pictures, or news articles mentioning bmf before 2000,then I'll believe it,but there's no evidence.

They were a drug trafficking organisation well before the BMF title.

Also i think a few of you are getting hung up on the mafia title. Drug trafficking is an organised criminal activity and they pretty much fit into many definitions of organised crime.

I agree with Scorsese on the definition below and will also include that one of the definition of mob is an organized gang as well.

The VLN have been the most organized black mob in Chicago and still currently maintain an hierarchy amongst their branches. They have already expanded into other activities such as prostitution , white collar fraud, and still collecting street tax as well.

The GDN ( no longer BGD) in Chicago is definitely a shadow of its former self but due their large membership and numerous decks (factions, crews, cliques) they still are organized just depending on the particular decks. Outside of Illinois in other states the chapters seem to maintain the corporate hierarchy.

The MCN is mentioned mainly due to their leader Mickey Cogwell being involved labor unions. But that was the past and the Cobras are mainly to the south side holding a sizable turf since the city tore down the Robert Taylor projects. They still have an infamous reputation despite their small size.

The Black Souls are the most low profile and tight knit mob currently. Little info and members tend to cooperate with other west side mobs especially the 4CH to some degree. So far their only been a couple major bust in the Souls and they still maintaining.

Here's a case focusing on a high level member:
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-6th-circuit/1520911.html

do you have any evidence of that? a search of the archives yields zero results for "Demetrius flenory", "terry flenory", or "black mafia family" prior to the year 2003. if they were such a big deal in the 80's and 90's, they would have been mentioned alongside YBI, Best Friends, etc but they never were. bmf was a rap label, it's more accurate to consider them a fourth rate emulation of death row, bad boy, and so on, instead of comparing them to the mafia.

Are you serious? Do your research bro, look up the assault cases, look up the RICO indictment that Big Meech, his brother, and a bunch of their captains and lower level associates were all named in, the murders, the wiretaps. There's literally a shitload of evidence of them being a drug trafficking organization way before they became a record label. In fact, it was the drug money, the BMF drug money that they'd made which they laundered into a legit business, that legit business was the BMF record label. The way Big Meech & brother set up their drug trafficking enterprise, from the titles and ranks they'd made, to the set up, they're completely comparable to the Mafia.


As far as the "organized crime group" thing, The Bloods are an organized crime group by definition, The Crips are an organized crime group by definition, MS-13, 18th Street, Four Corner Hustlers, they're all organized crime groups by definition. But with that said, most of them simply can't be compared to an organized crime group like The American Mafia, few can be, and BMF are one of those few. However the Vice Lords, MC's, Bloods, Crips, they're all street gangs, and in no way are they as organized as an America Mafia or a BMF like organization.

Are you aware of current Chicago gang politics? Vice Lords aren't as organized as you're claiming they are, not in this day and age. Vice Lords have always been involved in prostitution, that doesn't make them comparable to the Mafia, a few members or heads are involved white collar fraud, not the entire organization. They've always taxed dealers in their neighborhoods, they all do it, not just the Vice Lords.

GDN, is a name only. They aren't organized, in fact, there is still BGD, there are also IBGD's, Insane Black Gangster Disciples. They're no longer a united front, in fact many of their decks, war with each other, there are Black Gangster Disciple decks that are currently at war with other Black Gangster Disciples, that's where the "Insane" name comes from. The Insanes are the ones who are at war with other GD's. There are GD's who hang out and do crime with other VL decks, because they have a common enemy, the GD's they're at war against. GDN is a name only, again, they've become so fractured, and split and broken up, that there's no way they can be compared to a group like the American Mafia. Them having large membership doesn't make them organized, considering most of that membership are split into different factions, and the majority of the factions are all butting heads and killing each other. That's how it currently is in Chicago, when it comes to "GDN".

