by Ran
Ross' mother moved with him to Compton, California when he was 3 years old. By 1966, the two of them were living in South Central, Los Angeles with Annie Mae's sister, Bobbi Jo Mauldin, her husband, George, a sanitation worker for the city of Los Angeles, and their two children. Annie Mae Mauldin shot her brother, George, to death with a .38 caliber handgun during an incident in which he stabbed his wife, Bobbi Jo, in the chest.
Ross attended St. Lawrence of Brindisi Parish Catholic School located in the Watts section of South Central Los Angeles before attending Dorsey High School, which is located across from the Baldwin Village neighborhood - nicknamed "The Jungles" by locals. Dorsey High's alumni include: former NFL wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson; television personality Joseph "Judge Joe" Brown; Mike Love, lead singer of The Beach Boys; O.J. Simpson defense attorney and father of Kim Kardashian, Robert Kardashian; and Black P. Stones gang member, T. Rodgers (who appeared in the documentary Bloods and Crips: Made in America). Ross attended Dorsey at the same time as singer Jody Watley. Throughout school, Ross lived with his mother in a house located near Los Angeles' Harbor Freeway and the I-110, which is the origin of his life-long nickname, "Freeway" Ricky Ross . Ross, who was a championship tennis player in high school, dropped out when his coach discovered he was illiterate. He later enrolled in Los Angeles Trade-Technical College and joined the tennis team there.
Ross' criminal history began in 1979 as a member of a local auto theft ring known as the Freeway Boys. That same year he served his first jail sentence when he was arrested and charged with auto theft.
In 1982, Ross was introduced to cocaine, in the form of a $50 rock of free-base, by a friend who was enrolled at San Jose State University, located in Northern California, on a football scholarship. According to Ross, he and life-long friend, Ollie "Big Loc" Newell, stole a car from the faculty parking lot of their former junior high school and sold the rims for $250 in order to finance the purchase of an eightball (an eighth of an ounce) of cocaine. The two friends sold the eighth ounce for double what they paid by dividing it into smaller portions. Initially, Ross and Newell hired others to cook the cocaine into its freebase form, crack, which had been "invented" in California a few years earlier. They were eventually taught how to cook powder cocaine into crack by a local hustler known as Martin the Pimp.
Ross began his drug trafficking career when he and Newell became business partners and began buying cocaine from Central America from Nicaraguan Henry Corrales. Ross has since claimed that he and Newell had originally intended to quit after making $5,000 but business became so profitable that within six months Corrales introduced them to his own supplier - his exiled countryman and Nicaragua's former director of wholesale markets, Oscar Danilo Blandon. Blandon in turn introduced the two to his supplier - Juan Norwin Meneses Cantarero, another Nicaraguan exile and drug trafficker already under investigation by the FBI and DEA. Meneses was known in Nicaragua as "Rey de la Droga", which translates to "the King of Drugs" in English.
Ross marketed his brand of crack as "Ready Rock" and it's enormous popularity allowed him to monopolize the cocaine trade in Los Angeles in less than a year after entering the business. Ross used local Crip sets for distribution and established a network of several stash houses throughout LA in which cocaine was stored and maintained five processing labs in which it was cut and/or cooked, often with the anesthetic, procaine . He also established the prevalence of crackhouses in inner-city South Central, Los Angeles and Compton from which the product was sold to users. By 1983, he was the main supplier for, not only distributors, but other wholesalers in LA as well. Ross typically put dealers into business himself by offering cocaine on consignment, wherein he would give the dealer a specified amount of crack for no up-front charge and then collect the cash value after the dealer sold the product - making a sizable profit in the process. Ross' dealings resulted in the dramatic drop in price of cocaine from $50,000 to as little as $12,000 per kilogram. Eventually, Ross became a small arms dealer as well, selling handguns and assault rifles as well as crack and powder cocaine.
By 1984, Ross began to expand outward from Los Angeles to Texas, St. Louis, New Orleans, Kansas City, Seattle, Detroit, Oklahoma and even Baltimore, Miami, Atlanta, North Carolina, South Carolina and New York on the east coast. Ultimately, Ross' drug empire encompassed 42 U.S. cities. Typically, Ross' expansion was facilitated by members of Los Angeles-based Crip and Blood sets (his local distributors) who traveled in search of untapped markets. This expansion is credited with the spread of Blood and Crip gang culture throughout the U.S.
