Before the Newtowne Gang | Chapter 1 | The New York Boys

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[00:00:01]There's usually one man who comes from terrible beginnings, hit it big, and eventually loses it all. But today we have a three-headed monster, three guys whose childhoods were similar, but very different in their own horrible way. And to find out how these men come to meet and co-opt one of the more brutal drug organizations of the '90s, we're going to travel up north inside of Brooklyn, New York. We never really had a sound.

[00:00:25]It smell [music] the mic right here.

[00:00:26]We're in the heart of Richmond, VA.

[00:00:28][ __ ] gangs, roaches.

[00:00:30]>> Yes, it was the deadliest invasion since the Civil War.

[00:00:33]>> Killers. Dope.

[00:00:34]>> Drug-related shootings in Richmond.

[00:00:36]>> We knew what we couldn't do. So, we were forced [music] to be original.

[00:00:44]November 5th, 1968 in the heart of Brooklyn, New York, was a young mother giving birth to a newborn baby boy named Corey Anton Johnson. Innocent. But the relatives he grew up with snatched any ounce of good that Corey had as a little boy. While his mother was present in his life, she put more effort and focus into her countless jobs and the series of men she brought home. When she was around, Corey often got abused by her alongside whatever boyfriend she was dating at the time. And her being a drug addict played a major role in why. Because most mothers under normal circumstances wouldn't allow a man other than the father to physically discipline their children. And the years of beatings coupled with other underlying factors caused him to wet the bed up until the age of 12, which was a common among abused and neglected children. And around that same time, public schools in New York were under pressure not to label black students as intellectually disabled for risk of stigmatizing them.

[00:01:42]Which almost guaranteed the lack of extra help needed for some succeed. For as Corey, he could barely write his own name, tell time, or name all 12 months of the year. Having to repeat second, third, and fourth grades over. And he wouldn't know his own birthday by the time he was 8 years old. So, that dysfunctional home life was taking a real toll on him. What was supposed to be warm, welcoming, and heartfelt was replaced with coldness and rejection.

[00:02:09]Marking a hard ending to a broken childhood. But to just say broken wasn't enough to describe the real pain behind the meaning. On top of everything else, there was never a solid foundation for Corey to build on. She had moved at least 12 different times from the time he was born until 1981. And you might ask, why the sudden stop? Well, it wasn't because she finally decided to settle down in one place. She would decide to move on without the extra baggage. That baggage being her son.

[00:02:39]Corey. He was 13 years old when his mother abandoned him to social services.

[00:02:43]After some time in the system, they would enroll him at the Pleasantville Diagnostic Center for disturbed children. And still, young Corey would love his mother unconditionally. He started having this reoccurring fantasy that involved his mother pulling up and taking him to Pizza Hut. But she would never fulfill that fantasy if he is. On a consistent basis, he was rejected by a mother he once thought of as a goddess.

[00:03:06]So, he would spend the next few years in residential placements, bouncing around from New York to Trenton, New Jersey. As he attends junior high, he's enrolled in special education as they were well aware of Corey's academic issues. Tests would show that at 14, he was operating on the level of a normal 9-year-old. And would even be considered mentally impaired. The cause of Corey's brain damage is unknown. It could have been genetic, caused by a head injury, or by drug use from his mother. Going into his teens, little would change as he struggled throughout the remaining years of school. It was even said that he couldn't be trusted to roam the school halls without getting lost. So, leading up to his 16th birthday, he could only read and write at an elementary school level, possessing a low IQ score of 77.

[00:03:48]But the biggest difference in Corey was him apparently being frustrated at not making progress. Compared to most kids in this position who wouldn't take their education serious. Then came the influence of adults. To the point of emulating those he admires the most, while also relying on others to tell him what to do. So, it's needless to say, he wouldn't receive a high school diploma, nor be able to pass a GED test. He'd spend the remainder of his young adult years in several facilities before reaching the maximum age under the foster care system. A little after turning 17, he was arrested with robbing someone. And per New York law at the time, the age minimum at Rikers Island was 17 years old. Only spending a week and a half there before being released.

[00:04:31]From there, he went to a group home in Queens, and then sent back to his mother. And whether she kept in touch with him over the past 45 years is unknown. But we can imagine Corey's feelings toward her were a lot different by now.

[00:04:42]>> [music] >> And no sooner after being back home does he get arrested for another robbery. But denied having any parts of it. Still, he would be sent back to prison.

