Bay Area True Crime Chronicles - Jimmy Digital (warren buffett book recommendations .txt) 📗

Fat Tone Slipping In LAS VEGAS

the undisputed king of the Crest for more than a decade was Andre Hicks, better known as Mac Dre, a pioneer of Bay Area independent rap who scored his first underground hit in 1989 with "2 Hard 4 the Fuckin' Radio." A prolific artist with more than 20 releases – the vast majority released after 1996 on his own Thizz Entertainment/Romp Records label – the 34-year-old Mac Dre had already dropped three solo albums in 2004 and was more popular than ever when he was murdered on Nov. 1 that year, in a Kansas City highway shooting.

"Dre loved his neighborhood," his friend and fellow Crestsider PSD told me earlier. "He loved people. As a result, people loved him."

The list of Bay Area rappers killed by gun fire is a long one indeed from the most famous Tupac Shakur to local legends like Plan Bee of Hobo Junction, Rappin' Ron of Bad Influenz, and Eclipse of Cydal,The CRESTSIDE alone lost Michael "the Mac" Robinson was fatally shot in 1991. Cecil "DJ Cee" Allison – a local mainstay who worked with both Macs – was killed in a drive-by shooting in 1995. Both incidents

occurred in Vallejo, and both were reportedly cases of mistaken identity. In fact, with the exception of Shakur, none of the rappers mentioned above was an actual target – they were instead victims of proximity or mis identification, and the availability of firearms.

Dre's murder is different, however, as he was definitely the intended target of a hit, according to Kansas City police detective Everett Babcock, lead investigator in the case. "They knew who they were after," he says in a phone interview from Kansas City. Over the past year, Babcock has been piecing together a picture of the crime in terms of suspects and motives, though he cautioned it could take years before conclusive evidence comes to light. While he couldn't divulge details due to the ongoing nature of the case, he would confirm that his investigation turned up no evidence of any criminal activity on Mac Dre's part.

Police investigators say Hicks, 34, was shot in a financial dispute, but the rumor mill said something sexier: that a West-Midwest rap war had flared and that a notorious Kansas City rapper dubbed "Fat Tone" had taken out Hicks. In the world of hip-hop,

Mac Minister

police say, bad blood often means good business.

Six months later, police say, a San Francisco rap promoter nicknamed "Mac Minister" and a friend avenged Hicks in Las Vegas by firing 33 assault-rifle rounds into two Kansas City men -- including Anthony "Fat Tone" Watkins.

The two San Francisco men were indicted on murder charges early this month. Two days later, a 21-year-old call girl who was in Las Vegas with them turned up dead in Fairfield, shot in the head.

Kansas City police Detective Everett Babcock, who cleared "Fat Tone" Watkins in Hicks' death, feared that rumors following the shooting might turn deadly.

The saga began quietly, in the early morning hours of Nov. 1, 2004, as Hicks rode in a white van driven by a friend through Kansas City. He had been performing in the city, and he and other Bay Area rappers enjoyed second-home popularity there.

Hicks, who grew up in Vallejo's hardscrabble Country Club Crest neighborhood, first gained radio airplay as a teenager with a song titled, ironically, "2 Hard 4 the (expletive) Radio." He had long been the subject of rap world rumors. His mother, Wanda Salvatto, said she'd heard about her son's death at least three times before.

Despite serving a five-year prison sentence for conspiracy to commit bank robbery, Hicks was no thug, his mother said. His problems were behind him when he was killed, Salvatto said, and he talked about mentoring teenagers to keep them flying straight. He had recently moved to Sacramento and owned a record label.

Still, as his driver moved through Kansas City in the dark a year ago, a stolen black Infiniti G36 pulled alongside and someone opened fire, police said. The van swerved across a grass median and four freeway lanes, then crashed into a ditch.

Detective Babcock said the investigation was hampered early by the reluctance of Hicks'

MAC MINISTER

travel companions to cooperate. Some, when approached, even pretended they didn't know Hicks. But it wasn't long before rumors started to fly about a rap war -- and "Fat Tone" Watkins.

Fat Tone was a large figure, literally and figuratively. After he was shot and wounded in 2003, when he was 22, his next album cover showed him sitting up in a hospital gurney flashing a middle finger. He was "Fat Tone the Untouchable." He was once arrested in the killing of a pregnant woman, although the charges were dropped.

"Every shooting that happened (in Kansas City), you would get calls saying, 'Fat Tone did it, Fat Tone did it.' His name always came up," Babcock said. But when it came to Hicks' death, he said, the rumor had legs.

Soon after Hicks' slaying, Watkins was summoned to Kansas City's police headquarters for an interview. "I told him we expected retribution," Babcock recalled. "He said, 'I'm watching myself.' "

Several months later, Watkins denied in a rap song that he had killed Hicks, but "the rumor was that he admitted it," Babcock said. Early on May 23, a security guard found the body of the 24-year-old Watkins in a housing development under construction in southwest Las Vegas. He'd been shot about 20 times and was slumped over the front seats of a blue 1992 Toyota Tercel, according to grand jury testimony. A few feet away, 22-year-old Jermaine Akins-- a friend who was a fugitive from federal cocaine-selling charges -- also lay dead after being shot 13times.

At the time of the killing, San Francisco promoter Andre "Mac Minister" Dow, his friend Jason Mathis and call girl Lee Danae Laursen were in Las Vegas, according to police. Mathis had rented a house less than five blocks from the murder scene. Dow was with his 28-year-old girlfriend. Laursen, who came from the small town of Payson near Provo, Utah, might have been turning tricks for Mathis, police said.

