Die Young: November 2017

by Ran

Johnny Curry and his twin brother, Leonard, were born in 1959. Their younger brother, Rudell, was born a year later. They grew up in a lower middle-class, predominately African-American eastside neighborhood, about seven miles from downtown Detroit.

By all accounts, Johnny was the more reserved and cerebral of the twins, while Leo, as Leonard was known, was a flashy extrovert. Johnny garnered the nickname "Little Man", while Leo got the name "Big Man". Rudell came to be known as "Boo".

The twins began their drug careers in the late 1970s, selling marijuana. The brothers' father, Samuel "Sammy Mack" Curry, reportedly provided the seed money for the business in 1978. After moving up to high volume dealing, they switched from marijuana to heroin and, finally, powdered cocaine and crack in the 1980s. They built and maintained a collection of 24 dope houses on the east side of Detroit offering marijuana, heroin, cocaine and crack and stored significant amounts of cash at Allen Hill, Sr.'s Hill's Marathon Station auto garage, located at 10901 East Warren in Detroit. One of the twins would routinely collect the cash from Hill's.

The Currys' cocaine was supplied primarily by Sam "Doc" Curry and Detroit local, Art Derrick. Derrick owned a fleet of four planes, two of which he purchased from the Rolling Stones, which he used to fly product in from Miami, netting $100,000 profit per day at his peak. Derrick, who died in 2005, lived in a palatial home with a marble-floored basement and a pool bearing his initials on the bottom.

Each of the twins drove burgundy-colored Ford Broncos with Eddie Bauer leather interiors. Even Rudell drove a matching Bronco, except his was blue. Johnny also drove a customized Berlina. The entire organization would sometimes drive to the city's Belle Isle Park, located on the Detroit River, on warm days.

The twins made a habit of commandeering a local roller-skating rink, Royal Skateland, at night and essentially throwing impromptu parties. They frequented more mature parties at The Lady nightclub. Another favorite hangout was Stoke's, an establishment with strippers and topless waitresses.

Johnny dated, and later married, Cathy Germaine Volsan, the niece of then-mayor Coleman A. Young. Cathy's father, Willie Clyde Volsan Jr., who happened to be married to Mayor Young's sister, Juanita Clark, was a drug kingpin throughout the 1970s and 80s. After a career of illegal gambling, Volsan trafficked in heroin before moving on to cocaine. Before dating Johnny, Cathy had been involved with Detroit Pistons star Vinnie "The Microwave" Johnson. When Cathy became pregnant with Johnny's child, her baby shower was held at the Manoogian Mansion, the mayor's official residence.

Cathy and Willie Volsan

Young, Detroit's first African-American mayor, amassed considerable power during his five terms in office and Cathy, in turn, used her familial relationship to her uncle to gain access to information regarding police investigations involving herself and those in her circle -- including the Currys.

By 1984, the FBI and Detroit police had launched an investigation into the Curry organization. Federal agents even broke into Johnny's house and planted listening devices.

By that time, Rudell had started hanging out with neighborhood teenager, Richard "White Boy Rick" Wershe. They frequently rode around in Rudell's Ford Bronco, picking up girls. They also frequently spent time at Royal Skateland, enjoying Rudell's older brothers' get-togethers.

Unbeknownst to the Currys, at 14-years-old, Wershe was recruited by the FBI, who were conducting an investigation of the brothers, precisely because of his familiarity with them.

Johnny's marriage to Cathy Volsan in 1985 prompted Mayor Young to provide her with a security detail comprised of Detroit police officers, headed by Sergeant James Harris.