Having a good rep also doesn't make them organized or comparable to the Mob. Mickey Cobra's are also currently just a common street gang, keep in mind they're a part of the Peoples Nation, along with the Black P-Stones, Vice Lords, 4CH's and the Latin Kings. The People's Nation is the organization, the People's Nation as a whole, maybe back in the day were comparable to a truly organized crime group. But today? No way, because them too, like the Gangster Disciple Nation are so fractured and at war with each other, that they technically aren't an organized crime group.

It'd be like the Five Families in NY all at war with each other, constantly gunning for each other, and looking to kill leaders and take over drug turf and the garment districts. Families have warred with each other in the past, but rarely does it happen that way, they're mostly a unified front, they have a commission to sort out those kind of problems to make sure the all out bloodshed doesn't happen the way it did before Luciano brought the Castellamarese War to a head and created the Commission. These groups that you mention have no such thing and are killing each other every single day in Chicago, especially in the case of "GDN".


Completely off topic, I've been bumped up. I am now caporegime of the Gangsterbb Family.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21970468/Demetrius-Meech-Flenory-BMF-Indictment#scribd

Big meech indictment. States that they had established a drug trafficking organisation by the early 90s and expanded by the mid 90s into other states. Seizures of their drugs date back to 1999.

I wasn't comparing any of these groups to LCN. I'm just stating that the definition of mob still fits. Trust me when i say your off on some of your information on Chicago. I'm practically the scribe on street organizations on the BB, not to brag just some posters (old & new) hardly spend anytime of in-depth research on their history.

The VLs are structured as mentioned as evident by the most recent indictments last year or 013 (check my past posts). The branch that was hit was the IIVL or Imperial Insanes for of course their traditional business and along with their Chief and Elites. The VL hierarchy is similar for every branch with a Chief at top down to Soldiers. Been like this since the late 70s, before it was a common club structure such as Presidents, VPs, Treasurers, etc. Like I said they have been the most organized black mob the longest. It's hard to say just a few but an unknown amount. The same can be said for LCN families not the entire membership is involved in white collar as well.

BGD is outdated since 83, period. The only legit BGDs are old school inactive guys in their late 40s at least. It's GD, throughout Chicago and everywhere else. I know this due to personal ties. But your right on the Insane decks. Those are renegades that don't follow the rules until they are locked up The cliques of different mobs been going on for a decade or so, it's for the money. So GDs will team up with any other mobs as well. I said depending on the specific decks that have sizable membership are organized. Look at the case with the Old Man, his deck was moving thousands of kilos of weed & coke before his indictment back around 07 then the case last year of the K-town deck. Not majority but decent amount of decks are fighting each other which is mostly on the south side and a few spots on north side. The rest isn't so much the case, example will be K-town again. By the way I said GDN as in nationwide chapters are organized with the same corporate structure too.

I mentioned the Cobras due to their current position turf wise, their surrounded by many rivals to some degree and yet haven't budge. People Nation and Folks Nation are Prison alliances not organizations. They have sit downs and peace treaties as well it's just depends on location. We speaking of 70 different groups with the top 11 having thousands of members compared to 5 groups with each a hundreds of members. The same case your implying with them bickering can be compared to Camorra. Many different groups where some see eye to eye and others and you always have problems.

By the way you haven't said anything about the Black Souls

good find. but you actually helped prove my point. it says, quote: "Between approximately 2001 and 2003 , Terry Flenory and Demetrius Flenory began to refer to their activities as being part of an entity they called the Black Mafia Family (BMF)"
so BMF had a two year run, is what they're saying. from 2001 to 2003. before 2001, BMF didn't exist. the two brothers were local drug pushers and not on the radar

yes,the assault and murder cases all involved rap music. BMF weren't very violent, they were only implicated in 2 murders that I can think of. and both were at nightclubs or hiphop events. they were an entertainment group it was BMF Entertainment, people always leave the last part out. the only BMF "members" were rappers like blue davinci. there was no organization, or structure. that's the job of RICO is to build a conspiracy to make it look organized. the spurious connections in the membership charts show that the dea was playing a game of six degrees of separation,because it later came out that most of the people asserted to be BMF,like craig petties,for example,had nothing to do with BMF and weren't involved. but BMF were nothing special. master p build no limit out of drug money, easy e started rushless records, there are countless examples, BMF was just of many rap labels started by drug money,it's not comparable to the mafia and the paperwork itself says they only lasted 2 years.