Slaying victims Watkins and Akins were in Las Vegas for a Snoop Dogg concert at the Palms and were staying at the MGM Grand. According to Las Vegas police Detective

Todd Hendrix, Watkins told his mother and girlfriend that Dow had promised him a meeting with Snoop Dogg.

Just hours before the killings, Hendrix said, MGM Grand cameras recorded Dow leaving the hotel with Watkins and Akins. He believes the victims were driven to the neighborhood where they were killed roughly 80 minutes later.

According to Mathis' arrest warrant, he later admitted to a friend that he had shot Watkins and Akins to avenge Hicks' killing. Mathis "said he shot Watkins, then chased Akins into the street and shot him while he was on the ground pleading for his life," the warrant alleged.

The Toyota Tercel, investigators now say, had been given to Dow's girlfriend by a Berkeley activist, a woman who once was her teacher. The car even bore a "Bush Lost" bumper sticker. Meanwhile, another car -- a white Pontiac Sunfire -- was spotted speeding away from the scene.

A day later, a white 2000 Pontiac Sunfire convertible was found burning in Vallejo. The registered owner: Lee Danae Laursen.

Laursen's father has told police that his daughter was forced into prostitution by Mathis, who "would escort her into various Las Vegas hotels hiding an AK-47 under his clothing," according to Mathis' arrest warrant. The father told police that he rescued his daughter once, in the month before the killing, but that she voluntarily returned to Las Vegas.There, Laursen was seen in a gun shop nine days before the killing, where she bought ammunition similar to that used to kill Watkins and Akins, according to grand jury testimony.

On the night of Nov. 4, Fairfield police officers went to a quiet neighborhood after residents reported hearing gunfire. Laursen was pronounced dead at the scene from a head wound. A dark-colored SUV was seen speeding away. Soon, Mathis' Saturn sedan, which Laursen had been driving, turned up burning in Richmond, said Fairfield police Lt. Tony Shipp.

"She had information that could be very damaging," Hendrix said. "The timing of it is uncanny."

In all the killing of bay Area legend Mac Dre at least 3 more kilings stretching from the Bay Area to Las Vegas

Anthony "Fat Tone" Watkins

The Kansas City rapper, 24, was shot 20 times. His body was found May 23 in an unfinished housing development in Las Vegas.

Jermaine Akins

The 22-year-old friend of Watkins was shot 13 times. He was found near Watkins' body.

Andre "Mac Minister"Dow

The 35-year-old rap promoter was indicted Nov. 2 in Las Vegas on murder charges stemming from the deaths of Watkins and Akins.

Jason Mathis

The 26-year-old friend of Dow also was charged in the deaths of Watkins and Akins.

Lee Danae Laursen

The 21-year-old prostitute - a possible witness to the killings of Watkins and Akins was shot and killed Nov. 4 in Fairfield.

Once Mac Dre was released from prison in the late 90s his independently released CDs still sold around 30,000 units, with the occasional disc selling more than 60,000 copies, according to SoundScan reports. When he started getting hot again after the Treal T.V. (2003) DVD, he was was warming up in the Bay and just when he was it seems about to blow up he was murdered.

J Diggs Of Mac Dre's Thizz Entertainment

Thizz Entertainment’s a San Francisco Bay Area-based, independent record label, started as Romp Records in 1996 by rapper Mac Dre. When Dre moved to Sacramento in 1999, he changed the label's name to Thizz Entertainment to avoid implying a connection to the Romper Room Gang.[1] Dre thought the name Thizz perfectly expressed how it felt when you were high on ecstasy which was becoming popular in the Bay Area hip hop scene. When, on November 1, 2004, Mac Dre was shot and killed after a performance in Kansas City,Missouri, Dre's business partners Miami tha Mostand Curtis "Kilo Curt" Nelson took over the label, and added J-Diggs (Jamal Diggs), also Mac Mall as co-owner.The label's base of operations was then moved back to the Bay Area or in Andrew's house as part of NSF.

The label is known for producing "Thizz music". Thizz Entertainment has been fundamental in the growth and popularity of the Bay Area hyphy movement.

Over sixty artists have released albums through Thizz Entertainment and its various divisions.Thizz sells their CDs via local distribution and on the Internet and markets them largely by word of mouth. They offer the benefit of the label's name recognition to artists who otherwise might not be able to successfully push a record.In 2007 they diversified, adding imprints: Thizz South, Thizz Latin, and Thizz Northwest.

Mac Mall

The label legal issues began in 2010 rapper J-Hype (Joel Williams) was shot and robbed at Mac Dre's birthday party, around His Thizz Nation chain was stolen following two shots to his leg. Williams was convicted of human trafficking in 2013. On February 18, 2011, Zoe tha Roasta, won a $300K lawsuit alleging the Oakland Police Department, in 2006, wrongfully arrested and jailed him for a crime he was not involved in. In November 2011, Killa Keise was shot and killed.

And then in 2012 Vallejo-Based Rappers Arrested as Part of Major Investigation of Drug Trafficking Throughout the United States

U.S. Attorney’s Office

April 24, 2012

SACRAMENTO, CA—A number of arrests have occurred in a major federal investigation into drug trafficking throughout the country, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

According to court documents, agents arrested a total of 25 individuals in Vallejo, Stockton, Fairfield, Oakland, Los Angeles, New York, and Oklahoma City. Some of those arrested are Vallejo-based rappers and associates of an entertainment label known as Thizz Entertainment.

Vallejo Police Chief Robert Nichelini stated, “This is another example of partnership that exists between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Vallejo Police Department to improve the safety