Die Young: January 2012

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Terrence Howard Rumored to Play Big Meech in Upcoming BMF Movie

The rise and fall of the Black Mafia Family (B.M.F.) will be chronicled in an upcoming movie by producers LT Hutton and David Robinson.

Program Pictures has acquired the motion picture rights to the story of Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and his brother Terry “Southwest-T” Flenory, who headed up the drug dealing organization known as the Black Mafia Family.
Prosecutors accused the Flenory brothers of overseeing a drug empire that raked in over $270 million from the late 1980s until October of 2005, when they were sentenced to 30 years in prison each, for their role in the drug operation.

LT Hutton and David Robinson are the producers behind the upcoming biopic Tupac.
“We’re working closely with Meech and Tammy Cowins to make sure every aspect of the story is done correctly,” LT Hutton told AllHipHop.com in a statement. “Over the upcoming months, will be working on getting a script together so we can begin filming as early as next year.” Hustle & Flow star Terrence Howard is rumored to be the frontrunner for the lead role as Big Meech.

Terrence Howard in Hustle & Flow

The Flenory brothers and hundreds of associates in over 10 states, were prosecuted for running the large scale cocaine and money laundering operation.

B.M.F. was active in Detroit, Columbus, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, St. Louis, Greenville and Louisville, Kentucky.

The brothers allegedly masterminded a ring that used hidden compartments and luxury vehicles in stretched limousines to transport drugs and money, while laundering the proceeds through outrageous parties, a Hip-Hop label, a luxury car business, magazines and other businesses.
In total, the DEA seized over 700 kilograms of cocaine, almost $10 million in cash and $5.7 million in assets when members were rounded up in October of 2005.

Big Meech on trial

“Everybody wants to be a part of something, especially black folks,” Big Meech told AllHipHop.com. “I can even speak for my brother on this part. We aren’t violent guys, that’s why are cases are nonviolent. We have had bumps and bruises and issues that come up, but we are about getting money. We grew up poverty stricken. When you grow up in a spot like Detroit that’s probably one of the most poorest states in the country besides New Orleans – without a hurricane – we grow up in place like that. We took our show on the road getting money. We lived in a lot of different places and made a lot of friends that we helped along the way. The family just became big, bigger than we both expected.”

No release date was available for the upcoming movie on B.M.F.

The Infamous...Big Meech and BMF

US: Mexico Druglord Guzman World's Most Powerful Drug Trafficker

June 10, 1993

The U.S. Treasury Department called Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman "the world's most powerful drug trafficker" Tuesday. The fugitive Sinaloa cartel leader also got a boost from Mexican actress Kate Del Castillo, who said she believed in Guzman more than in the government.

It was the latest in an odd series of encomiums for Guzman, who was included this year on the Forbes list of the world's richest people, with an estimated fortune of $1 billion.

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City issued a statement saying three of Guzman's alleged associates had been hit with sanctions under the drug Kingpin Act, which prohibits people in the U.S. from conducting businesses with them and freezes their U.S. assets. The two Mexican men and a Colombian allegedly aided Guzman's trafficking operations.

The statement quoted Adam J. Szubin, director of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, as saying the move "marks the fourth time in the past year that OFAC has targeted and exposed the support structures of the organization led by Chapo Guzman, the world's most powerful drug trafficker."

Guzman, who escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001 in a laundry truck and has a $7 million bounty on his head, has long been recognized as Mexico's most powerful drug capo. Authorities say his Sinaloa cartel has recently been expanding abroad, building international operations in Central and South America and the Pacific.

Results of a turf war between the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels

- Ciudad Juarez, 2009

Del Castillo, who played a female drug trafficker in the TV series "La Reina del Sur" ("Queen of the South"), offered grudging praise for Guzman in a posting Tuesday on the social media site Twextra, linked to her Twitter account.

"Today, I believe more in El Chapo Guzman than in the governments who hide truths from me," she wrote.

The actress did not specify whether she was referring to the Mexican government, or what she meant when she accused "governments" of "hiding the cures for cancer, AIDS, etc. for their own benefit and enrichment."

Del Castillo's publicist, Marianne Sauvage, confirmed in an email to The Associated Press that the actress wrote the posting, and that the account belonged to Del Castillo.

The 800-word posting ended with an impassioned plea to Guzman:

"Mr. Chapo, wouldn't it be great if you started trafficking with positive things? With cures for diseases, with food for street children, with alcohol for old people's homes so they spend their final days doing whatever they like, trafficking with corrupt politicians and not with women and children who wind up as slaves?"

"Go ahead, dare to, sir, you would be the hero of heroes, let's traffick with love, you know how," the message concluded.

Mexican actress Kate del Castillo

Also Tuesday, Mexican authorities said they had seized 32.6 metric tons of a precursor chemical used to make methamphetamines at the Pacific coast port of Manzanillo.

Mexico's navy said the chemical methylamine came in a shipment from China, but did not say whether Manzanillo was the final destination of the shipment. Mexico seized almost 675 metric tons of the chemical at sea ports in December alone, all of which was destined for Guatemala.

Experts say that when another chemical is added, methylamine can yield its weight in uncut meth.

Also Tuesday, federal police reported they had defused a car bomb left outside the state detectives' agency offices in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of the northern border state of Tamaulipas.

After detectives reported the car smelled of gasoline, specially equipped federal officers opened the trunk and found 10 sticks of explosives, two jugs of gasoline, wires, a cellphone and what appeared to be detonating devices.

There was no immediate information on who left the car bomb.

Tamaulipas has been the scene of bloody turf battles between the Gulf and Zetas drug cartels, and the gangs have attacked police and police offices with car bombs in the past.

Via AP

Detroit Auto Show 2012: Acura NSX Reborn in America as a Hybrid

Announcing the rebirth of the Honda NSX: one of the most iconic sports cars of the 1990s will return in 2015 as an American-built Acura with all-wheel-drive and an electric-enhanced rear engine. Here's a hybrid to get excited for.

The NSX represented the pinnacle of Honda's sports heyday of the 1980s and '90s. Launched with input from Formula One great Ayrton Senna, the NSX set a brace of technological firsts -- from its aluminum monocoque frame to the variable valve timing that would become a standard on engines worldwide. The NSX wasn't the fastest or most-powerful supercar, but reflected Honda's balance between power, weight and handling -- a sweet spot that few cars have ever achieved.

Honda mulled replacing the NSX for years with a V-10 powered successor, but the company soon embraced smaller engines and a tight focus on fuel efficiency. Somewhere along the way, it also lost a piece of the racing spirit that birthed the NSX, unleashing a string of unsuccessful to ungainly models that offered little over their competitors.

After last year's update of the Honda Civic -- a freshening that did little to improve the car's weakening position against tough competition -- Honda's executives vowed to revive the company's soul. The new NSX, to be sold under the Acura brand, shows they're serious enough to design the most attractive Acura ever.

position against tough competition -- Honda's executives vowed to revive the company's soul. The new NSX, to be sold under the Acura brand, shows they're serious enough to design the most attractive Acura ever.

The concept retains the mid-engine V-6 layout of the original NSX, but adds in a new Honda all-wheel-drive system that relies on electric motors to power the front wheels. As with its predecessor, Honda vows the NSX won't rely on brute force, but combine lightweight materials with high technology for supercar performance and respectable fuel economy.

If there's a disappointment here, it's that Honda has held back several key details about the NSX concept, including the power its engines and electric

If there's a disappointment here, it's that Honda has held back several key details about the NSX concept, including the power its engines and electric motors will generate. But the U.S.-based team developing the NSX for production in Ohio has three years to get it right.