Ricky Donnell Ross was born in 1960 and moved to South Central when he was three. Crack was cheaper and sold for $5 or $10 a hit. In the 1970s and into the next decade, cocaine in its white powder form was the 'social drug of the elite': the stimulant that kept the party going at fashionable hotspots like Studio 54. In the early 1980s, the amount of cocaine coming into the United States increased by 50 percent and the price of the drug fell, according to the documentary.Ĭrack is cocaine mixed with water and another agent, usually baking soda, which once cooled after being 'cooked' is broken into 'rocks,' which then are smoked.
FREEWAY CRACK IN THE SYSTEM DOCUMENTARY WATCH ONLINE CRACK
'When crack came along, it was like, yo, this is it right here. He recalled he sold it in 20 to 30 minutes and that he might have made a few hundred dollars. A friend introduced him to the drug and gave him a pack of 100 vials to get started. Samson Styles, above, said he was in high school when he started dealing crack. Crack transformed the city and the entire country, leaving devastation in its wake – especially in Black and Latinx communities,' he said in a statement. It was a gold rush that hit the hood.'Ĭrack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy, which premieres January 11 on Netflix, examines the 1980s when crack cocaine use exploded across the United States.ĭirector Stanley Nelson lived through the crack era in New York City. 'I vividly remember the long lines of cars waiting for dealers people standing in doorways smoking crack streets littered with crack vials. Samson Styles started dealing in high school and said they were street capitalists that didn't care about anything but making money. I was in it for money, clothes, jewelry and girls,' he recalled in the film. 'We went from making a hundred dollars a day to thousands of dollars a day. In New York City, Corey Pegues made money 'hand over fist' when he dealt crack. Ross was not the only one profiting off the highly addictive drug. Federal prosecutors said that Ross 'bought and resold three tons of cocaine,' between 19, according to the article. Reportedly a millionaire by 23, Ross was raking in so much cash – about $900 million in today's money – that he hired people to count it, according to a 2013 Esquire profile. 'I was one of the richest guys in LA,' Ross said in a new documentary. In the 1980s, 'Freeway' Ricky Ross built a crack cocaine empire that extended from his Los Angeles base to over 40 cities around the country. A new Netflix documentary, Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy, examines how the drug devastated black and Latino communities in the 1980s.Drug money was allegedly channeled to the Contras In the 1980s, the CIA supported the Contras to overthrow the socialist Sandinistas in Nicaragua.A 1996 San Jose Mercury News investigation alleged that the CIA was tied to LA gangs that were selling crack cocaine.Ross, Pegues and Styles are featured in a new documentary Corey Pegues and Samson Styles also were making money selling crack in New York City.Federal prosecutors said Ross raked in about $300 million - over $900 million in today's money - in profits from his dealing from 1982 to 1989, per the article.'Freeway' Ricky Ross built a drug-dealing empire that extended from LA to over 40 cities nationwide during the 1980s, according to a 2013 Esquire profile.In the 1980s its use exploded across the United States In the 1970s, people started using crack, which is cheaper than cocaine and highly addictive.'I was in it for the money, jewelry and girls': Unrepentant crack barons boast how they raked in millions during the 1980s 'gold rush' in new doc exposing the CIA's alleged role in America's drug empires