"Big Meech" The $270 Million Dollar Hustler Sentenced to 30 Years
“Big Meech” born Demetrius Flenory, leader of the Black Mafia Family (BMF) of Atlanta was sentenced to 30 years in prison the other day:Flenory pled guilty to multiple counts of charges of running a criminal enterprise and conspiracy to laundering monetary instruments. The conviction is the latest chapter in the investigation of the Black Mafia Family, which ran an interstate drug ring that sold thousands of kilos of cocaine a week, while raking in over $270 million dollars in cash, real estate and jewelry.
"Meech didn't just walk into a club. He arrived." Daniel Alt, Atlanta club owner.
The first sign he's coming: the cars. They coast to the curb like supermodels down a runway. Bentleys and H2s, Lambos and Porsches. And, when the crowd swells to full ranks, tour buses. In front of clubs from Midtown Atlanta to South Beach Miami, the streetlights bounce off the million-dollar motorcade, and it's blinding.Next, the crew. As Meech likes to say, all members are family: "Everybody moves like brothers. Everybody moves as one." But as with any entourage, there's a definite hierarchy. Pushing into the crowd (if that was possible), you'd first find the guys hovering on the fringes, moving with a slightly menacing sway. Go deeper, and the vibe starts to change. Guards come down. Egos edge up. Keep going and you encounter a steady calm. The aura is one of jaded confidence and quiet control. That's when you know you've reached Meech. "All Meech did was walk in the spot," one woman posted on an SOHH.com message board, "and panties got moist."
4 comments:
There was absolutely no way he was going to be able to enjoy his money for long.
The article is not exaggerating his and the entire BMF's entrance into clubs and anywhere else. Bentleys, phantoms, Lambos and on a slum day big body benzes driven by teenagers.
They even had billboards -- seriously --billboards up in the city advertising BMF. Supposedly in the name of their record label, but it was clear it was just self promotion. And ruthless they were. Meech pled to escape the many bodies on him, but they brought the entire BMF down and the charges included a lot of murders.
Did you notice the paleface in the pictures? That's jacob the jeweler made famous in rap songs for the last 15 years.
You actually call $270 million 'competition' in comparison to the corporate drug dealers?
If certain drugs were legalized would there be a significant power shift in this country? Would a certain demo immediately make a tiny, but important dent in the generational wealth gap?
Would the PIC (prison-industrial-complex) suffer as an industry? Would other industries suffer?
Would multi-national alliances be made that threaten the government?
Would a small sense of empowerment trickle down to the street-level dealer? Would the industry be taken over by any means necessary (conscious and not, overt and not) by the same dynamics that are informed by unique American history? Would the herb get corrupted by corporate forces like music? Would the perception of users change? Would beer taste that good anymore? LOL
Would capital created be used for the community? Would the government find creative ways to limit new power brokers?
A teacher once told me that big tobacco has everything in place (patents, marketing plans, packaging mock-ups) to monopolize the Cannibas immediately if it became legal. Haven't done research on it, but interesting to think of none the less.
As far as BMF goes. I remember they had a billboard right outside of my apartment. There is much foundation to the myth. I do expect a movie one day. LOL
They are definately the folks who made 'making it rain' one of the biggest signs of wealth. It was emblematic of a particular time and place in Atlanta that is now gone. Clubs close early, police presence increased, people are hungrier, grimier and I feel a struggle for this cities soul. I read an interesting article a few weeks ago called "Is Atlanta Going White". In 2001 I was at a huge
technology conference in Germany and I saw a BBC report about Atlanta being the 'black mecca'. I loved that piece and loved the entreprenuerial feel of the city. And looking back, I think BMF was part of that.
The numbers may not seem significant compared to big Pharma, but they are huge compared to nothing.
I often think about Pareto's law or the informal-intuitive version of such 'working smarter, not harder' ....and I contemplate a few broad strokes that could quickly and sustainably provide the most economic means of empowerment and change for groups disadvantaged by centuries of various factors that feed on themselves.
And often times my mind goes to...guys like this...change the context and suddenly they're Merck or Glaxo.
Not that I want them to emmulate those folks, but really, they were already following the Kennedy-esque American-frontier-capitalism formula , I think a sensibility would be injected into the template that includes memes that are more uplifting to the masses than not.
By the way, the billboards used to read: The World is BMF's
Good stuff MJ ...
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