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Baltimore has been known for decades as a violent drug haven, yet the city has seen very few high-level drug dealers convicted or even prosecuted, even as low-level "corner boys" fill the jails and the morgue. Unlike most major cities, Baltimore has generally declined even to acknowledge the existence of the wealthy, privileged, organized criminals in its midst.
Early in 2008 City Paper decided to investigate the city's "shadow economy," where drug dealers meet money launderers and develop the political connections they need to stay in business. We focused on Milton Tillman, Jr., publicly regarded as a successful and respected bail-bonds impresario.
Digging into Tillman’s business and financial relationships, we discovered a mortgage fraudster/drug-money launderer on the lam, a local sports hero with deep ties to the drug game, and a TV-star/ex-gangster with a $90,000 stashed above his bathroom ceiling. We also unearthed a felonious preacher-bounty-hunter who bribed court officials and sprang thugs, a fistful of city and state politicians with cordial ties to the criminal underworld, and a remarkable in-court accusation by a federal prosecutor whose subsequent violent death has never been credibly explained.
On Aug. 18, 2008, federal agents raided Tillman's properties, carting off truckloads of documents. The investigation is ongoing.
At first glance, 41-year-old Kimberly McIntosh cuts a sympathetic profile as a working single mom. She has four children between the ages of 12 and 20 who live at home with her at 1120 Homewood Ave., ...[MORE]
“I need you down here. Cause I’m down here with the brothers, Meech and all them,” Todd Andrew Duncan tells someone known as “Killa” over his cell phone on the afternoon of March 27. “Where at?” ...[MORE]
"What's up, ma!" Marlow Bates calls out to his mother seated in a courtroom gallery. "Love you, too, Marlow," she calls back, as Bates is led off by federal marshals to begin a 46-month sentence f...[MORE]
On Aug. 3, Ira Jimmy Martin was arrested for armed drug dealing in Baltimore City. "Lots of cash [was] recovered in this case," Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office spokeswoman Margaret Burns says...[MORE]
Lynae Chapman, a 21-year-old correctional officer for the Baltimore City Detention Center (BCDC), is obviously pregnant as she stands before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge John Prevas on Oct. 27....[MORE]
In 2008, 31-year-old prison inmate Tashma McFadden filed suit against 23-year-old correctional officer Antonia Allison. On Oct. 9, that suit survived Allison's attempt to have it dismissed. McFadden,...[MORE]
Four of the two-dozen alleged Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) prison-gang members indicted in Maryland federal court in April pleaded guilty recently before U.S. District Court Judge William Quarles. La...[MORE]
The lawyer, the mortgage broker, the retired Social Security worker, the used-car dealer, the strip-club owner--these are the careers of convicted drug money-launderers in Maryland in recent years...[MORE]
On July 10, Shawn Michael Green pleaded not guilty--again--to being a drug-trafficking money-launderer. Green's mother, Yolanda Crawley, is already serving time for her part in the alleged drug money...[MORE]
On July 10, Shawn Michael Green pleaded not guilty—again—to being a drug-trafficking money-launderer. Green’s mother, Yolanda Crawley, is already serving time for her part in the alleged drug money-la...[MORE]
The cover of Eric Brown's The Black Book. A Black Guerilla Family logo. The Eric Brown Prison-Gang Conspiracy Eric Brown, aka "Dee Brown," "E," and "EB" Ray Olivis, aka "Ronnie Hargrove," ...[MORE]
Wade Coats, a 44-year-old whose East Baltimore business, Keeping It in the Community, Inc., sells phones and pagers, is a Republican Party campaign donor who gave $500 to Republican National Committee...[MORE]
An overarching presence in the Black Guerilla Family (BGF) prison-gang conspiracies indicted in April by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland is not a person, but a book. Entitled The Black Book...[MORE]
The Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) prison gang has offered $10,000 to Dead Man Inc., a white prison gang, to do hits on correctional officers—and anyone else who helped with or conducted the investigati...[MORE]
An affidavit in support of search warrants in the BGF case, in addition to documents filed in two other federal cases, suggests an intriguing overlap between the allegedly violent BGF drug gang and ...[MORE]
Federal law enforcement officials, led by Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein, staged a triumphant press conference on April 16 to announce the indictments of 24 alleged gang members or associat...[MORE]
Frank Aidoo must have an accommodating stomach. When he arrived at Baltimore-Washington International Airport last Friday evening, March 27, from London, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) already h...[MORE]
His well-fitted gray suit and good-natured confidence lend 30-year-old Eric Clash the look of an earnest young professional as he stands behind the defense table on March 9 in U.S. District Court Jud...[MORE]
To hear his attorney tell it, Edward Aboagye is an immigrant success story. The slight, bespectacled 27-year-old Morgan State University senior, majoring in finance and accounting, came to the Uni...[MORE]
On Feb. 25, a Baltimore drug conspiracy was in the limelight as part of the public unveiling of an ongoing federal effort to destroy the Sinaloa Cartel of Mexico. At a press conference in Washington...[MORE]
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