In 1982, Ross was introduced to cocaine, in the form of a $50 rock of free-base, by a friend who was enrolled at San Jose State University, located in Northern California, on a football scholarship. According to Ross, he and life-long friend, Ollie "Big Loc" Newell, stole a car from the faculty parking lot of their former junior high school and sold the rims for $250 in order to finance the purchase of an eightball (an eighth of an ounce) of cocaine. The two friends sold the eighth ounce for double what they paid by dividing it into smaller portions. Initially, Ross and Newell hired others to cook the cocaine into its freebase form, crack, which had been "invented" in California a few years earlier. They were eventually taught how to cook powder cocaine into crack by a local hustler known as Martin the Pimp.
Ross began his drug trafficking career when he and Newell became business partners and began buying cocaine from Central America from Nicaraguan Henry Corrales. Ross has since claimed that he and Newell had originally intended to quit after making $5,000 but business became so profitable that within six months Corrales introduced them to his own supplier - his exiled countryman and Nicaragua's former director of wholesale markets, Oscar Danilo Blandon. Blandon in turn introduced the two to his supplier - Juan Norwin Meneses Cantarero, another Nicaraguan exile and drug trafficker already under investigation by the FBI and DEA. Meneses was known in Nicaragua as "Rey de la Droga", which translates to "the King of Drugs" in English.
Ross marketed his brand of crack as "Ready Rock" and it's enormous popularity allowed him to monopolize the cocaine trade in Los Angeles in less than a year after entering the business. Ross used local Crip sets for distribution and established a network of several stash houses throughout LA in which cocaine was stored and maintained five processing labs in which it was cut and/or cooked, often with the anesthetic, procaine . He also established the prevalence of crackhouses in inner-city South Central, Los Angeles and Compton from which the product was sold to users. By 1983, he was the main supplier for, not only distributors, but other wholesalers in LA as well. Ross typically put dealers into business himself by offering cocaine on consignment, wherein he would give the dealer a specified amount of crack for no up-front charge and then collect the cash value after the dealer sold the product - making a sizable profit in the process. Ross' dealings resulted in the dramatic drop in price of cocaine from $50,000 to as little as $12,000 per kilogram. Eventually, Ross became a small arms dealer as well, selling handguns and assault rifles as well as crack and powder cocaine.
By 1984, Ross began to expand outward from Los Angeles to Texas, St. Louis, New Orleans, Kansas City, Seattle, Detroit, Oklahoma and even Baltimore, Miami, Atlanta, North Carolina, South Carolina and New York on the east coast. Ultimately, Ross' drug empire encompassed 42 U.S. cities. Typically, Ross' expansion was facilitated by members of Los Angeles-based Crip and Blood sets (his local distributors) who traveled in search of untapped markets. This expansion is credited with the spread of Blood and Crip gang culture throughout the U.S.
In order to launder his cash, Ross purchased real estate and businesses near the Harbor Freeway in Los Angeles including an auto parts store, a laundromat, an apartment building and the Freeway Motor Inn hotel. Around this time, he garnered the nickname "Freeway" Rick Ross. According to Ross, storing, counting and laundering the cash presented it's own set of challenges as business became so successful that it's estimated that Meneses began to regularly transport shipments of approximately 300 kilograms of cocaine per trip to Ross from Miami to Los Angeles. At it's peak, Ross' drug network included thousands of employees and generated $2 million in sales per day from crack cocaine.
A criminal investigation into Ross' dealings by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department began in 1985. In October of 1986, Ross was charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine in St. Louis, Missouri by DEA agents in Los Angeles when he was named by dealer Michael Wingo in an arrest statement. The charges were eventually dropped due to insufficient evidence. In January of 1987, the Los Angeles Police Department joined the local investigation and the LAPD and LA Sheriff's Department created a nine-member team called the Freeway Ricky Ross Taskforce, with the sole objective of prosecuting Ross. In April 1987, members of the taskforce chased and shot at Ross. He was subsequently arrested and charged with drug possession, evading arrest and attempted murder when the officers involved claimed that he had opened fire on them. All of the charges were eventually dropped when evidence of police misconduct was revealed.
