Other than the obvious black gangs/drug crews...

Why wasn't there ever a huge OC contingent there? or was there?

Never heard much from the charm city

Gambino's had a small crew there for a long time. Up until the mid 90s or so. Philly too but not sure if they're at all active there now, I doubt it.

There was and still is there.

The last baltimore crew member died in 2001, the Gambinos controlled the port now for sure another crime group maybe the blacks rule on the port.

Any info on where to find out more?

There's no Italian mafia activity in Baltimore now, whatsoever. Although, Little Italy is a great neighborhood .

Old but interesting article

http://bparkinson.blogspot.com/2009/06/baltimore-leaderless.html

Baltimore is lederless

 We're leaderless in Baltimore City. I'm not talking about political leadership, Baltimore has plenty of that, and they do a pretty good job. That includes the police - I think the Baltimore City Police do a very good job, and in a city with our murder rate, the police are a component of the political dynamic.

Compare Baltimore to Boston. In 2008 there were 282 homicides in Baltimore, and 63 in Boston. The insufferable Boston sports fans and their awful grating accent aside, Boston is the more livable city. Why is that? It's not Boston's crappy weather, nor is it their people. The difference is that Boston has Luigi Mannochio.

Mannochio runs the Patriarcha crime family, part of the Mafia. He lives in Providence, RI, but Boston organized crime traditionally has been managed from Providence.

Wikipedia says this about him:

Manocchio was promoted to boss of the Patriarca family following the imprisonment of many of the organization's other leaders. He has been described as a "shrewd, opportunistic old-school leader who excels at keeping a low profile" and is considered "tough and capable, and is well respected among the New York Crime Families."


Put simply, the man provides competent, adult leadership to the organized criminals in Boston and the rest of New England. And that's the difference between Boston and Baltimore.

In Baltimore, our organized criminal element is made up of many small crews that operate on one street or one housing complex. Some are larger. But there are far too many crews, and they are constantly struggling against other similar crews, fighting over control of drug corners. They shoot each other, several hundred times a year. Worse, they often murder witnesses to their murders of rival drug dealers. These gangs are virtually all run by children, by which I mean boys in their early 20's.
 The Black Gorilla Family (BGF) is the only organized gang I've seen that has grown men (men in their 40's and 50's) in leadership positions. One could hope that they could take over drug dealing across the entire city and reduce the violence to Boston-like levels. But Rod Rosenstein, our very competent and perfectly educated United States Attorney who does his job very well, recently hammered BGF with a very damaging indictment, and I imagine they may well be finished in the near term. So we go back to business as usual.
 Why don't we negotiate with the Mafia about managing things in Baltimore?

Let's invite them to come to Baltimore, and organize the city.  My suggestion would be to make three territories: west side (including Park Heights/Pimlico), east side, and southern, with southern additionally having control of Annapolis.

As in other Mafia run cities, no violence would be tolerated without approval from the bosses, and the bosses would collaborate on that approval. After some initial pushback from the little child gangs we have now, we'd be down to less than 100 murders the first year, and less after that.

We need some pragmatism here. The Mafia understand that violence and murder bring police attention, and that's why they survive today - they keep the violence level down, the people don't complain, and the Mafia do their business mostly unmolested by police. This is a lesson our Baltimore criminals can't seem to learn. If you stop shooting each other, the police will leave you alone.

Whether they know it or not, Americans expect their crime to be properly managed, and Baltimoreans deserve no less. Let's get with the program. If we can give tax credits to businesses that treat their employees like crap to stay in the city of Baltimore, certainly we can bring in a competent organization like the Mafia and incentivize them to manage crime, reduce murders, and improve quality of life in the city. The Mafia are no worse, and arguably better, than the corporations Baltimore courts.
Posted 2nd July 2009 by Bob Parkinson

@Furio

That article was posted before somewhere here I'm sure of it. Perhaps I've read before it and there's quite some misconceptions. This is more so towards the blogger and many lurkers on here that haven't read the mob myth section. I break it down for you.