[00:04:51]>> [music] >> And this time, for a full year. This area is the processing area for new admissions coming into the system or any inmates that are being transferred in or out. Hey, yo, what TV is that? HBO. HBO?

[00:05:06]What's up? Gangster Lou in the house from Moms Town. All right.

[00:05:09]After his release, Corey spent some time in North Carolina with a relative. But he wouldn't stay long. So, after heading back to New York, he met a few guys who dealt drugs on a small scale. One of them being a light-skinned guy named Richard. And they would build somewhat of a kinship. They hustled together, fought to side one another, and broke bread with each other. Soon, these new associates of his would inform him of the money they could make slanging rock in New Jersey. And Corey agreed, intent on following Richard wherever the wind blown. With no family, no home, or support, Corey Anton Johnson was left to figure it out for himself since the age of 13. Only now, he wouldn't have to face the next chapter alone. For the first time in his life, it felt like he had a real family who actually accepted him. So, he would fall in line as one of them. A New York boy.

[00:05:59]Now, before there was ever a New Town gang in Richmond, Virginia, there was the New York boys in East Harlem, New York. The founder or founders of this group was formed from a few loyal friends who grew up on the same block.

[00:06:12]And the man leading the charge, he was known around the neighborhood as Whitey.

[00:06:17]On the day of May 13th, 1970, Richard Redfield Tipton would be born right here in the city of Richmond. He wouldn't go by the name we know him most for as of yet. They called him Manny, the little man of the house, as his mom used to say. But due to his mother's heroin use throughout her pregnancy, Richard would develop an oxygen deficiency, a condition where the fetus or newborn does not receive enough oxygen before, during, or immediately after delivery.

[00:06:45]So, he was now facing the first of many struggles he'd have to endure throughout his childhood.

[00:06:51]>> [music] >> By the age of 2 years old, he and his mother would move to New York. Living inside a small apartment in Upper Manhattan, specifically East Harlem. An environment that can best be described as an urban wasteland, occupied by violence, drugs, and racial inequality.

[00:07:28]Many residential buildings in Harlem were a state of crisis. And due to neglect, high taxes, and a lack of profits, landlords would just abandon their properties, leading to a surge in vacancies across the area. So, the face of East Harlem was decayed and uncared for. And still, it would be another decade or so before things changed, even just a little bit. Now, beyond the horrors outside the home, it was even worse on the inside. Because Richard's father was around, but he abused his mother regularly. Then the boyfriend who come in place of dad would abuse her as well. It became a revolving door that exposed Richard to the type of violence that no child ever forgets. So, alongside his traumatic home life, he was considered accident-prone and more aggressive than the average boy. Richard was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, a condition that rendered him inattentive, impulsive, and hyperactive.

[00:08:19]Such as having the inability to look before you leap. Doctors would say that if left unchecked, those hyperactive impulses could lead to violent reactions. And the chances of this happening to Richard were double because of his traumatic background. Coupling that with Richard and his sibling sisters being left alone most days, led to avoidable situations like being hit by a car at the age of 4 years old. How or why was never explained. But given his home situation, poses a high likelihood that it was because of neglect. Then between the ages of 6 and 7 years old, he was hit by another vehicle, with this time being a truck.

[00:08:55]But neither incident motivated his mother to change her lifestyle in any way. If anything, it just got worse.

[00:09:02]Even with mom and other adults present in the household, they shoot up heroin while little Manny and his sisters were locked away in separate rooms. Then came the drug parties that happened almost every night. Nothing but loud music, fighting, yelling, and screaming. And for a kid like Manny, it was a literal nightmare. He would begin having these reoccurring dreams about what he could only describe as monsters. Monsters that wanted to hurt him, making sleep difficult. And when he finally did fall asleep, it was inside of a walk-in closet that was sometimes shared alongside his sisters. It would get so bad, in fact, that Richard would keep getting sick with severe ear infections that went unchecked. As a result, he'd experience several long and lonely hospital stays. Because not one family member stayed by his side. Or at the very least, came for a visit. At the age of 7, Richard was evaluated at a child psychiatric clinic. He was described as a bright child who has learned virtually nothing. and still he was later passed on to second grade unable to read nor write. So school for little Manny was no great escape from home. It was frustrating, painful, and while pent up with so much anger, he found an outlet for it by disrupting the classroom, getting into fights, and bullying his classmates as a means to feel better.

