Die Young: The Infamous...Maserati Rick

by Ran

Richard Earl Carter was born on July 31, 1959 and raised in post-industrial Detroit, Michigan following the decline of the city's auto industry and widespread "white flight" from the inner-city. He grew up on the same street as future world-champion boxer Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns near Detroit City Airport. The city's five-day 1967 riot would take place just days before his eighth birthday. Carter joined a car theft ring as a teen and purchased a BMW with the profits. In 1977, he also purchased a powder-blue Mercedes Benz and was convicted of receiving stolen goods that same year. After his release in 1982, Carter made his foray into the boxing world, working first as Hearns' towel boy and working his way up to the boxer's bodyguard and manager for his own brother, Greg Carter. During this period he would mingle with the likes of boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard and legendary promoter Don King at Detroit's world famous Kronk's Gym.

Some time later, Carter and lifelong friend and fellow eventual Detroit drug lord, Demetrius Holloway, founded a drug-trafficking organization and filled the vacuum left by Sylvester "Seal" Murray. By the early 1980's Murray, known in the streets as "The S-Man", had established himself as the preeminent supplier of heroin, cocaine and marijuana in the Detroit area. His clientele included the notorious Y.B.I. and Pony Down organizations. However, a conviction in December of 1982 following a major narcotics sweep that also brought down the leadership of Y.B.I. (including 41 of it's top lieutenants) left a void and huge demand for illicit substances throughout the drug community of Detroit.

Maserati Rick (background) with Tommy "The Hitman" Hearns
(far left), Detroit Mayor Coleman Young and Hilmer Kenty in 1980

Carter began selling heroin in 1983, and by 1985 he had made a significant name for himself in the Motor City, counting among his contemporaries the likes of the Chambers Brothers, the Davis Family, what remained of Y.B.I. and the Curry Boys organizations. Carter and partner Holloway soon consolidated their power by making significant alliances. They insured that the flow of narcotics would continue by aligning themselves with 16-year old drug supplier Richard "White Boy Rick" Wershe who was dating the wife of convicted drug kingpin Johnny Curry (of the Curry Boys) and niece of Detroit's then-mayor Coleman Young.

The two also assured themselves that they would be protected from rivals by incorporating Reginald "Rockin' Reggie" Brown's murder-for-hire gang into the fold. Carter financed Brown and his brothers Ezra "Wizard" Brown, Gregory "Ghost" Brown and Terrance "Boogaloo" Brown. He kept the brothers furnished with bullet proof vests, high powered assault rifles, automatic pistols and high-priced defense attorneys.

With the enforcement arm in place, Carter expanded his supply chain by securing ties on both the east and west coasts by way of Miami and Los Angeles. Federal investigators credit the organization with becoming the first drug ring to take over the I-75 corridor, for use as a pipeline for transporting narcotics from Miami to Detroit.

Carter acquired his nickname when at the age of 25 he was said to have been the first African-American of his generation in the Detroit area to own a Maserati. Contrary to popular opinion, his luxury car of choice was Mercedes Benz. However, a friendly rivalry with business partner and lifelong friend Holloway spurred Carter to look beyond the German Benzes and BMWs that the two were already known for to buy one of the Italian automaker's models from Ohio. Carter's arrival in a new Maserati at a Detroit nightclub shortly after making the purchase is reportedly the direct inspiration for the nickname.

While Carter's sole official residence was listed as a modest bungalow on Birwood Avenue in the northwest section of Detroit, he also possessed a lavish riverfront condo and a flat near East Jefferson Avenue and Alter Road said to be fortified like a military bunker.

Terrance "Boogaloo" Brown (far left), Maserati
Rick and "Rockin' Reg" Brown (far right)

Carter laundered his earnings from narcotics through several small businesses including hair salons, barber shops and car washes. Reportedly, car washes served a dual role as they not only provided a steady stream of cash which served to conceal his true income but they also shielded large transactions. A common practice featured a vehicle being driven inside the tunnel apparatus empty and exiting full of cash or drugs.