1. The LCN families don't have a citywide influence on criminal groups that are hostile to each other. As long it doesn't interfere in the interest in that family then why bother intervening. Just like crews involved in bootlegging VB in the past, those that are locked in heated conflicts over there turf ( drug trafficking or others) will continue until one side is vanquish, absorbed, or submitted.

2. Tragically a large or half the murders in Baltimore ( like mamy large cities) are domestic related. The OC related killings are actually less than what it seems. I read somewhere about NYC's peak year (1990 or 91) of 2,000+ murders about 1/3 was drug related ( if i recall correctly). The rest is a mix of domestic issues which is insane.

3. Not all crews are battling each other consistently and eventually it will calm down due to incarcerations, murders, and less competition.

4. BGF is obviously still active and a major OC group being based in the prison system gives them an advantage. Also don't forget local Syndicates & 1% clubs. Lesser degree street gangs.

Black Family,I had actually posted the article just to laugh about it not for offend you or the baltimore citizens,in Baltimore need of serious reforms, not of the Mafia or some other criminal organizations. Already the assumption of the article made me laugh.

@ Furio

None taken , just making a general statement.

lol cats who used to just have fist fights are now shooting folks.the mafia would rather wholesale stuff there if anything. no way they could/or want come into a city with hundreds of known shooters and get into a bloody war. here is another thing the same neighborhoods were dangerous in 1973. But that is also home to one of the largest middle class black communities in America. everybody I know there who finished high school or college is making there. The get high crowd or jailbirds are not making it. I just went to my 40th high school reunion there. Baltimore lost about 100,000 well paying jobs by 1995. the heroin game was ran by older men not kids back in the day.

I work as an attorney in Maryland, have a lot of cases in Baltimore (not criminal), but i clerked for a crim defense firm my first yr of law school in Baltimore, visited the jails often, and my boss represented some low level BGF and Piro crips in court.. and i can unequivocally say that Baltimore is an absolute fuckin shithole...

The senseless violence here is so bad it would get much more national attention if things in Chicago werent so bad.. if those fuckin animals that protested the Freddy Gray nonsense or that incompetent race baiting states attorney actually cared about the problems in the city and the real people causing them maybe some changes coule be made..but they like most or those BLm idiots aren't interested in facts or positive changes, just playing the victims... ill get off my soapbox but unlike others i have seen and been involved firsthand in what's going on here and how awful this city has become..

It may sound fucked to say, but having a fully functioning mob family here that controls a portion of the city (not little Italy bc it's basically a block like others said) would honestly improve the violent crime rate and possibly get some of the crimes more organized and keep innocent people from becoming collateral damage.... look im not naive to think mobsters arent violent criminals, but facts show in mob controlled areas historically they were places of little to no street crime and little to no muggings, home invasions, drive bys, and street murders in general.

I mean bc of that racist twat Marilyn Mosby the BPD is so hampered to use tactics that work like stop and frisk, that If a mob family or strong creew like the gambinos were here and had influence they may actually be able to reduce the senseless violence pervading this city... i know theyd be in drugs, gambling, prostitution, extortion.. but fuck if thats a trade off so i can take my wife and kid out in fuckin Fells Point at night without fear of us getting mugged at gunpount to which some of my friends actually have..then ill pass out mother fuckin mafia flyer auditions in the inner harbor tomorrow lol

mike, unless you want to talk about the rampant discrimination in the job market there we are wasting our time. I know too many folks who graduated from college there who could not get interviews in the city, so the rest of the folks will have a even worst time getting jobs there. Why you think the vast majority of black college grads there with a decent job is working for the government. My sister graduated from the university of Baltimore and could not get a job in private industry there. how many black males you see downtown coming out those office buildings at 5 pm in that city?.


I got another friend come out of Pennsylvania avenue, he went to Kansas state played football and graduated ,went to grad school at University of Pennsylvania. I ran into him downtown Baltimore and he told me he could not get a job there, as soon as he sent his resume out of town;he got hired right away.You would think that is the kind of people they want to stay there.