Later that year Ross relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he became known locally as the "Six Million Dollar Man" after resuming his operation. The profit margin in Ohio was higher than in Los Angeles and Ross' network quickly expanded from Cincinnati to Cleveland, Dayton and Indianapolis, which widened the scope of the federal investigation. According to federal investigators, a staple of Ross' expansion was recruiting Los Angeles-area Crips gang members to relocate to a new city where they were provided with cocaine, apartments and beepers.
In March of 1988, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), which is overseen by the U.S. Department of Justice and Attorney General, focused on Ross and named his organization "the single most important group distributing crack cocaine in the Seattle-Tacoma area." DEA informants asserted that Ross conducted business in New York City throughout August and September.
That same year, a fugitive warrant was issued for Ross by a Texas grand jury, citing wiretap evidence of Ross conducting narcotic transactions over the telephone. A crack dealer named Alphonso Jeffries cooperated with investigators when he was arrested on September 30, 1988, after his shipment of nine kilograms of cocaine was detected by a canine unit in a New Mexico bus station. The information led to Ross and nine others being named in a federal indictment on June 8, 1989 in Cincinnati for conspiring to traffic narcotics. Ross was apprehended in November, 1989 by a SWAT team in Los Angeles and extradited to Cincinnati and held without bail. On September 5, 1990, he pled guilty to one federal count of drug conspiracy. Ross was sentenced to 121 months in prison and three years supervised release on February 8, 1991.
Later that year Ross relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he became known locally as the "Six Million Dollar Man" after resuming his operation. The profit margin in Ohio was higher than in Los Angeles and Ross' network quickly expanded from Cincinnati to Cleveland, Dayton and Indianapolis, which widened the scope of the federal investigation. According to federal investigators, a staple of Ross' expansion was recruiting Los Angeles-area Crips gang members to relocate to a new city where they were provided with cocaine, apartments and beepers.
In March of 1988, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), which is overseen by the U.S. Department of Justice and Attorney General, focused on Ross and named his organization "the single most important group distributing crack cocaine in the Seattle-Tacoma area." DEA informants asserted that Ross conducted business in New York City throughout August and September.
That same year, a fugitive warrant was issued for Ross by a Texas grand jury, citing wiretap evidence of Ross conducting narcotic transactions over the telephone. A crack dealer named Alphonso Jeffries cooperated with investigators when he was arrested on September 30, 1988, after his shipment of nine kilograms of cocaine was detected by a canine unit in a New Mexico bus station. The information led to Ross and nine others being named in a federal indictment on June 8, 1989 in Cincinnati for conspiring to traffic narcotics. Ross was apprehended in November, 1989 by a SWAT team in Los Angeles and extradited to Cincinnati and held without bail. On September 5, 1990, he pled guilty to one federal count of drug conspiracy. Ross was sentenced to 121 months in prison and three years supervised release on February 8, 1991.
Ross' sentence was shortened as a result of his agreeing to testify against LAPD officers in a federal corruption case, some of whom had been part of the Freeway Ricky Ross Taskforce. Ross testified in federal court in 1991 and part of his testimony included estimates that he sold roughly 2.5 tons of cocaine throughout his criminal career. On March 25, 1992, per his agreement with federal prosecutors, his sentence was reduced to 51 months and he was allowed to retain $2 million in cash and assets derived from his drug career. Ross was arrested while still in federal detention in November of 1993 stemming from his 1988 wiretap indictment. After pleading no contest to state charges of conspiracy to possess cocaine, he was sentenced to 10 years, to run concurrently with his ten-year federal sentence. Following his release from federal prison, Ross was extradited to Texas and served another nine months in state prison before being released in September of 1994.
On March 2, 1995, Ross was arrested in San Diego, California after attempting to sell 100 kilograms of cocaine to an undercover DEA agent and Blandon as part of a sting operation. On March 19, 1996 Ross was convicted in federal court and received a mandatory life sentence in prison on November 19, 1996. Ross' sentence was eventually reduced to 20 years by a federal court of appeals.
Federal prosecutors estimated that Ross made more than $900 million throughout the course of his drug trafficking career. That amount is approximately 2.5 billion, $850 million of that pure profit, adjusted for inflation.