I think where the confusion starts is the name "Black Mafia Family" (BMF). BMF is the name of the record label that the organization started, and was heavily involved in. People started calling the organization itself BMF. The organization existed long before the existence of the record label.

Bingo!

Hey BlackFamily, how heavily involved in the drug games was rapalotrecords? I've heard rumors that the founder was heavy in the drug game, and some of the signees will allude to it, but in quiet tones. I've always dug houston hip hop but Im not quite clear on whats happening there.

Do you know the story of Fat Tone and Mac Dre? A lesser known biggie and tupac tale. Corruption in the rap industry has always been interesting to me.

thats not actually what I'm disagreeing with, Im saying they were running a massive drug operation before they started BMF.

heres some info on the rapalot drug probe.

Rap A Lot Records
Houston Texas

Record label releases rap album attacking DEA after drug probe
Posted: Tuesday, October 03, 2000
MARY LEE GRANT
The Associated Press
HOUSTON - A record label whose founder was under investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration is releasing an album that taunts the agency and talks about killing informants.

DEA officials say they are disturbed by the contents of the CD, which mentions agents by name.

The boasts by rap artist Brad "Scarface" Jordan, whose album was being released Tuesday, stem from a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno from Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., sent on behalf of the rapper's label, Houston-based Rap-A-Lot Records, and its owner James A. Prince.

"Can't be stopped. Not even by a badge," one song declares, "(DEA Agent Jack ) Schumacher's been chasin' me. Tryin' to set me up. Bustin' down my streets. Lockin'up my dog, to see if he can catch me. But I don't sell no dope. ...(expletive) the DEA."

Waters' letter asks for an investigation of the DEA, but she denied a report Monday in The Dallas Morning News that she intervened to stop the investigation of Prince.

"My letter speaks for itself," Waters said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Nowhere in my letter does it ask to halt an investigation. My letter was based on the allegations that Mr. Prince was making about harassment and fear for his life. I told him if you don't have anything to hide, come to Washington to file a report."

On his CD, Jordan, who entered a guilty plea last year to a misdemeanor marijuana charge, brags of the "Rap-A-Lot mafia's" ability to derail a DEA investigation and the careers of drug agents.

In her letter, Waters said racial slurs, harassment, and racial profiling may have been involved in the investigation.

Neither Reno nor Waters put any pressure on the DEA to stop the investigation, said Ernest Howard, special agent-in-charge of the Houston office of the agency.

" Mr. Prince is black and I'm black," Howard said Monday. "I'm the one that assigned the case. I wasn't out to investigate a black man. I don't care if a trafficker is green, yellow or blue. I assigned it because there were allegations of drug trafficking."

Prince, who has not been charged as a result of the investigation, has said his company has done nothing illegal. Phone calls placed Monday by The Associated Press to his offices were not returned.

Prince has been arrested twice on minor drug and weapons charges that later were dropped. His label released a 1993 Geto Boys album containing lyrics in which the rappers threaten to shoot police. Prince complained on the best-selling album of a DEA conspiracy to target his record label.

"The mere fact that they would go that far in the back of my mind substantiates our investigation in that case," Howard said.

"It's typical gangster rap. They criticize law enforcement and criticize those providing allegations. They have made past accusations of police brutality and now they are talking about violence against people in law enforcement. There's a double-edged sword."

Howard said he thinks songs that say there is nothing wrong with harming law enforcement ends up hurting young people.

"They think because these are rock stars they are telling the truth," he said. "It really skews things."