Another thing when the smokestack industries started going away they put any real money into the harbor. The blacks did not remove the good paying jobs from that city either or intentionally put them off public transportation. I finished growing up there and was just there for a week,I know what happened there. Can I go into safe African American areas in Northeast Baltimore? yes I can. I also know the justice system let known jack behinds run wild there for years too. I know you saw it.

I got arrested for grand theft auto when they had the repo report at hq. my wife who I filed divorce from told them I stole the car. All that fat slob rebel had to do was call to confirm he refused too. this is the crap they do there

Satch i do know what you're talking about and i went to UB law. I know the job market is tough there as it is all over. It took a while for me to find one too. I understand the examples you stated but you cant generalize that the reason these friends of yours didnt get the job they applied for was because or their race. The likely reason is the person that was hired was more qualified. Baltimore is a liberal city run by liberals so if there is job discrimination going on you cant necessarily blame that on white republicans

As far as seeing african americans working in the downtown office buildings, i can only speak to the legal field. I graduated from UB law and our class of 515 students had about 35% african americans. Those that apply for law school and have the qualifications get in .. and those that dont, dont get in. And minorities have an easier time getting in frankly because of court decisions like the Michigan and Texas. Ases that allow schools to ask about race and require them to use race as a factor, which I frankly feel is wrong. Admission, hiring anything in life should be based on ones merit not what ethnicity or race you are. I get that 40-50 yrs ago these laws were needed to undue prejudices that prevented minorities from getting into higher education and certain jobs..but imo that time has passed and the persons focusing on race are those claiming to be victims of discrimination.

But to say there arent any good jobs in Baltimore as the reason why there have been I believe almost 400 murders and a rise in violent crime is insanely inaccurate and is passing the buck of responsibility. People are responsible for their choices an. No one made these animals commit these crimes except for themselves. If they come from shittty situations thats a shame but if they want to work hard, do well ij school those same opportunities are absolutely available, itll just take more work than someone who came from money or privileges. And i did not i worked my ass off to get to law school and graduate and becom an attorney.

I really cant stand that argument that all these other factors are the reason why peiple commit crimes, dont work hard or have regular jobs. Theres always shity jobs out there people can take, then work hard to move up in life and succeed snd leave their kids in a better situation than they came from.. that is what every person thats able to work should do, thats not debatable

Lastly in my firm we have 11 associate attorneys like me that are minorities that worked hard and deserve to be there. They didnt all come from money, they earned it. I dont buy for a second that Baltimores job market is discriminating and any worse than anywhere in the country's. I also dont buy that this is somehow the reason for Baltimore being a violent shit hole.. thats on the animals that inhabit the city thet aren't willing to work and dont respect the law

The article is ridiculous. The reason the Mob was so strong was they were deeply ingrained in the old ethnic neighborhoods. They were able to fit in to legitimate society by giving money to the church, doing business with (and trapping in debt) legitimate business men, they were really entrenched in the community. They can't just drop into a strange neighborhood and announce they are taking over. They would face immediate reprisal from the local gangs. And the cops would be on them right away too, because wiseguys would stick out like sore thumbs in an all black neighborhood.

When did the gambinos run the ports in baltimore? Baltimore definitely has organised crime. Organised crime is at the end of the day just crime you don't have to take care of the neighbourhood or have a social club or stop street crime to be committing organised crime.

You have a lot of street gangs but you also have drug trafficking organisations and underworld figures that go back along time.

This is a more recent article involving unions and the port of baltimore.

Union Busted
Port of Baltimore
Christopher Myers
Van Smith

Ask Michael Thames if he’s a member of the Local 333 of the International Longshoremen’s Association, and the 42-year-old quickly pulls his Port of Baltimore photo-identification card out of his pants pocket. He’s been working for nine years on crews that load and unload ships calling on Baltimore, he says, and his brother and two uncles do too, as did his father until retiring recently. All, he says, are members of Local 333.

Thames is holding his Baltimore Orioles cap and sunglasses in his hand, sporting a black faux-leather jacket with lots of zippered pockets. A grill of gold caps his front teeth, flashing as he speaks. He has close-cropped hair and a slight mustache.

Yes, Thames says, he’s aware there’s a Local 333 election coming up on Dec. 3, and that Riker “Rocky” McKenzie is running for Local 333’s president.

