Friday, November 2, 2007

Rayful Edmond III


Rayful Edmond III is one of Washington DC's most notorious drug dealers, many give him credit for introducing crack to the DC area. A dvd was released about Rayful Edmond, The Life and Times of Rayful Edmond III and I was able to view the entire video in parts on Youtube.com .

Here's Rayful's bio I pulled of Wikipedia:

At his peak, Edmond was alleged to have sold over 2,000 kilos of cocaine a week, worth tens of millions of dollars, in the Washington, D.C. area. Edmond controlled as much as 70% of the D.C. drug trade in the late 1980s. He was known to have spent some $457,619 in an exclusive Georgetown store (Linea Pitti, specializing in Italian men's clothing) owned by Charles Wynn who was later convicted on 34 counts of money laundering. Georgetown University basketball coach John Thompson personally requested that Edmond cease all contacts with his players, including Alonzo Mourning.
Edmond was arrested in 1989 at the age of 24. His arrest and subsequent trial were widely covered by local and national media. Judicial officials, fearful of reprisals from members of Edmond's gang, imposed unprecedented security during the trial. Jurors' identities were kept secret before, during, and after trial, and their seating area was enclosed in bulletproof glass. Edmond was jailed at the maximum security facility at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia and flown to the Federal Court House in Washington, D.C. by helicopter each day for his trial. Authorities took this unusual step due to heightened fears of an armed escape attempt. This gang was believed to have committed over 40 murders including the attempted murder of a local pastor, the Reverend Mr. Bynum, who was shot 12 times during an anti-drug march in his Orleans place neighborhood.
Edmond was eventually sentenced to life in prison. His mother, Constance "Milk Chocolate" Perry, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for participating in his criminal enterprise. Several of his sisters and cousins also received sentences.
In 1996, Edmond was convicted after conducting drug business from a federal prison phone, receiving an additional 30-year sentence. Edmond's case is one of the most notorious abuses of such phone privileges,[1] and an embarrassment for the Bureau of Prisons. In an interview with the Bureau of Prisons, Edmond said he had spent several hours every day on the telephone, occasionally using two lines simultaneously to conduct his drug business.
Following this conviction, Edmond became a government informant in order to secure his mother's release from prison. While he is still incarcerated, Edmond is now part of the United States Federal Witness Protection Program and his location is unknown.

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