He said inner city youths wouldn't consider him a role model "but every kid in the ... inner city knows who Scarface is."

Waters, in her letter to DEA officials, cited Schumacher's involvement in six fatal shootings. Authorities said each shooting involving the agent was justified.

Schumacher, a 27-year law enforcement veteran who directed the case through more than 20 state and federal convictions as well as cocaine seizures in Oklahoma City, Beaumont and Houston, was transferred last spring from active investigation to a desk job.

"It was my idea to reassign him for his own protection and the protection of this case," Howard said. "In this case if he did everything right from A to Z it would have been wrong to some people."

Jordan, whose new album is called "The Last of a Dying Breed," was one of several Rap-A-Lot associates arrested in a DEA inquiry and pleaded guilty in 1999 to misdemeanor marijuana charges in connection with the case.

DEA agent barred from investigation

Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) - The lead agent in a probe of a rap recording company has been barred from involvement in the case just weeks after he testified before a Congressional committee that high-ranking politicians pressured federal officials to shut down the investigation.

Drug Enforcement Administration agent Jack Schumacher was taken off a drug probe of James A. Prince and his associates at Houston-based Rap-A-Lot Records and removed as liaison with the Harris County District Attorney's office in a move his attorney, Michael Hinton, said appears to be revenge for his testimony before Congress.

"What else could this be but retaliation?" Hinton told The Dallas Morning News for Saturday editions. "Jack Schumacher has got a tremendous background in this case. He knows it better than anybody. And less than two weeks after he tells Congress what went wrong, this happens?"

Schumacher and three Houston Police Department drug investigators in the Rap-A-Lot case told a congressional committee this month they were making substantial progress until the head of the DEA's Houston office ordered it stopped because of political pressure.

A DEA spokesman in Houston wouldn't comment and said the agency's Houston chief, Ernest L. Howard, was unavailable for comment. Howard has denied shutting down the investigation.

But officers testified Howard stopped the investigation shortly after U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, wrote a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno asking her to investigate allegations by Prince that he was subjected to racial slurs and profiling, and that he feared for his life by "rogue DEA agents."

Howard, who is black, has said the agency has not harassed Prince.

Prince has been arrested twice on minor drug and weapons charges that later were dropped. He complained on a best-selling 1993 Geto Boys album of a DEA conspiracy to target his record label. His company recently released a recording by Brad "Scarface" Jordan which taunts Schumacher and threatens to destroy agents' careers and kill informants. Jordan was arrested in the DEA inquiry and pleaded guilty in 1999 to misdemeanor marijuana charges.

Schumacher had 19 complaints filed against him while he was a Houston police officer and four as a DEA agent. He has been involved in nine shootings in which someone was killed. All were found to be justified.

He directed the case through more than 20 state and federal convictions.

Prosecutors said they worry Schumacher is being is being punished, and they will miss his expertise.

"I'm at least suspect about what's going on," assistant Harris County prosecutor Craig Goodhart told the Morning News. "Limiting our access to Jack makes it a little difficult for us to do things...He's been a clearinghouse for us. He's got a wealth of information, and we'd like to be able to use it."