By 1987, Carter was the main drug supplier to the whole of the Eastside of Detroit. Carter and the Best Friends also managed to expand beyond Detroit to control other Michigan cities such as Kalamazoo, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Saginaw and Port Huron. The group's reputation preceded it and it's members could be spotted driving late model Volvos and wearing their trademark black jackets bearing the name "Best Friends". Before reaching his 30th birthday, Carter had become a multi-millionaire. His net worth is estimated to have been in excess of $20 million. His rise to the top however, did not come peacefully. Carter's organization was linked to over 100 homicides in the greater Detroit area. Around this time, lifelong friend and business partner Demetrius Holloway is rumored to have had an affair with the mother of Carter's child, Tracy Cowan. However, Carter's biggest rivalry during this time was with former childhood friend and business associate, Edward "Big Ed" Hanserd.

The 5'6" Hanserd started his criminal career as a small-time marijuana dealer, receiving his supply from childhood associates Carter and Holloway. Eventually, Hanserd made a name for himself with law enforcement, becoming a major narcotics trafficker in his own right. There is some dispute as to the origin of the feud between Hanserd and Carter. While some attribute the hostilities to a debt owed to Carter from Big Ed, others trace the bad blood to Hanserd's expansion into territory already held by Carter. Still others ascribe the tension to Hanserd's eschewing of Carter as his exclusive supplier in favor of an outside connection in California. Whatever the source may have been, the conflict which initially manifested itself through rumored unflattering words (Big Ed is said to have claimed that his nickname was given to him by Carter's mother), in the summer of 1987 it progressed to a public face-to-face argument in the Unisex Hair Salon owned by Hanserd and eventually led to shootouts and murder attempts between the two.

In all Carter is said to have made three attempts on Big Ed's life. In one incident, the exchange of automatic gunfire resulted in Hanserd being shot in the stomach and left to recuperate for months. When questioned by police Hanserd refused to name his attackers, instead declaring that he'd "handle it" himself. In an effort to escape police pressure Big Ed temporarily relocated to Yazoo City, Mississippi. Big Ed's drug-running operation continued while he was away and during an arrest for a weapons violation he was quoted as telling the arresting officers, "I am going to get Maserati Rick, and then I am going to get you".

Maserati Rick and Demetrius Holloway

Not long after returning to Detroit, Hanserd reportedly participated in a drive-by of Carter's mother's home while she was standing on the front porch holding Carter's 2-year old son. Two months later Big Ed tried again - this time the drive-by target was the mother of Carter's son. Hanserd, however, got the address wrong and instead shot up the house belonging to the next door neighbor of his intended victim. On September 10, 1988 a shootout ensued outside of one of Carter's car washes which left Carter wounded in the stomach and Hanserd and an associate shot in the arm. None of the participants cooperated with police investigators.

Two days later, while Carter was being treated for the injuries he sustained in the shooting, allegedly, one of Hanserd's enforcers, Lodrick "The Hitman" Parker entered his hospital room, room 307 at Mt. Carmel Mercy Hospital. The 29-year-old was officially pronounced dead at 6:01 pm from gunshots to the face. The assailant, Parker, was reputed to be the third man present during Carter and Hanserd's final confrontation. Hanserd himself had an alibi as he was in police custody for unlawful possession of a firearm during the time of the shooting. Hanserd denied any involvement in the shooting and simply confessed to investigators that he'd once thrown a brick through the window of one of Carter's car washes. Carter's murder became the first time that there was a shooting inside the hospital in it's 50 year history. The circumstances of his killing resulted in a permanent change in hospital policy throughout the city and increased security measures and screening for visitors. Mere hours after Carter's demise he was named as a defense witness in the trial of another Motor City drug trafficker.

Carter was laid to rest in a $16,000 custom made silver casket designed to look like a Mercedes Benz - complete with working lights and spinning wheels. He was interred at Elmwood cemetery in his native Detroit.

Carter's long-time girlfriend, Tracy Cowan, was eventually convicted on drug-related charges and sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison. Richard "White Boy Rick" Wershe had already been convicted on drug charges and sentenced to life in prison eight months prior to Carter's death. Reginald "Rockin' Reggie" Brown would be sentenced to life in prison just four months after Wershe. On September 17, 1990, Carter's oldest brother, Clyde, and his girlfriend, Patricia Scott, were shot to death by an assailant using a 9mm handgun upon exiting his pickup truck with their 1-year-old son. The baby was unharmed. The next month, Demetrius Holloway was shot to death while shopping in his favorite clothing store, in downtown Detroit. Lodrick Parker was tried and acquitted of the murders of both Richard Carter and Demetrius Holloway.