On August 18-20, 1996, investigative reporter Gary Webb of the San Jose Mercury News published the three-part investigative series "Dark Alliance" that explored Ross' role in the "Iran-Contra affair". The piece built on the earlier work of Associated Press (AP) and Newsweek reporter Robert Parry in 1985, which resulted in a Senate investigation spearheaded by Secretary of State (then-Senator) John Kerry and ultimately led to U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North being brought before a congressional committee in televised hearings in 1987. What became the largest White House scandal since Watergate resulted in the indictments of 10 high-ranking officials, most of whom were pardoned by President George H.W. Bush. Some were given pardons before they could be sentenced, or even tried in court in some cases. President Bush himself was a former Director of the CIA as well as Vice President under President Ronald Reagan at the time of the scandal.
Webb's series asserted that the CIA knowingly allowed the importation of cocaine into the U.S. by Nicaraguan drug traffickers with ties to the CIA-backed Contras who sought to overthrow the ruling Sandinista government. CIA support of the Contras was allegedly done at the behest of then-President Ronald Reagan, whose administration turned to arms dealing and drug trafficking as funding sources when financial backing for the Contras was denied by Congress.
In the wake of the publication of the Dark Alliance series, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, whose constituency includes residents of South-Central Los Angeles, and Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer pushed for federal investigations into the allegations made in the articles. Within a month, three federal investigations had been launched.
Webb was eventually attacked by the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and the New York Times, whose criticism largely revolved around the accusation that Webb falsely blamed the U.S. crack epidemic on the CIA via Nicaraguan drug traffickers who supplied Ross. Amidst the ensuing media scrutiny, including investigations into Webb's personal life, the San Jose Mercury News withdrew their support of Webb's piece and demoted him. In December of 1997, Webb resigned from the paper.
On January 28, 1998, the CIA released the unclassified version of its report of the investigation into the allegations made in the "Dark Alliance" series (and book of the same name, published in November of 1998). The report, overseen by CIA Inspector General Frederick P. Hitz, concluded, among other things, that, "While CIA had no relationship with Blandon and Meneses, our investigation did find that Blandon and Meneses were affiliated with California Contra support organizations and each made financial contributions to those groups." Hitz further stated, "Let me be frank about what we are finding. There are instances where CIA did not, in an expeditious or consistent fashion, cut off relationships with individuals supporting the Contra program who were alleged to have engaged in drug trafficking activity or take action to resolve the allegations."
After finding himself unable to land a position at another major newspaper, Webb lost his home. On December 10, 2004, Webb was found dead in his home with two gunshots to the head. Sacramento County Coroner Robert Lyons ruled the death a suicide.
On September 29, 2009, Ross was released from federal custody after 13 years imprisonment.
On June 18, 2010, Ross filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against rapper "Rick Ross" in California Federal Court seeking $10 million in damages. The rapper, whose real name is William Leonard Roberts II, asserted that appropriating Ross' name was protected by Free Speech. The lawsuit was dismissed on July 3, 2010 in federal court and Ross filed with the state of California in 2011. On December 30, 2013, the court ruled in favor of Roberts, citing his protection by the First Amendment.
Following a traffic stop on October 21, 2015, Ross was arrested by a Sonoma County sheriff's deputy and charged with conspiracy to purchase marijuana and possession of drug money. After being pulled over driving north on the 101 Freeway in Asti, California, Ross refused a search of his vehicle, which resulted in the arresting officer calling for a drug-sniffing canine to search the car. The dog indicated the presence of marijuana scent on Ross' cellphone, leading the officer to search the trunk of the car, despite Ross' refusal. The officer found a plastic bag containing $100,000 cash inside, which Ross contended was derived from sales of his 2014 memoir, "Freeway Rick Ross: The Untold Autobiography", and was intended to be used in the purchase of a four-bedroom home in Fortuna, California that day. Ross also attributed the marijuana traces on his phone to his legal use of the drug, obtained with a medical prescription. Ross was arrested in an area of northern California nicknamed The Emerald Triangle for its association with large-scale marijuana production. The car was impounded and the cash and three cellphones were seized. Ross was jailed for six hours before posting $1,000 bail.
On March 2, 1995, Ross was arrested in San Diego, California after attempting to sell 100 kilograms of cocaine to an undercover DEA agent and Blandon as part of a sting operation. On March 19, 1996 Ross was convicted in federal court and received a mandatory life sentence in prison on November 19, 1996. Ross' sentence was eventually reduced to 20 years by a federal court of appeals.