[00:10:16]All just to return home to a drug addicted mother who occasionally punched him upside the head. So as time passed on and Richard got up in age, he realized that this wasn't the American dream that played out on television. It was the total opposite. But one of the most or maybe even the only positive influences in Richard's immediate life was his cousin, Tina Wilkerson. Tina lived just a minute's walk across the street on the same block in the same crime infested area of East Harlem. But even though Tina lived close, she would say it was like worlds apart in terms of family environment. Reason being, Tina had two loving parents, a present father and a strong mother, which was the big difference maker compared to her cousin Richard. She would never get mixed up into the drug game and steer clear of anything resembling the word trouble.

[00:11:05]When you smoke cocaine, you don't think about nothing. You don't want to eat.

[00:11:09]You don't want to sleep. You don't even want to change your clothes. All you think about is that next high. It's a sickness. It's a sickness.

[00:11:18]They arrested a suspected drug dealer yesterday. They claim he was trying to recruit a 10-year-old boy to sell rock cocaine. According to investigators, the 10-year-old was taken to a motel and enticed with sex and drugs.

[00:11:33]By the year of 1986, Richard was 16 years old going by the name of Whitey.

[00:11:38]He's grown into a bright young man with an extroverted personality. He was often described by some as a goofball, a jokester, you know, the funny kid on the block. But that's where it ended because taking his playful nature for weakness would be a grave decision. Now Whitey, he would move back south to Richmond, Virginia. He's been to the drug game for some years now. So anything he experiences here in Richmond was nothing he couldn't handle. It's also around the same time Corey was released from Rikers Island on his one-year bid, at which time he would stay with the relative in North Carolina. The moment Corey and Richard's lives begin to run parallel with one another. But for reasons unknown, Whitey actually returned to New York after only 6 months. And no sooner after arriving, does Corey return as well. Now the circumstances behind the two meeting for the first time were also a mystery. Only that they meshed well together as their upbringings were somewhat the same. So along with the guys that Whitey's known most his life, for the next 3 years he hustled the streets, putting some work and built a name for himself. And his cousin Tina had been doing the same, just on a more legal and professional level, holding down a very successful job. Whereas though Richard had a vision, a vision to build a drug empire. And by the year of 1989, he ran the idea by Corey and the rest of the boys, a plan to relocate to New Jersey and take over the Trenton area. And everyone was down. But they had no intentions on pulling up quietly or paying homage to the local hustlers who currently controlled the market.

[00:13:06]They moved strictly off of brute strength. And the very first statement they wanted to make is who they were and where they were from. This would be the moment the New York boys' name was born.

[00:13:16]They used that name specifically to let people know that they were from out of town. So they were perceived a lot differently, accounting for the fact that New York itself already had a rough reputation. It came with the territory, literally. Richard had heart, intelligence, and a small group of loyal soldiers. Everything they needed to do what was planned. And it all started by taking corners, using nothing but bats, razor blades, and their bare hands.

[00:13:44]Now as a heads-up to the audience to avoid repeating their full name over and over, I will sometimes refer to the New York boys as NYB.

[00:14:03]Did you see that? Did you see that? It's the summer of '89 in Trenton, New Jersey. And many residents living here were unemployed or underemployed, struggling to make ends meet. An identical description of most inner cities. In the months to come, the New York boys would officially be classified as a gang. And not too long ago, people would only associate that term gang with groups like the Bloods, Crips, or MS-13, colors and bandannas. Looking at the facts, a gang is generally defined as an organization or group of three or more people that share a common name, sign, or symbol, and whose members engage in a pattern of criminal activity, often using violence or intimidation to establish power, control, territory, or pursue economic gain. The definition [music] of a gang, per the dictionary, is two or more individuals gathered in one area to commit antisocial behavior.

[00:14:55]To me, a gang is like what I'd see on the telly [music] in LA and New York, like the South Side Crips and your Bloods.

[00:15:02]So in every sense of the word, NYB was far removed from the small group of loyal friends in Harlem. Because the operation they would build in Trenton made that name infamous. Never figuring that something created as kids would become a legendary staple to those who came after. Now other than Richard and Corey, of course, the names of other notable members I could find were known as Wildman, Maurice Sanders, Light, Hassan Jones, aka Hess, Greg Scott, and John Knight. With the actual number of members being unknown for now. But there will be one member who, alongside others, acted as their muscle. And that was Vernon Lance Thomas, aka V Mac or V.

[00:15:44]Now Vernon was a New York native but came from the Spanish side of Harlem. He had a brutal and well-known reputation up north for giving out beatings with bats, preferably aluminum bats because it was guaranteed not to break. Which should give you an idea of how ruthless this guy could be. They would all use bats at some point or another, with Richard and Corey even mastering the art of hiding razor blades in their mouths.

