The Real American Gangster
To understand the legend of Supreme you have to understand the man. For a criminal legend he is shorter and slighter than expected. He has pale green eyes which he says are a result of his “Irish blood,” a cool professional air and an easy smile. He keeps his watch 55 minutes fast so he’ll “always be on time” and thinks all the attention given to him “is unwarranted.” The man is full of charisma and generally likes his fellow human beings. He is very humble and diplomatic. “Preme is a dude who will rationalize. Talk it out.” Tuck says. “He’s very intellectual and culturally conscious. Not bias or racial.” A gentleman gangster who upholds the virtues of honor, integrity and loyalty. “He’s not flamboyant and he’s highly intelligent, ain’t nothing slow about him.” T says. Ethan Brown was amazed at Supreme’s intelligence and depth, “He’s incredibly intelligent and aware of what is going on in the world.” He says.
“I been doing time for 30 years in the adult system,” says Choke, another friend of Supreme. “And most dudes I meet that be high profile try to act like they like that. They look down on people. But Preme don’t. He respect men. He’s a respectful dude.” Tuck agrees, “His reputation in prison is impeccable. He gets along with everyone, all different nationalities and geographical locations embrace him. He’s respected among his peers and staff alike.” T also concurs, “Supreme is respected because whatever he’s gonna do, he’s gonna do it 150 percent. He’s competitive, athletic and always trying to win. He’s always looking for your best game, be it basketball, casino, ping pong, handball or chess.” But not a lot of dudes know Supreme.
“He don’t fuck with a lot of dudes but at the same time he’s very open to what other people have to say,” T says. “There might be three guys who really know what he’s about.” That’s the drawbacks of being a gangster celebrity and make no doubt about it, in prison and on the street that’s what Supreme is. “I was in a cell with Preme,” Tuck says. “He was my cellie so we kicked it a lot. I got to know him more so than on the street.” About his tendencies Tuck says, “He might be playing cards and dude might get the better of him. Preme hates to lose but he doesn’t lose his shit. He channels his anger. He’s a thinker.” Choke has fond memories also, “He always told me, ‘You can learn a lot from a dummy.’ He’s a stand up dude. Straight forward. He values nothing but friendship, loyalty and respect. He got a platinum heart. Everybody like him. He’s a people person.”
Supreme passed his time in prison reading Donald Goines books. Crime Partners, Black Gangster, Street Player, Inner City Hoodlum– Preme read them all. Goines was a Detroit hustler, one-time junkie and ex-con who wrote 16 books before he was murdered in 1974. His street tales mesmerized Preme and gave him a vision. He dreamed of turning the Goines novels- which were so popular in the feds- into big screen gangster epics like the Godfather. Since hip-hop in the post NWA/Chronic era mimicked the hood star qualities of Goines novels, Preme believed there’d be a substantial mainstream audience for a Goines movie, especially if a couple of big time rappers acted in the movie and contributed to the soundtrack.
“I met Supreme while we were incarcerated.” Wayne Davis, a Harlem native said. “We were talkin’ about what we were gonna do when we got home and he told me he wanted to bring Donald Goines to the movie screen. At that time I looked at him like he was crazy.” But Supreme wasn’t crazy, just maybe a little before his time. He had a vision but things in the streets of Southeast Queens were heating up and even though he was in prison there was an organization, his organization, to run. At its 1987 peak, the Supreme Team receipts exceeded $200,000 a day and the gang regularly committed acts of violence and murder to maintain its stronghold on the area’s drug trade. After McGriff went to jail in 1987, leadership of the Supreme Team was assumed by Miller, court records indicate. Miller solidified his control by increasing the security force and employing it against rivals and against team members suspected of disloyalty. Supreme was the titular leader and during 1987 alone, Miller and the then incarcerated McGriff ordered at least eight homicides. The police also linked the Supreme Team to more than 20 murders and countless shootings. They were not playing. A quadruple murder where four Colombians were beaten to death, hogtied and sealed in garbage bags was attributed to the team, but never proven in court.
