The Infamous...Tommy "Tony Montana" Mickens

by Ran

Thomas Mickens was born in the Corona section of the NYC borough of Queens in June of 1963. His father was Thomas "Lucky" Harris (sometimes known as Weasel), a mid-level numbers runner and hustler. Though he was Harris' youngest child, Mickens reportedly displayed leadership skills and showed a head for business at an early age. At age 10, Mickens carried bags for customers at local grocery store. He enlisted his friends to help out and collected all of the group's earnings at the end of each day and paid each of his friends a salary of $5.

Mickens spent his formative years in the southeast Queens neighborhood, Laurelton, where the family relocated*. Harris passed away by the time Mickens was 12, and by age 15 he'd dropped out of high school and had progressed from carrying grocery bags to selling marijuana. Mickens recalls, "I started with three dollars. I bought a trey bag, rolled up eight joints, and sold each one for a dollar." Two years later he was using the cash proceeds made from selling cocaine to rent a 30th floor apartment in a building equipped with a doorman.

  

Not long after, Mickens was selling a kilo (2.2 lbs worth) of cocaine every two days. He handed out business cards that read "Tommy, Anytime" and included his telephone number. As business grew, Mickens recruited his girlfriend Shelby Kearney and trusted lieutenants Anthony Jacobs, Norvell "Flakes" Young and Robert Hines to help shoulder the responsibilities. In early 1983, Mickens sold half an ounce to undercover detective Robert Russell of the NYPD for $1,250 which resulted in him serving a one-to-three year sentence. By the time he was paroled, the film Scarface, starring Al Pacino had premiered (in December 1983) to mixed reviews from Hollywood critics but it had been embraced with enthusiasm by young people from neighborhoods like the one in which Mickens was raised. The Scarface that debuted in 1983 was itself a remake of a 1933 film that was loosely based on the criminal career of Prohibition-era gangster, Al Capone. The updated version depicted the rags-to-riches story of a Cuban immigrant who used the sale of narcotics to realize the American Dream as the head of a cocaine empire. Mickens soon appropriated the name of the film's protagonist and would be known throughout his criminal career as "Tony Montana".

Mickens paid $28,146 cash for a 1985 Cadillac Fleetwood while on a work-release program -- one month prior to his June, 1984 parole. Shortly after his official release he bought a home with Kearney and paid cash for another luxury car. This time, a 1984 BMW.
   

The introduction of crack cocaine into the illicit drug trade came right on the heels of Mickens' release from prison in the summer of 1984. The nearly instantaneous popularity of the new "it" drug resulted in an almost countless number of competitors in the field of drug distribution. Nevertheless, Mickens was so successful that his small crew quickly grew to a 50-member organization. According to law enforcement, Mickens' organization expanded outward from his base at Merrick and 226th Street and went on to control both the Laurelton and Springfield neighborhoods and nearly the whole of Merrick Boulevard, a main thoroughfare that bisects the community.

Merrick Boulevard notwithstanding, Mickens shared South Jamaica, Queens with several other notable drug organizations including the Supreme Team, Lorenzo "Fat Cat" Nichols' cartel, the Corley Family and the Bebos. Despite the close competition, Mickens, who filed taxes as an upholsterer, saw his business steadily grow each year. He made $121,000 in 1985 and $605,000 in 1986. According to law enforcement, the newly wealthy Mickens cleared over $1,133,000 in 1987 alone.

Mickens' Cadillac and BMW were soon joined by a Ferrari Mondial Cabriolet, a Lamborghini, a Jaguar, three Mercedes-Benzes, Porches, Saabs and Jeeps. His fleet would ultimately grow to include at least 21 cars, some of them customized - such as his $100,655 Rolls-Royce that he had outfitted with TV sets, VCRs, a videogame system and Louis Vuitton interior. He paid $133,350 cash for a 38-foot Bayliner Yacht that he maintained in California -- and also purchased his own private helicopter.

Mickens owned a home in Miami, FL and a condominium in the wealthy Diamond Bar community in Southern California. He paid $90,000 for a home on Grand Central Parkway and one for $51,700 on Hollis Avenue and another on Hilton Avenue in his native Queens. Mickens, his girlfriend Shelby Kearney and her mother all lived in his $760,775 main residence located in Dix Hills, Long Island - one of the most affluent towns in the country. Some of Mickens' Dix Hills neighbors included rock star Dee Snider, of the band Twisted Sister and actor Ralph Macchio, star of the Karate Kid films. Trial evidence established that Mickens owned 16 separate properties in all. Mickens also had sapphire, emerald and diamond implants in his teeth.

Mickens opened several businesses through which to launder the income he netted through his drug operation, all of which bore his street name. Montana Grocery, Montana Sporting Goods and Montana Dry Cleaners were all located in Queens on Hollis Avenue, Rockaway Boulevard and Merrick Boulevard, respectively. Each of these enterprises served a dual role.