[00:16:07]We're in a confrontation about to fight.

[00:16:10]Spit the razor out.

[00:16:11]And you know still be talking, I'mma go get him. Then you got another one, spit that one out, too. But for Vernon, it was his staple, his weapon of choice.

[00:16:19]You had to possess a different degree of coldness inside to nearly beat a man to death with the bat. The type of brutality that was important to their brand because it made other guys think twice before making a move. And like any inner city, you have your locals who already have their foot in the game.

[00:16:35]Guys who considered this territory their own. And one of them was 26-year-old Anthony Howland, described as your average fast-talk hustler who was born right here in Trenton. As Richard and Corey dealt crack on the corner, they horned in on one of Anthony's regular customers, a known junkie from the area.

[00:16:52]But this particular user wasn't just one of Anthony's regulars. He had also been in debt to him. So Anthony would approach the three, figuring that if he was going to buy from anybody, it was going to buy from him. After a few words were exchanged, a fistfight ensued between them. But it wouldn't end there.

[00:17:09]Just a week later, Anthony was attempting to have dinner with his girlfriend at a restaurant when he was approached by Richard and Corey.

[00:17:16]Anthony, who refused to back down, left the table to go outside and assumed it would be a fair fight, just a one-on-one between him and Corey Johnson. But this time around, Corey and Richard had their entire squad with them, about 12 to 15 guys flying that New York boys' flag.

[00:17:31]And it was always viewed as cowardly to turn down a fair fade, especially in the hood. But this wasn't about a random squabble between homies or an argument that escalated with some stranger.

[00:17:41]Richard and Corey were on a mission to build. So removing Anthony from the block meant by any means necessary.

[00:17:48]Fairness had no place in the equation.

[00:17:50]Anthony fully realized this once he stepped outside. Corey Johnson, standing out front, spit a razor blade into his hand, so fast that if you blink, you missed it. Anthony, now seeing the odds, he took off running in the opposite direction. And after a few blocks, he stopped to catch his breath. He was winded, hands shaking from the adrenaline. And just when he thought he was safe, a taxi pulled up where Richard, Corey, and a few others got out and jumped Anthony on the spot. But they also wanted to send him a firm message, one that till this day Anthony himself couldn't forget if he wanted to. He was held down while Corey and Richard disfigured his face with razor blades.

[00:18:28]They intended on making a statement, and it was heard loud and clear. Days later, Anthony would leave the hospital with 169 stitches, which served as a walking reminder for anyone else in the streets, a reminder that Anthony wore for the rest of his life.

[00:18:46]While they would quickly garner a violent reputation here in Trenton, they soon upgraded from bats and blades to TEC-9s and semi-automatics, but never strayed away from keeping a razor tucked in their mouths. And within a few short months, Whitey and Corey would lock in with the local connect. Now to law enforcement, this guy was considered a local kingpin. But to the streets, he was top dog in the neighborhood. He was only 23 years old and went by many aliases. But on paper, he's known as Rufus Alvarez.

[00:19:15]So your average group of friends from Harlem transformed into an organized distribution network with all of their product coming straight from their home base, which was New York. The price of a key could range from $13,000 to $40,000.

[00:19:29]And Rufus would purchase up to 3 to 4 kilos each month, then transport the powder coke back to Trenton where it was broken down and cooked into crack, now worth around $230,000 to $290,000 on the streets. Now as far as their relationship with the connect, it's reported as if the New York boys had worked for Rufus, meaning instead of having the money up front, Rufus gave them the work on consignment, but in other reports, the NYBs purchased kilos directly from Rufus to sell for themselves. Either way, the operation ran smoothly. They structured their network to move out of three to four locations. The work was broken down and bagged in one place and sold from another. It was a weekly routine.

[00:20:09]Everything was taken to a second floor apartment off of Lamberton Street where it would be processed. Then a 7-minute drive up the block off of 200 Walnut Avenue was another apartment acting as a distribution [music] point. And the final location off of Farnsworth Avenue was a 15-minute drive away in Bordentown City. This was Rufus' own apartment that he shared with his then girlfriend at the time, Tashika Bryant. Situated just above a convenience shop and separated from the drug business completely.

