Survived Early 90s Drug Game in NYC AMA

[Piri Tomas]

i know you said you were from harlem but did you ever have a run in with the decepticons

Decepts were all over the city, but they were a kid "gang" that would bully/rob high school students. I didn't really go to high school (probably went to school 10-15 times when I was at Julia Richman). And they didn't want any static with street dudes. They were carrying bicycle chains and switchblades while we walked the streets HEAVY as a consequence of what we were getting into.

you ever ran across silk perry since you said you hit DC sometimes

I went to DC twice in '90 (14-15 years old). Probably spent a total of 2-3 months there combined. I was on the low rungs of an out of town organization, bottling up and pitching. My time in DC consisted of ducking the police while serving the cheese lines, laying low in a SE crib eating Chinese food/KFC, rinse and repeat. I was not in the mix to rub elbows with any Wayne Perry type of DC figures.

Although I did go to one Go Go show and that shyt left me

I think you need to be a DC cat to understand the appeal.

 

[Indiglow Meta (R$G)]

NJ is more known for dope honestly more than NYC, bmore, philly...and in some parts in NJ they give 12-13 bags in a bundle sometimes upwards of 15. but the bags are small. NY always 10 to a bun bigger bags but its never ever 0.1 to a bag . a bun is "supposed" to be a gram but in reality, in my lifetime, it never was. i think its safe to say that 2 buns is closer to gram. in NJ they call 5 buns a "brick" but i havent heard that used in the city in my very very limited experience .

Baltimore always has the national reputation for being THE dope city but in places like Paterson and Camden thats damn near the whole economy. there is way more money, people and drugs moving through NJ than bmore. i think NJ is prob the most dope saturated area in the east coast. back in the day the big place was the LES proper and i guess what would be considered the east village (although old heads still call it the LES) like Ave A, B, C etc... those aves were dope central. parts of the LES still are to some degree but not like "it was"

i dont know anyone in NYC or NJ who gets anything but bundles no matter how much they cop. maybe at certain levels you'll get weighed powder but those are levels far beyond anyone i know moves in

someone else asked about it, about when name branded stamps got popular and became the norm. i always thought it was when dope "blew up" after Vietnam but i could be wrong

Tar runs it now. Can't stamp it easily...gotta use foil or baggie. It would be weird to sell like that but I was never a "points" person. Minimum was a granny.
People from Jerz traveled to Bmore for that scramble, btw. Quinine rush.

 

[Off the Onion]

from what i was told is that during the war between the bloods and the kings...the netas were aligned with the kings were hesitant to get involved on a full scale...after that the leadership changed and membership was open to anyone and everyone...taking in undesirables and non ricans....the Island made the call for NYC to shut down. what the island says...is what you do before you have a bowl cut rat tail rican wit no teeth at your door the next day.

They were letting non Ricans in? As in AAs?

 

[NaijaProdigy Redux]

This is fascinating

 

[IslandG]

One of the best Coli threads.

 

[The Burger King]

You or anyone you know ever interact with dudes from different regions? Like, could a dude from Texas or Cali who wanted to come up to NYC and sell whatever be treated the same as everyone else?

How did the drug wars in Colombia and Mexico at the time affect the streets up there, if they did at all?

How important was appearance back then? Would you get tested more/less if you looked a certain way or was it more about reputation and behavior?

And finally, how often did dudes (not just dope dealers) square up to settle their issues? I always hear old heads talking about “back in my day we used to square up when we had beef” but I always thought that was bullshyt just off the strength of the homicide rates being higher back then.

 

[Piri Tomas]

You or anyone you know ever interact with dudes from different regions? Like, could a dude from Texas or Cali who wanted to come up to NYC and sell whatever be treated the same as everyone else?

I never saw anyone or heard about anyone from another city coming to New York and setting up shop, at least on the street level where I was. No, that's not because New York dudes were harder than dudes in other cities, it's because this is where the supply was. If you wanted to buy in big quantities (talking multiple keys) or small, there was no shortage of suppliers for your needs. New Yorkers migrated to other cities because it got too crowded (supply and demand) and they could get more $$ for the product elsewhere. I'm assuming Texas/Cali/major metro areas also had substantial access to supply so they migrated to smaller markets in their regions the way we would do to DC/VA/NC etc.

How did the drug wars in Colombia and Mexico at the time affect the streets up there, if they did at all?

To the extent they did, we had no awareness. Like I said before, transacting with a foreign cartel connect was WAY above my pay grade. In retrospect, if we had a stretch of trouble getting good work, i.e. the dope was low quality for a few months, it probably had something to do with shyt going wrong on the cartel level, but again we had no idea what any of that was. We learned about Escobar just like everyone else on TV.

How important was appearance back then? Would you get tested more/less if you looked a certain way or was it more about reputation and behavior?

Everyone got tested no matter what they wore or what reputation they carried. You couldn't relax in that era because there was always someone in the cut waiting to pull your card. To be on the block by the time I was very active the fashion in terms of gear was for gritty shyt, fatigues, boots... Everyone wanted that "I could stomp you the fukk out" look when playing the corners.