First, they all allowed him to "wash" his money so as to disguise it's true (and illegal) source. Much of his property was listed under the name of one of the companies so as to avoid leaving too obvious of a paper trail. The Montana businesses also projected the image that he was a legitimate businessman and productive member of the community. Mickens gained a reputation for philanthropy when he financed a summer basketball league that featured 1988 NBA Rookie of the Year and current head coach of the Golden State Warriors, Mark Jackson.

 

NBA Coach Mark Jackson

     

In order to offer an explanation for his luxuriant lifestyle and to conceal the true source of his vast sums of money, Mickens and Kearney along with help from a few creative attorneys devised various ways to launder the drug cash*. For instance, in order to overcome the 1985 IRS mandate requiring cash transactions over $10,000 to be reported, Mickens would simply use money orders and cashier's checks for less than that amount to make purchases.

38-foot Bayliner Yacht

Aside from the murder of one of his associates inside the Montana Dry Cleaners store, there was a remarkable absence of violence associated with Mickens' drug network - unlike that which typified most other organizations of it's kind. As a consequence, law enforcement agencies were forced to rely on charges more commonly levied against white collar criminals such as stock brokers than uneducated drug dealers.

Approximately $2.5 million in assets, including 15 cars were seized when Mickens was arrested on May 10, 1988 at his Dix Hills residence. When federal agents confiscated his Rolls-Royce they found a copy of Scarface in the car's VCR. He eventually learned that he'd been under investigation by the FBI, IRS, DEA, U.S. Customs and the NYPD since 1987. Mickens' paid his legal counsel, famed defense attorney Robert Simels, upwards of $10,000 per day during his federal trial in order to keep from having to serve the 220 years of potential prison time that he faced. Though he was acquitted on two counts of distrubiting cocaine, the 26-year-old Mickens was nevertheless convicted on various counts related to his drug trafficking activities in June, 1989, after a four-month trial. His primary convictions, however, were for tax evasion and money laundering. He was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to defraud the United States, 1 count of structuring a financial transaction as part of a pattern of illegal activity, 1 count of filing a perjurious income tax return, 4 counts of income tax evasion, and 8 counts of money laundering. In December, 1989, he was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison and fined in excess of $1 million. Though the proceedings were largely uneventful, Mickens managed to cause a stir when he made a hand gesture in the shape of a gun pointed in the direction of his former attorney as he entered the courtroom to testify against the defendant. Another memorable episode of the trial was the day that assistant United States Attorney Kirby Heller brought in a virtual parade of high-end car salesmen before the court to point out perhaps their youngest customer to the jury. Mickens however, was not the only "famous" person to appear at his trial. The previous year's NBA Rookie of the Year, Mark Jackson was subpoenaed to testify.

 

1986 Ferrari Mondial Cabriolet

Mickens was not the only member of his organization to face the court. Anthony Jacobs was also convicted of drug trafficking and both Shelby Kearney another girlfriend, Bettina Jacobs Celifie, were convicted of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Jacobs was sentenced to 27 years in prison. Kearney was sentenced to 5 years in prison and Celifie to 18 months. Celifie also lost custody of her child as a result of her conviction.

Mickens was released in 2008 after serving 20 years of his 35 year sentence, during which time his mother, Mary Mickens, passed away. Although not all of his assets and cash were seized by the government, due to mismanagement by his associates, nothing was left by the time he was paroled. In particular, Mickens' attorney, Robert Simels, is alleged to have emptied safe deposit boxes he maintained in Jackson, Mississippi bank of $1 million in cash. After his release, Mickens founded The Tommy Experience, an exercise program for senior citizens that generates $9,000 a week. Mickens makes a cameo appearance with fellow Queens native, rap superstar Nas, in the latter's music video for his 2011 song "Nasty", in which he references Mickens in the lyrics.

 

Mickens (left) and Nas in the music video for "Nasty" in 2011

 

 French Montana with Tommy Mickens (right)

Nas - Nasty

(featuring a Tommy Mickens cameo - 1:43 seconds in)

* Laurelton is the former home of convicted white collar criminal Bernard Madoff, whose decades-long Ponzi scheme defrauded investors of between $12 and $20 billion.

* Mickens' attorney, legendary "mob lawyer" Robert Simels found himself in the defendant's chair when he was indicted for tampering with witnesses and obstructing justice in September 2008. Some of Simels' past clients include: notorious mafia informer Henry Hill (upon whose life the movie Goodfellas is based), South American drug kingpin Shaheed "Roger" Khan, New York drug kingpins Brooks Davis, South Bronx drug kingpin George "Boy George" Rivera and southeast Queens drug lords Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff and Lorenzo "Fat Cat" Nichols.

Updated April 6, 2013


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