McKenzie has already been president of the union once, having won the position in January 2009. But he was replaced in August by an acting president after the ILA’s national leaders in New York determined that a heroin-dealing conviction from the 1970s rendered him ineligible for the position, since felons are barred from serving as union officers. The day after the decision, McKenzie appealed. While he did not contest the conviction during a June hearing on the matter, in his appeal he contended he received probation before judgment in the heroin case rather than a guilty finding. Pending the outcome of his appeal, he’s allowed to be nominated as the local’s president. He has only one opponent: longtime Local 333 member John Blom.

And yes, Thames says, he knows McKenzie’s bid for president included a Nov. 15 fundraiser at the Eldorado, a strip club in East Baltimore managed by Kenneth Antonio “Kenny Bird” Jackson, an iconic Baltimore underworld figure—and a fellow member of Local 333.

Jackson hasn’t been part of an active prosecution since a generation ago (“The High Life,” Mobtown Beat, Jan. 3, 1996), but his criminal history includes several notable convictions—manslaughter, narcotics, and gun possession—and he beat two murder raps, one in 1974 and the other in 1991. In between, he was twice pulled over in his car on the New Jersey Turnpike with large sums of cash during the late 1980s. The first time it was $91,000; the next it was nearly $700,000.

Over time, Jackson’s life quieted on the law-enforcement front. In a 2009 interview about a film he produced, The Baltimore Chronicles: Legends of the Unwired (“Last Word,” Feature, Apr. 29, 2009), Jackson told City Paper he’d undergone “a transition from one lifestyle to another,” shelving his gangster ways and retreating peacefully to the simple life of running a family-owned strip club.

But Jackson is still a lightning rod for criminal and political intrigue. In the mid-2000s, a federal prosecution of a politically connected violent drug gang, the Rice Organization (“Wired,” Mobtown Beat, March 2, 2005), targeted a man who helped run the criminal enterprise while also operating a restaurant in a Jackson-owned building on Howard Street’s Antique Row. And Jackson’s mother—who co-owns the Eldorado with him—still co-owns a downtown Baltimore condominium (The News Hole, Feb. 22) with Jackson’s former criminal-defense attorney, Robert Simels of New York (“Team Player,” Mobtown Beat, Sept. 24, 2008), who’s now serving a 14-year prison sentence for witness intimidation.

It’s hard to imagine a man of Jackson’s stature doing wage-paying labor as a stevedore. And, in fact, he may not have, according to multiple Local 333 members who spoke on the condition that their names not be used, for fear of retribution. Instead, they say it’s common knowledge on the docks that another man, Anthony James Carroll, worked in Jackson’s place—a not uncommon practice known as “covering” (“Clocked,” Mobtown Beat, Oct. 6). To shore up this contention, they share details about a woman who almost married Carroll, thinking he was Jackson, until the ruse came tumbling down after Carroll’s arrest when driving a stolen car in 2007.

“I don’t know,” Thames says when asked about Carroll standing in as Jackson at the port. “I just know [Carroll] worked down there [as a stevedore] before.”

Jackson did not respond to a detailed e-mail and could not be reached by phone. Attempts to reach Carroll, who court records indicate is now in South Carolina, were unsuccessful. The phone number he gave officials when he signed probation papers in October for a recent theft conviction is no longer active.

Thames is also aware that Local 333 member Milton Tillman Jr.—a politically influential bail-bondsman and real estate investor with two prior federal convictions for attempted bribery and tax evasion—was indicted by a federal grand jury early this year. Some of the charges against Tillman involve covering, alleging he was paid port wages for shifts he did not work. Tillman’s reputation as a drug-world figure was exploited in a federal courtroom in 2002, when since-deceased Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Luna, while prosecuting a case involving the 2000 shooting of Tillman’s son, called him “one of the most notorious drug dealers in Baltimore City history” (“Grave Accusations,”Mobtown Beat, April 23, 2008).

Tillman and Jackson are arguably two of the most enduring names in the modern annals of Baltimore crime. And both are members of Local 333.