The Supreme Team narcotics operation used dozens of employees, including layers of drug sellers to insulate the gang’s leaders from street level activity. Team members communicated in coded language and numerical systems. To thwart law enforcement efforts further, Miller used armed bodyguards and rooftop sentinels. The sophistication of the gang’s operation enabled it to survive periodic targeting of various members for prosecution by the NYPD and the Queens County District Attorney’s Office. The much-publicized killing of police officer Edward Bryne by Pappy Mason’s crew changed everything; the police mobilized and were out for revenge. Prompted by the February 26, 1988 murder, 113 additional officers were deployed to fight drugs in Queens. By targeting the area bounded by 110th Avenue on the north, Sutphin Boulevard on the west, Merrick Boulevard on the east and Baisley Boulevard on the south, the TNT task force waged war on the Supreme Team and other area dealers and won a brutal victory against the drug barons.
“In 89, Preme was in FCI Talladega,” Bing says. “Black Just was in charge of the family because Prince was in Rikers fighting a murder beef. Black Just used to go see Preme.” The streets were never far away from Preme’s grasp but the feds had no way to tie him in. It was alleged that he ordered hits from his jail cell but with no proof the feds couldn’t indict. The upper echelon of his crew was snitch free so the feds couldn’t get anyone to testify against him, so they went with what they had, Prince as top man. Bing was back and working too. “He came home in 89 and got down with us.” Tuck says. “He had 121 and Sutphin. That shit was booming too.” But Baisley Projects was where the main action was.
“The media try to portray like we had the projects hostage but it wasn’t like that,” Tuck says. “But it was headquarters. Five buildings, eight floors in each building. Baisley Projects, that’s where I hustled at.” The Supreme Team was retrofitted to 80’s excess and significantly raised the stakes in the process. They were the new age hustlers and gangsters that the rappers in the growing hip-hop world emulated. In court, it was Leslie Caldwell that finally brought the gang down. Leslie was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn with just two years experience on the job. The cops loved Leslie, she wasn’t afraid of anyone. To her, a criminal was a criminal. Leslie succeeded in shutting down and getting murder convictions for most of the heavies- Fat Cat, Pappy, Prince, the notorious killers who terrorized their communities and those responsible for killing the police officer. “We were very aggressive with them including arresting their mothers who were intimately involved in their drug operations,” Caldwell explained. There was one key exclusion to the Supreme Team convictions, the gang’s mastermind, Preme, an exception that would come back to haunt hip-hop in the Y2K era.
In early 93, the Supreme Team trial began. Prince and his crew were indicted on 14 counts, including nine murders and cocaine distribution charges. Tuck remembers the trial he was a defendant at, “Preme was released from his twelve year federal sentence around February 93, so he was home when our trial began. Our trial lasted exactly two months. During the testimony of one of the defense witnesses, Preme was sitting in the audience with a dude I grew up with. While the prosecutor was cross-examining the witness she shocked the whole courtroom by turning around and pointing to Preme (in the audience) and saying, ‘Isn’t that Supreme right there, sitting with the sunglasses on? Isn’t he the founder and leader of the Supreme Team?’ Of course the witness denied knowing anything about him being the leader of anything.” About the trial T recalls Supreme telling him, “He said, ‘I wasn’t sharp enough at the time to say, I’m Supreme. I’m not on trial.’” But the accusation ran deep.
The cop killing from Fat Cat and Pappy Mason’s crew was brought up again but like Tuck says, “Pappy wasn’t with us.” And he wasn’t with Supreme, but the negative aspects of the murder lingered. Over 110 Supreme Team members were arrested and convicted in the late 80’s and early 90’s to satisfy the government’s bloodlust. Supreme escaped the 80’s with a relatively light 12 year sentence and was paroled back to the streets. But with all his peers doing life sentences Preme was a prime target for law enforcement. He was associated with the cold blooded cop killing even if he wasn’t guilty of it and the FBI, DEA, ATF, NYPD and IRS were all dying to get a piece of him. But the reality was like Preme said, “I was dead broke. Everybody from the original Supreme Team was home waiting like, ‘Supreme whatever you say.’ And I’m like good luck on y’all venture. I wanted to be able to walk on the street or go to the club by myself and not have security. I just wanted to be a regular person.” But it wasn’t like that and it would never be in Supreme’s case.
Order this ebook on amazon Kindle for $2.99- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TNY13M8/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d0_i3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=1QK2CRCAJ6KQRKPDDW08&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2079475242&pf_rd_i=desktop
The post The Real American Gangster appeared first on Don Diva Magazine.