Federal prosecutors estimated that Ross made more than $900 million throughout the course of his drug trafficking career. That amount is approximately 2.5 billion, $850 million of that pure profit, adjusted for inflation.
On August 18-20, 1996, investigative reporter Gary Webb of the San Jose Mercury News published the three-part investigative series "Dark Alliance" that explored Ross' role in the "Iran-Contra affair". The piece built on the earlier work of Associated Press (AP) and Newsweek reporter Robert Parry in 1985, which resulted in a Senate investigation spearheaded by Secretary of State (then-Senator) John Kerry and ultimately led to U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North being brought before a congressional committee in televised hearings in 1987. What became the largest White House scandal since Watergate resulted in the indictments of 10 high-ranking officials, most of whom were pardoned by President George H.W. Bush. Some were given pardons before they could be sentenced, or even tried in court in some cases. President Bush himself was a former Director of the CIA as well as Vice President under President Ronald Reagan at the time of the scandal.
Webb's series asserted that the CIA knowingly allowed the importation of cocaine into the U.S. by Nicaraguan drug traffickers with ties to the CIA-backed Contras who sought to overthrow the ruling Sandinista government. CIA support of the Contras was allegedly done at the behest of then-President Ronald Reagan, whose administration turned to arms dealing and drug trafficking as funding sources when financial backing for the Contras was denied by Congress.
In the wake of the publication of the Dark Alliance series, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, whose constituency includes residents of South-Central Los Angeles, and Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer pushed for federal investigations into the allegations made in the articles. Within a month, three federal investigations had been launched.
Webb was eventually attacked by the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and the New York Times, whose criticism largely revolved around the accusation that Webb falsely blamed the U.S. crack epidemic on the CIA via Nicaraguan drug traffickers who supplied Ross. Amidst the ensuing media scrutiny, including investigations into Webb's personal life, the San Jose Mercury News withdrew their support of Webb's piece and demoted him. In December of 1997, Webb resigned from the paper.
On January 28, 1998, the CIA released the unclassified version of its report of the investigation into the allegations made in the "Dark Alliance" series (and book of the same name, published in November of 1998). The report, overseen by CIA Inspector General Frederick P. Hitz, concluded, among other things, that, "While CIA had no relationship with Blandon and Meneses, our investigation did find that Blandon and Meneses were affiliated with California Contra support organizations and each made financial contributions to those groups." Hitz further stated, "Let me be frank about what we are finding. There are instances where CIA did not, in an expeditious or consistent fashion, cut off relationships with individuals supporting the Contra program who were alleged to have engaged in drug trafficking activity or take action to resolve the allegations."
After finding himself unable to land a position at another major newspaper, Webb lost his home. On December 10, 2004, Webb was found dead in his home with two gunshots to the head. Sacramento County Coroner Robert Lyons ruled the death a suicide.
On September 29, 2009, Ross was released from federal custody after 13 years imprisonment.
On June 18, 2010, Ross filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against rapper "Rick Ross" in California Federal Court seeking $10 million in damages. The rapper, whose real name is William Leonard Roberts II, asserted that appropriating Ross' name was protected by Free Speech. The lawsuit was dismissed on July 3, 2010 in federal court and Ross filed with the state of California in 2011. On December 30, 2013, the court ruled in favor of Roberts, citing his protection by the First Amendment.
Following a traffic stop on October 21, 2015, Ross was arrested by a Sonoma County sheriff's deputy and charged with conspiracy to purchase marijuana and possession of drug money. After being pulled over driving north on the 101 Freeway in Asti, California, Ross refused a search of his vehicle, which resulted in the arresting officer calling for a drug-sniffing canine to search the car. The dog indicated the presence of marijuana scent on Ross' cellphone, leading the officer to search the trunk of the car, despite Ross' refusal. The officer found a plastic bag containing $100,000 cash inside, which Ross contended was derived from sales of his 2014 memoir, "Freeway Rick Ross: The Untold Autobiography", and was intended to be used in the purchase of a four-bedroom home in Fortuna, California that day. Ross also attributed the marijuana traces on his phone to his legal use of the drug, obtained with a medical prescription. Ross was arrested in an area of northern California nicknamed The Emerald Triangle for its association with large-scale marijuana production. The car was impounded and the cash and three cellphones were seized. Ross was jailed for six hours before posting $1,000 bail.