In addition to McKenzie, Jackson, and Tillman, Thames says he knows about the federal fraud convictions in September of three port timekeepers for covering. The case against the timekeepers, who are members of Local 953 and track dockworkers’ hours on behalf of employers, grew out of the federal investigation into Tillman’s conduct on the waterfront (“Collateral Catch,” Mobtown Beat, March 31).

Asked about the investigations and the upcoming elections, Thames says, “I don’t really have no recommendations. As far as Rocky and all them, all I know is what you know.”

The conversation with Thames occurred on Nov. 12 in a hallway outside a courtroom at the U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Thames, whose street name is “Gotti,” had just pleaded not guilty to an indictment accusing him of being a cocaine dealer. According to the charging papers, on Sept. 1 law enforcers descended on Thames’ Essex residence armed with a search warrant. The search turned up about five ounces of cocaine, about $5,000, two digital scales, and two blocks of mannite, often used as a cutting agent for illegal drugs.

Thames’ circumstances—along with convicted criminals Tillman and Jackson being Local 333 members and union president McKenzie’s hazy criminal charge—beg questions. Does Local 333 draw people with criminal pasts or presents? And if so, why? Thames answers as best he can, saying, “I don’t know.” Attempts at follow-up interviews were unsuccessful.



In 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice in New York filed a civil racketeering lawsuit against the national ILA. The government calls its target “the Waterfront Enterprise,” and says it is comprised of ILA leaders and members and associates of the Genovese and Gambino organized-crime families. Among the dozens of named defendants in the case are two Baltimoreans: Richard Hughes, the ILA’s president, who is the longtime business agent for Local 953 in Baltimore; and Horace Alston, a Local 333 member who serves as an ILA vice president in New York.

The purpose of the litigation, the federal attorneys wrote in a 2008 motion, is “to eradicate the pervasive and long-enduring Waterfront racketeering that has deprived” the ILA’s “honest membership,” the “innocent beneficiaries” of its pension and welfare funds, and businesses that use ILA labor “of rights and property for decades.”

Last week, the ILA’s problems in New York and New Jersey were put under a spotlight by the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, the watchdog agency that polices port labor practices there. According to news reports, testimony revealed that an ILA shop steward makes $400,000 a year logging 168 hours of work each week, an ILA timekeeper earned about $462,000 in 2009 by getting paid for 25-hour workdays, and a cargo checker with mob ties had a no-show job. The hearings seek to reveal how irrational labor practices drive up port costs and create conditions ripe for organized crime to have a say over how billions of dollars worth of cargo is moved through New York Harbor each year.

The words “Baltimore,” “Maryland,” or “Local 333” do not appear in the federal case, which focuses on conduct alleged—or in many cases proven—to have occurred in New York, New Jersey, and Florida. Nonetheless, the ongoing, slow-moving litigation casts a pall over the ILA as a whole, lending credence to the possibility that something about its institutional culture attracts, or perhaps even welcomes, criminal elements.

People like to say that Baltimore doesn’t have organized crime; instead, it has disorganized crime. There aren’t any Gambinos or Genoveses to infiltrate the ILA here in Mobtown, calling the shots about how cargo gets moved. Instead, there are run-of-the-mill, disorganized criminals. An analysis of the Local 333 membership roster bears this out.

Local 333 isn’t packed with people who have bribery, extortion, racketeering, kickback, and public corruption backgrounds. Instead, the records of many Local 333 members reflect the core criminality of Baltimore: drugs, violence, and property crime. At least a fifth of its membership consists of serious felons.

City Paper used online court records to determine that out of the 918 distinct port identification numbers issued to ILA members through Local 333, according to its roster in mid-October, 272 of them are held by presumably honest workers who have never been charged with a crime in Maryland in their adult lives. Thus, at least 29 percent of the membership is untainted by any criminal accusations at all, based on available information.

The number of completely upstanding members is likely greater, because, in the case of another 267 members, City Paper was unable to ascertain whether or not they’ve ever had criminal charges filed against them in Maryland: Either their names were too common to match up with available information in the court records, or someone with charges or convictions on the record shared their name, but available information was insufficient to reach any definite conclusions. Of these 267, it is unknown if they’ve ever been charged with a crime, charged but not convicted, or found guilty. This group comprises another 29 percent of Local 333’s membership.