[00:20:51]Going into the following year of 1990, Corey Johnson, Richard Tipton, and the rest of the NYBs worked the corners all the way through another hot summer. But unbeknownst to any of them, that New York Boys name had widespread throughout the streets, eventually making its way amongst the Trenton police. An officer would say that the name struck him as weird. It stood out. It was an obvious representation of New York, but inside the heart of New Jersey. So they did their homework, interrogated a few people, and soon weeded out the weakest link. With that person being just the first of many members who would crack under pressure. So as the fall season began, the city's vice squad was given the green light to launch an investigation. But coincidentally, Richard would have other plans. The same plan he ran across Corey just a year prior. And that was to relocate yet again. He did some homework of his own and found out that Richmond was a goldmine due to the price difference compared to Jersey and New York. And Corey along with the rest would agree.

[00:21:48]They still spent a considerable amount of time in Trenton. And by year's end, they received the first real sign that this operation was a sinking ship and it was going down fast.

[00:21:59]It's been a little over three months since the city vice squad started surveilling several members within the network. So Richard's plans were either a luck of the draw or he knew something that the others didn't. Because they wound up taking one of the biggest losses to date. A reliable source told detectives that Rufus was returning from New York with a few kilos of coke. So they kept the apartment under surveillance till the day he returned.

[00:22:22]Then on Monday of December 3rd, 1990, the special investigations unit sat on that address for 49 hours all while being unseen. So even though no doors had been kicked in yet, no arrests had been made, it was already over. They had warrants for all their locations and the plan was to hit them one at a time, back to back with no letting up. Around 10:30 p.m., they followed Rufus to the first location on Walnut Avenue. He was found alone, caught red-handed with one way in and one way out with no plausible reason for having two kilos of coke in his possession. They noticed that the work was in various stages of being cooked, estimating it all to be worth a little over $115,000.

[00:23:03]And between 11:00 and 1:30 in the morning, the last two locations were raided, coming up empty on both.

[00:23:09]Figuring that the word got back to his workers just in time to move everything.

[00:23:13]His girlfriend, Tashika, she would be arrested during the raid of his home after she charged toward an officer, but they found no drugs in the process. Now because Rufus Alvarez was considered the ringleader of this network, they pushed for the drug kingpin charge. If proven, it could lead to a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. But the rest of his story is yet to be told. But it's normal to think that if they gave up the top dog, his workers, lieutenants, muscle, or what have you, would be on that list as well. Identifying members of the NYBs as major drug runners for Rufus Alvarez.

[00:23:46]Officials assured the public that more arrests would definitely coming down the pipe as the investigation continued.

[00:23:52]Then days later, Bordentown and Trenton police would hold a press conference saying that this operation garnered one of the largest drug busts of its kind in recent memory. And while this was a considerable amount of drugs taken off the streets, the police chief, Frank Brady, would say this to the city. "I wish I could say that the seizure would put a dent in Trenton's cocaine trade, but the problem is so serious that it really won't."

[00:24:17]It's the following year of 1991 and a few Jersey detectives will confiscate a large amount of guns and drugs while making good on that promise to lock up remaining members. But it was only what they thought were the remaining members.

[00:24:29]Because those who didn't leave for Richmond would go back to New York. One of which being Vernon. They had a jump start by leaving town early and there were even rumors of them and possibly others being behind the tip that took them [music] down. Especially because of how sudden the move was, which was 1 month before the investigation went to effect. Then come to find out every government witness on that Jersey case were all active and former members of the New York Boys. Whether Richard and Corey knew about this in the moment is unclear. Maybe their move to Richmond was because they knew but couldn't figure out who specifically. Now was it possible to operate on that level with a snitch jacket and not get killed? Well, history has shown us over and over in movies, shows, and even real life that it wasn't impossible. Once they were clear of the city, several individuals from that neighborhood specifically were murdered after Rufus and a few NYBs were incarcerated. As for Corey Johnson and Richard Tipton though, they were long gone. They blew just a few states south hoping to duplicate the success they had at selling crack. Laying down roots in the East End section of Richmond, Virginia.

[00:25:36]We saw mindless, blatant, reckless violence as the city's temperature spiked with crack fever. Turf killing.

[00:25:43]Young men killing their grandmas. Kids getting hit by stray bullets because users only needed a few bucks for the next rock. Even poor people were getting robbed. At one point, detectives weren't even solving half the slains.

[00:25:57]The New York Boys had already arrived to the city in the later months of 1990.