Rap-A-Lot probe was to continue, DEA says

Attorney general requested inquiry into alleged civil rights abuses, but case was somehow closed
By Suzanne Gamboa
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Janet Reno requested an inquiry into allegations of civil rights abuses in a Houston drug probe, but did not order the case closed, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration said Thursday.
The inquiry Reno requested led to a series of events that ultimately resulted in the 1999 suspension of a joint DEA-Houston Police Department investigation of Rap-A-Lot Records and its founder James Prince.
DEA Administrator Donnie Marshall said any shutdown of the case was contrary to his orders.
"At no time did anyone tell me the criminal investigation was closed down," Marshall said. "And at no time did I have any reason to believe this criminal investigation was closed down."
The investigation's suspension prompted a probe by the House Government Reform Committee into whether political pressure led to the shutdown of the investigation.
Thursday was the second day of hearings on the matter. Committee members questioned why an investigation that had netted 20 convictions, including one for murder, was abruptly halted.
They also questioned why Prince's allegations, a suspect in a drug investigation, were given enough credibility to cause the temporary suspension of the lead investigator and his eventual transfer.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, pleaded for Reno's help in an Aug. 20, 1999, letter saying Prince had been subjected to racial slurs, was illegally searched and stopped numerous times on "dark stretches of Texas highways."
Waters also told Reno that Prince feared for his life "at the hands of rogue officers" in the Houston DEA.
"Your agency truly doesn't look good," Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., told Marshall. "It doesn't look good because it looks like an investigation was suspended ... because a subject of an investigation was able to go to a member of Congress and when the member of Congress issued a complaint to the Justice Department you all jumped overboard to accommodate."
On Wednesday, the Rap-A-Lot lead investigator and three Houston police detectives said they were told in September 1999 the case was shut down because of political pressure.
Their testimony conflicted with that of Houston DEA Special Agent Ernest Howard, who said he suspended investigative work without permission from supervisors pending the outcome of the internal DEA investigation of Prince's allegations.
Prince is black, as are Waters, Howard and two of the police officers in the investigation.
The witnesses were recalled Thursday to clarify the inconsistencies.
"I know what the truth is. I know what I did and didn't do," Howard said, adding he would work one more year at the Houston job.
Howard's recollection of his action on the case was corroborated in a letter written to committee chairman Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., and James Nims, the supervisor of the group investigating Rap-A-Lot.
Nims said Howard had told him the case was suspended pending the conclusion of the internal investigation and "there was to be no enforcement action taken unless it was cleared through the chain of command."
The internal investigation found that Prince's allegations against lead investigator Jack Schumacher were unsubstantiated. Another agent accused of stealing a defendant's necklace was reprimanded for not following procedures for handling evidence.

agree, 100%!! even though I still think they weren't that big of a deal before the label. there's a lot of embellishment to their story,thanks in large part to the book that's out there,most of which is exaggerated and made-up

Some people are under the impression that they were P Diddy/Suge Knight types who used their rap money to get into the drug business, when it was the other way around. These were drug dealers who wanted the type of limelight that came from the music business, so they started a label and signed some rappers. The label didn't even end up amounting to shit.

Here's another link talking about their multi-million dollar enterprise with links to Mexican cartels before their BMF days:
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[url=http://www.dea.gov/divisions/det/2008/detroit091208ap.html]

It's not too much exaggeration and fact was they were trafficking about 2,500 pounds of Cocaine per month at their peak.

There's a lot of rumors about Rap -A-Lot and also S.U.C involvement in the Houston's underworld. By the way , J Prince is a GD.

no,that's actually not true. the 2,500 per month figure is inaccurate,it was taken out of context in witness testimony from a snitch Terrance Hill,who worked for the Craig Petties organization,and furthermore Hill and Petties were an entirely separate operation and weren't connected to the BMF. The news media tried to make them out to be associated. Plus,if you read it,the testimony states that they received a 2,500 shipment on one occasion,not on a monthly basis http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/local-news/testimony-man-describes-massive-shipments-cocaine
Quote: "Hill said one shipment totaled 2,500 kilograms, which had a street value of more than $50 million dollars".
Meech himself said that he never met Craig Petties or did business with him,and yet you have the media and tje DEA inflating the numbers and making BMF out to be a major drug network,and ascribing them with connections they didn't have in reality.

where did you get the info that he's a GD.

Heres another interesting article on the rap a lot drug probe.

DEA Agent: Gore Donation Quashed Rap-A-Lot Probe
Label spokesperson calls 'absurd' charge that political pressure, bought by alleged $200,000 gift to vice president's campaign, halted drug investigation.
By Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen

A federal drug-enforcement agent told a congressoinal committee Thursday (December 7) that his probe of Rap-A-Lot records was canceled, and he was demoted, after label head James Prince gave $200,000 to Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign.

