Mara Shalhoup - BMF: The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family

BMF

THE RISE AND FALL
OF BIG MEECH AND THE
BLACK MAFIA FAMILY

MARA SHALHOUP

BMF: THE RISE AND FALL OF BIG MEECH AND THE BLACK MAFIA FAMILY . Copyright 2010 by Mara Shalhoup. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address St. Martins Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

Insert photographs copyright Ben Rose/Ben RosePhotography.com

Black Mafia Family Tree by Brooke Hatfield

Photos for Black Mafia Family Tree courtesy Atlanta Police Department; DeKalb County, Georgia, jail; Fulton County, Georgia, jail; Spartanburg County, South Carolina, jail; U.S. Marshals Service

www.stmartins.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Shalhoup, Mara.

BMF : the rise and fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family / Mara Shalhoup. 1st ed.
p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-312-38393-0

1. Flenory, Big Meech. 2. Black Mafia Family. 3. Drug dealersUnited StatesBiography. 4. Drug trafficUnited States. I. Title.

HV5805.F53S53 2010
364.1092dc22
[B]

2009040090

First Edition: March 2010

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This account is narrated in real time and based on allegations raised in court documents, trial transcripts, wiretap excerpts, and other law enforcement material. Although more than one hundred defendants with ties to the Black Mafia Family ultimately were convicted of their criminal charges, other associates were not charged or pleaded guilty to lesser offenses. Individuals who are mentioned in connection to certain acts of alleged misconduct but who have not been charged with or convicted of those alleged acts are, of course, entitled to a presumption of innocence.

For Peaches,

whose soul survived too great a loss

This book would not have been possible without the support of Ken Edelstein, who guided me through the infancy of its research. Im also indebted to my fellow journalists Scott Freeman and Shaila Dewan, my husband, Todd, and my parents, Diane and Alfie, for their generous insights and critical feedback. I owe a huge dose of gratitude to the investigators who helped me bridge the narratives gaps, to the attorneys who shared their insider knowledge of various criminal cases, to Rasheed McWilliams for noticing my early coverage of the Black Mafia Family, to my amazing agent, John T. Ike Williams, for listening to Rasheed, and to my ever-patient editor, Monique Patterson. Lastly, thanks to Tammy Cowins for keeping me in the loopand to Big Meech for his willingness to sit down and talk.

BLACK MAFIA FAMILY AND ASSOCIATES

(See insert for the BMF family tree)

Demetrius Big Meech Flenory

Terry Southwest T Flenory

Charles Pops Flenory

Chad J-Bo (Junior Boss) Brown

Fleming Ill Daniels

Barima Bleu DaVinci McKnight

Eric Slim Bivens

Benjamin Blank Johnson

Arnold A.R. Boyd

Wayne Wayniac Joyner

Omari O-Dog McCree

William Doc Marshall

Jacob the Jeweler Arabo

Jerry J-Rock Davis

Tremayne Kiki Graham

Scott King

Eric Mookie Rivera

Ernest E Watkins

Ulysses Hack Hackett

Jay Young Jeezy Jenkins

Radric Gucci Mane Davis

INVESTIGATORS

Bryant Bubba Burns

Marc Cooper

Jack Harvey

Rand Csehy

Rolando Betancourt

BMF

As bad as they wanted me, there was no winning.

DEMETRIUS BIG MEECH FLENORY

T he most notorious inmate ever to set foot in the St. Clair County, Michigan, jail is reclined on a ledge just off the hallway that leads to his cell. His hair, unwound hours earlier from the braids he usually wears, is pushed back from his face, falling to his shoulders in kinky waves. Hes saddled with a few extra pounds, but thats to be expected. Hes been locked up in this suburban facility, an hour north of Detroit and just across the water from Ontario, for three Michigan winters. Thats countless days stuck in a coop where you cant be let outside, not even to exercise, not even for an hour, unless the thermostat creeps above 40 degrees. Fat chance of breaking 40 in February, or even in March. Hes actually looking forward to prison, hopefully somewhere down South where its warm.

Still, hes not complaining. Theyve been good to him here. Hes polite and well mannered, and thats earned him certain privileges. When visitors come in from out of towna guest list that he claims has included rap superstars Akon and Young Jeezy (Snoop Dogg tried to come, but got snowed out)the deputies go out of their way to accommodate them. To the inmate, preferential treatment is nothing new. On the outside, he was used to getting what he wanted. Jail is no different.

Knee propped up, back pressed against the cement wall, he leans into the glass partition. Theres no chair on his side, and though a guard just announced over the loudspeaker to please refrain from sitting on the ledge, hes sitting on it anyway. So he has no choice but to look down at me. Its not a patronizing gesture, but one that brings to mind his unshakable pride, his famed largesse, his ability, even now, to salvage some of the grandeur to which hed grown accustomed.

I ask about one of his other reputed traits, one that paints him in a less generous lightor, as a federal informant once put it, his street rep as a vengeful killer who threatens people. He kind of chuckles and takes pause, as if bemused by the question. Ill put it to you like this, he says, leaning in closer, casual and friendly. If trouble comes to me, then Im going to deal with it.

That kind of stuffpetty stuff, stuff that got blown out of proportionused to happen all the time, he says. Thered be jealousy over girls, or people thinking their crew is better than his crew, and so forth. Some guys make a fool of themselves, he continues. Then, before they know it, they look up and theres a bunch of us. We just handle the problem the best way we know how. Again, he claims, thats only when people come asking for it. Hed prefer to keep things civil. Im more old-school, more family oriented, he says. I dont believe in airing differences in public places.

Its a reasonable explanation, from a seemingly reasonable man. But its not hard to glimpse the darkness behind the facade. He offers it up every now and then. It slips from behind that transformative smile, peeks around a pair of otherwise warm and engaging eyes. Those eyes narrow when I bring up a murder charge filed against one of his closest crew members. Its the only violent allegation to hit his inner circle that ever made it to the trial calendar. Thats ridiculous, he says, though witnesses say otherwise. I cant see him doing something to somebody like that. He blames the murder rap on an overzealous snitchone who came forward only after he himself was in trouble, and who claimed to have witnessed the killing but did nothing to stop it. What was he doing? Sitting there watching? It doesnt add up.

As for everything elsethe two decades in the game, the fast cars and grinding music, the showering cash and fawning respect, the partying that would make Tony Montana blushwell, that made his current situation worth it. The bummer is that he was good at what he didtoo good, he thinks, for things to have gone the way they went. It just didnt seem like his time. If hed been busted with a hundred keys or had sold to the DEA, thatd be one thing. That would somehow be more understandable. But thats not what happened. What happened, he believes, was that he became far too fascinating to those who wanted to see him fail.