And finally, how often did dudes (not just dope dealers) square up to settle their issues? I always hear old heads talking about “back in my day we used to square up when we had beef” but I always thought that was bullshyt just off the strength of the homicide rates being higher back then.

In early 90s New York, not a lot of people were interested in throwing a fair one. Everyone had a gun or access to one so a beef usually went there. Real fist fights were between friends/associates over minor disagreements who didn't want to have to escalate to lethal force. You would tell the dude to meet you on the block and you'd fight until someone got a little fukked up.

But no, real rivals were not "rumbling" in '91/'92... If you had a real beef you needed a burner, or several.

 

[Luke Cage]

This is the last surviving AMA thread from the AMA epidemic of 06/04/2018 -6/11/2018.
props

 

[Bigsuk]

Piri ..... you ever saw preacher and his crew ... ??? What you make ov them ?? Was alpo shook of preacher ???

 

[Bigsuk]

Piri ..... you ever saw preacher and his crew ... ??? What you make ov them ?? Was alpo shook of preacher ???

 

[Piri Tomas]

Piri ..... you ever saw preacher and his crew ... ??? What you make ov them ?? Was alpo shook of preacher ???

I never saw Preacher or his people in person. Have no idea what his relationship was with Alpo or if they had any.

Preacher's reputation traveled, but so did a lot of other crews just like his. They might have been more violent than the others, but I doubt it. What made their infamy reach another level was what happened to Rich Porter's little brother and that alleged incident with Bobby Brown.

I think a lot of you don't understand the "extortion" business model as it was employed back then. And that's not your fault, you had to be there to get it. The government has a vested interest in making us (Black and Latin people) look like beasts who apply no logic to our drug economy.

It's just like the way Italian mafia used to do. The mafia wouldn't directly do different hustles, but they would provide "protection" to hustlers so they could make $$ under their umbrella. There is an element of a threat (something will happen to you if you don't hustle with me) but that's not the key element.

From what I understand, Preacher had a long run, and you don't achieve that by being a goon with no brain. The business model was that a guy from a small section like a 3-6 block area, who knew all the major players, faces, probably grew up with them, would put a crew together (a couple dozen goons, full time muscle/shooters) and they would be the "owners"... you pay rent or you buy your spot for a lump sum paid to that crew. In exchange, they make sure no freelancer comes through and tries to push you out. And if you pay a few extra Gs they might make a problem go away for you. 3

Preacher didn't do that on the East side or the BX, because dudes would have rocked him immediately. In another section he wouldn't know the players/faces/names so a random dude could walk right up on him and blow his brains out. There was a method to the madness, if you understand.

Things could get messy if two tenants of the same extortion crew got into a beef, if there was any internal beef in the extortion crew so paying one owner didn't mean you kept everyone happy... or if an outside crew called the owner's bluff and started pushing into territory... if that last scenario happened (it did) it would be a very hot summer (or even winter).

My point is that this shyt was business. People like Preacher and many others (there were Preachers in most hoods where there was $/clientele) found a way to capitalize off of brawn (i.e. make people with psychotic tendencies useful as shooters) while others found a way to capitalize off of brains/access to product. One hand washed the other.

 

[Fade Runner 2049]

My cousin was well known in the Bronx in that Era but idk if I should say his name

Yall probably ran together

 

[RicanFury]

They were letting non Ricans in? As in AAs?

anyone and everyone. gays, trannies, blacks, whites. it became a numbers gang and the whole city chapter folded because of it. i remember towards the end...my mans was like he had some young homies supposed to come by and check him from a different group or w.e....like an hour later a honda civic pulls up with a super gay dominican driving it, gay black dude in the passenger, and what looked like two trannies in the back...he took a quick look and went made a call...came back shook his head and did the handshake and salutations with these guys....it was something i never seen before. they talked a bit or w.e. when they pulled off he was like the end soon come this shyt is over those guys were put on for real. the island isnt gonna like this.

 

[Off the Onion]

anyone and everyone. gays, trannies, blacks, whites. it became a numbers gang and the whole city chapter folded because of it.

 

[Wild self]

No direct experience with Jamaican crews. Every group had killers, the mystique about Jamaicans is the same shyt people attach to D.C. dudes, etc. The drug economy back then rewarded a certain skill set/sociopathic/psychotic tendencies. You could find someone to pay you in that period because there was a lot of demand for killers so they existed in every group.

I feel like the white media is responsible for a lot of that shyt. They talked about Jamaicans like they were the "bad Negroes" causing the "good local Negroes" to get into violent new activities and become uncontrollable. Most of the fear of Jamaicans was coming from small towns that refused to admit that social inequality and racism that was historical in their regions was creating the violence instead of these phantom Jamaican assassins.

Jamaicans held their sections (Crown Heights/Flatbush) the same way other groups held theirs. I never heard about Jamaicans in the Bronx but I assume there were some active Jamaicans in their section.

So you have no beef with Yard Man? Tons of Hispanic dealers hated Jamaicans and Haitians back in the day....