Prince's publicist called the charge "asburd" and said Prince "has never donated a dime to Al Gore."

"That would be like Lars Ulrich buying shares in Napster," publicist Phyllis Pollack said.

Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Jack Schumacher, who was called out on record by Rap-A Lot artist Scarface on the rapper's October album, Last of a Dying Breed, would not disclose his source connecting Prince to a $200,000 donation to the Gore campaign. California Democrat Henry Waxman said that there are no records of any contributions from Rap-A-Lot or Prince to the Gore campaign or the Democratic National Committee.

The two-day hearings of the House Committee on Government Reform, set to conclude Thursday, were the latest chapter in a 12-year saga involving Rap-A-Lot, the DEA and police in Houston, Texas. The investigation has resulted in more than 20 drug-related convictions, but Prince has never been charged.

The hearing was called to determine whether political pressure resulted in Attorney General Janet Reno calling off the investigation, an allegation denied by Houston DEA head Ernest Howard. Howard testified that he suspended the investigation because he was concerned about agents' safety and careers.

Schumacher and three Houston police officers claimed that Howard told them politics were at the root of the investigation's end. The three officers testified that they were pulled off the probe soon after California representative Maxine Waters sent a letter to Reno. Schumacher was moved to a desk job March 14, two days after Gore visited the Church Without Walls in Houston, the parish to which Prince belongs and has given more than $1 million.

Waters' letter, dated August 20, 1999, asked Reno to investigate "rogue agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency" and said that Prince feared for his life. In an October statement, Prince accused Schumacher of having "no respect for the rights of individuals."

Schumacher has been involved in six fatal shootings in the line of duty, the Dallas Morning News reported. When asked Wednesday how many people he killed, Schumacher responded that he didn't "keep count," but that he had read the number in the newspaper.

"I've been involved in probably 12 gunfights, all of which involved numerous officers and numerous criminals," Schumacher testified, adding that in such situations it's difficult to tell who is shooting whom.

Waters, Prince and the church's pastor were not called to testify. None was available for comment.

Late in the day Wednesday, the hearing's attention turned to Scarface's lyrics. In the song "Look Me In My Eyes" (RealAudio excerpt), Scarface (born Brad Jordan) accuses Schumacher of harassing him, an allegation also made by Prince in his October statement.

On "Gangsta Shit," Scarface boasts, "There ain't enough bullshit in the United States to stop this Rap-A-Lot shit."

Early Thursday, Schumacher claimed that he had been told by a confidential informant that a contract had been taken out on his life.

i believe Meech desparately wanted to be like Diddy and Suge. it didn't work out that way, but i guess the ex-law enforcement rapper Rick Ross helped give him the notoriety he wanted. the link says they were small-scale in the beginning. i can't find any record of the flenory's being considered major players in the drug world until about the year 2001 when terry moved to l.a. and got a direct line with the Mexican cartels. so the credit should really go to terry. prior to that,Meech was never a drug kingpin he was getting busted on petty drug charges. so at best they lasted 2 years,because the entire thing was brought down by 2003. i don't know why a rap lebel/drug front with such a small lifespan is being compared to the mafia. not to mention there have been many other wealthier and more successful black drug lords before them,and since their demise. freeway rick,rayful Edmonds,to name a few made more money and lasted longer,and the original philly black mafia was more of a mafia than what the BMF ever achieved.

Here's another look from their start up through a personal friend and also details on money laundering : http://www.plainsite.org/dockets/274a0ru...-united-states/

You can't compare them to the mafia period. Unless your speaking of comparing the scale of both groups cocaine operations.

@Scorses
It's mentioned somewhere by someone else or the Geto Boys interlude where they are talking to Larry Hoover on the phone.

sounds interesting,but I couldn't find any info on that link it's mostly a blank page. can you copy&paste it here or is there another link? and you're totaly right,i wouldn't compare them to the mafia either.