Johnny sometimes took Wershe along to watch the Detroit Tigers play. He even accompanied the Currys to the world middleweight championship boxing bout between undisputed champion "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler and Detroit-native Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns held on April 15, 1985 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

During a drive-by shooting targeting the northwest Detroit home of Leon Lucas on April 29, his 13-year-old nephew, Damion Lucas, was inadvertently killed by two Curry triggermen after being shot in the chest. Damion and his younger brother, Frankie, both orphans since their mother's death the year before, lived with Leon. Lucas, a heroin dealer, along with his cousin, Robert Walton, both Curry-associates, had been given the responsibility of arranging the itinerary for the Currys' Vegas trip but were unable to purchase tickets to the fight ahead of time. The two already owed the Currys for cash and heroin seized during a police raid. The ticket fiasco only exacerbated the situation. The shooting was intended as a message to Lucas, who wasn't home at the time. According to the FBI, Leo Curry ordered Curry-associate Wyman Jenkins to send Sidney "Wack" Goodwin and Walter "Waldo" Owens -- who they furnished with MAC-10 and MAC-11 machine pistols -- to do the job. Kevin "Weasel" Colbert drove Goodwin and Owens to Walton's home where they shot up a car parked in the driveway and to Lucas' residence, where Damion was unintentionally shot while watching television with Frankie. A barrage of at least 10 shots entered the house. Following the driveby, Leon Lucas gave an interview in which he asserted that Leo and Jenkins had called him the morning of the shooting threatening to carry out the very driveby that took place. Another man unrelated to the Curry organization, LaKeas Davis, was charged with the killing, however, FBI Agent Herman Groman, one of Richard Wershe's handlers, informed the judge and attorneys involved in the case that wiretap evidence indicated that Davis was not involved and the charges were dropped.

Gil Hill with Eddie Murphy in

Beverly Hills Cop

Following Damion's killing, Johnny reportedly held an organization meeting in the basement of his home during which he offered to pay anyone in-the-know to keep quiet about the matter if questioned by police. According to FBI Agent Herbert Groman, Curry called Sergeant Harris and Commander Gilbert Roland "Gil" Hill of the Detroit Police Department the morning following the drive-by.

On September 19, Curry-associate Lamont "Bummy Lou" Davis assaulted an unidentified man who failed to pay a drug debt owed to the organization. Davis set him on fire after administering a beating. That same day, Curry-enforcer Lee Potts, acting on orders from Johnny, allegedly killed Eric Dunston to settle a turf dispute.

The Currys are estimated to have made approximately $200 million by 1987.

On April 2, 1987, the Curry brothers; their father, Samuel; Wyman Jenkins; Lamont Davis; and Allen Hill, Sr. were indicted on multiple drug charges, including operating a continuing criminal enterprise, following a joint-investigation by the FBI, Detroit police and the IRS. Johnny, Sam, Rudell and Hill were formally charged in federal court that same day, while Leo, Jenkins and Davis remained at-large. Cathy and Willie Volsan, Roy Covington, Anthony "Zero" Johnson, Ruth Curry, Patricia Curry, Cassandra Curry and Carlene Knight were all named as unindicted co-conspirators. Eventually, 20 members of the Curry organization would be indicted. On September 8, 1987, Johnny and Leo, represented by attorney Steve Fishman, accepted a deal and pleaded guilty to operating a continuing criminal enterprise and tax evasion. Ultimately, the other 18 defendants entered guilty pleas as well.

On January 13, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Suhrheinrich sentenced Johnny and Leo to 20 years without the possibility of parole and fined them $250,000. Rudell pleaded guilty to narcotics conspiracy charges and was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison on February 18. Jenkins was eventually sentenced to 15 years in prison.

In 1992, Cathy Volsan Curry testified that Commander Hill had informed Johnny that there was a wiretap on his telephone. Following his convictions, Johnny admitted to FBI agents that he, accompanied by Cathy, personally paid then-Homicide Inspector Hill $10,000 in his office to redirect the investigation into Damion Lucas' murder away from his organization. When Curry and Hill spoke the morning after the murder, Hill allegedly requested that he and Cathy meet with him in his office. Sergeant Harris, who reported to Hill, picked the two up and drove them to police headquarters. Hill, who died in February of 2016, appeared as Inspector Todd in the Beverly Hills Cop film trilogy, and was later elected president of Detroit's City Council in 1989.

Johnny and Leo served 11 years of their sentence in a federal facility located in Texarkana, Texas, before being released in 1999.