[00:26:02]Along with them traveling back and forth here and there on different occasions, sitting safely in another zip code as the last of their operation in Trenton was being shut down. They set up shop inside of the Central Gardens neighborhood. Central Gardens was located in Henrico County, a quiet area which by the early 1980s had established itself as a stable and predominantly middle-class community. But by the early 90s, crack killed the very appearance of this place. Becoming known as a haven for drug users and the homeless. Just to give you an idea of the atmosphere back then. And there were many areas in Richmond going through an economic shift. But even with the added drugs and crime, Central Gardens remained a relatively calm and residential enclave.

[00:26:43]But for the plan that Corey and Richard had in mind, this area produced very little in terms of potential customers.

[00:26:49]But it wouldn't stop them from rebuilding their own operation. We don't have specific dates and times on when every single trip took place, but when it was time to re-up, they'd go together. But in most cases, Richard took the trip alone. They would purchase the cocaine, transport it back to Richmond, then convert it into crack.

[00:27:06]This is how their organization worked back in Jersey. Now, they just had to travel a bit further. The drug scene was almost like a fad. The the carrying of guns, uh the going to the nightclubs, the fast money. More people got involved in it trying to get the money. Everybody wanted to be a part of something that really was just killing us. Every inner city had their own style, culture, and lingo. So if you decided to sell drugs or use crack in Richmond today, you may hear people refer to it as flave or hard. Whereas back in the 90s, it was called cook 'em up or cook for short.

[00:27:43]You may also remember from a past story where a group of hustlers from Wilkem Court were called the cook 'em up crew.

[00:27:48]But no matter what you called it or which dealer sold it to you, everyone from both sides of the game simply wanted high quality coke. And it's said by certain OGs from that time period, the work they bring in from New York was a higher quality compared to the local market. So even though traveling that far back by car was a big risk, the results proved to be well worth the time it took to do it. They could have gone to any one of the numerous states they passed along the way such as D.C., Baltimore, Delaware, but still Richard and Corey refused to go against the grain. But if we think back, Rufus was the only one who made the runs to New York while they hustled in Trenton. So when did Richard and Corey acquire the plug for themselves? The connect did live in New York, so it's a possibility of them having previous ties with this guy or group. And the only name associated with the NYBs for us who supplied them was the Jamaican posse.

[00:28:42]But with no definite proof, we can't say for sure. All this means that their plug remained a mystery. We may never know who supplied them. New York had a number of big key players at the time, so the possibilities were endless.

[00:28:57]And as we know from Richard's childhood, he was born here in Richmond and moved to New York by age two. Then at the age of 16, he was spending a little over six months here before leaving again. So compared to Corey and the rest of the game, he was somewhat familiar with the city. Already having some family and friends embedded inside the community before ever touching down. But they would also befriend several of the residents who lived in the area. One of which would be a guy named Antoine Brooks. Antoine hustled alongside them day in and day out. Building somewhat of a kinship. Becoming so close in fact that Richard would even divulge certain thoughts and feelings on the past work he's put in. He'd go on about the feeling of killing someone, how he did it, why, the sounds you hear, and how it felt after it. Which points to him and Corey catching bodies either during their time in Central Gardens or before.

[00:29:48]But in the city where murder was always on the menu, it's not hard to miss.

[00:29:52]Bodies with unaccounted for killers that may never come to light. In the month of August of 1991, Richard and Corey moved their headquarters about 3 miles down the road, an area that straddled the borders of downtown Richmond and Northside, and their plans to expand were underway. They had intentions on controlling the crack trade in Carver, Gilpin Court, and Jackson Ward or Raw, but they also knew they had to start somewhere. So they decided to settle in the tiny section of the Carver community, a neighborhood known as Newtown.

[00:30:26]>> [music] >> Hood legends Hood legends, hood legends [music] Richmond Hood legends These the realest words I ever spilled on wax. Born in the hood, I crawled through [music] the crevices and I slipped through [singing] the cracks. I lived through the Earls and the Browns and Flax. Lived through the Earls and the Maydes and the Raines and the Keys and the McCains. Soldiers like Mecca changed [singing and music] the game. It's like Smitty with his dump truck. Soldiers like Fish Finger cluck cluck. [music] Melvin Prince was cold-blooded. Melvin Mayne was so flooded. Turning faucet off. Riding boys, Harley calls. Y'all don't got to believe boys real wild stand. Marvin Damon and Fat Baby will snatch you up like the white [music] van and never breathe again. Never be seen again. Easy to come, hard to leave this land unscathed. [singing and music] Soldiers like Watson and Judge went hard. Thugs like the Newtown boys, they pulled cards, slashed ass.