That leaves at least 379 members, or 41 percent of the membership, who are confirmed to have been accused of criminal wrongdoing in Free State courts at some point in their adult lives—though this number, too, is likely to be higher, given the 30 percent of members with undetermined backgrounds.

Of these 379 members, 219—almost a quarter of the union membership—have been convicted. By removing from the list of convicts those who were ruled guilty only of relatively minor charges—things like traffic offenses, cable-television fraud, open container, disorderly conduct, housing violations, leaving the scene of an accident, etc.—the list is whittled down to 194 members with serious criminal backgrounds, more than one-fifth of Local 333’s roster.

So far this year, 21 members of Local 333 have been convicted of serious crimes. All but one of them have prior convictions. Their 2010 convictions include: armed robbery, possession with intent to distribute drugs, drug dealing, attempted drug dealing, drug possession (five counts), firearms (three counts), sex offense, escape, theft (two counts), and assault (three counts).

One member, who was convicted this year of escape and drug possession, already had 10 convictions dating back to the mid-’90s for such crimes as drug dealing, battery, firearms, robbery, and car theft. Another, who was convicted this year of theft, also has an open drug-possession charge and has been convicted previously of drug-dealing crimes in 2004, 1997, and 1996. On average, before getting convicted this year, this group’s number of prior guilty findings is three, and three of this year’s convicts were first found guilty of a serious crime in 1993.

In 2009, 19 members were convicted of serious crimes. Six of them were subsequently convicted of other crimes in 2010, or currently face open charges. Their 2009 convictions include: assault (three counts, including one for assaulting a correctional officer), theft (four counts), possession with intent to distribute drugs (two counts), drug dealing, drug possession (five counts), driving while intoxicated (two counts), and escape (two counts). All but two of them have prior convictions on their records and, on average, this group, like 2010’s, had three prior convictions. The member convicted of assaulting a prison guard has drug-dealing and firearms convictions going back to 1995, while another, convicted of three counts of theft in 2009, has drug dealing and assault convictions going back to 1996, and faces new drug-possession charges this year.

Thus, the group of Local 333 members convicted recently of serious crimes consists almost entirely of repeat offenders, and several have records that make them appear to be career criminals. Being a Local 333 member, with access to good wages working as a stevedore, does not seem to have solved the recidivism problem for them.

It is possible that many of those with serious convictions in their past have put their criminal behavior behind them, with the aid of their well-paying jobs at the port. Of the 98 members of Local 333 who had serious criminal convictions in 1995 or before, 40 have never been convicted of a crime again (though one of them was recently arrested for drug possession, which triggered an outstanding drug-dealing warrant from 22 years ago). That’s a powerful statement about the rehabilitative effects of a good job. Among the remaining old-school felons, the picture is rather dismal.

These 58 aging criminals, on average, have been convicted three additional times since 1995. Eleven of them have five or more new convictions since then, including for: theft (13 counts), drug possession (21 counts), possession with intent to distribute drugs (six counts), drug dealing (three counts), assault (10 counts), robbery (two counts), firearms (two counts), deadly weapon with intent to injure, conspiracy (two counts), violating protective orders (four counts), and 16 probation violations. The other 47 members, who have one to four convictions since 1995, display a similar laundry list of bad or dangerous conduct: assault (11 counts), firearms (three counts), drug dealing (seven counts), possession with intent to distribute drugs (14 counts), drug possession (20 counts), and theft (nine counts)

In addition to the 58 members who appear to be career criminals and the 38 members convicted of crimes since 2009, nearly all with prior convictions, there are 23 members of the local who currently face open charges and are awaiting trial. They are accused of such crimes as arson threat, false imprisonment, attempted kidnapping, assault (seven counts), sex offense, felon in possession of a firearm, possession with intent to distribute drugs (two counts), drug possession (nine counts), selling counterfeit goods, burglary (three counts), driving while intoxicated (two counts), and violating a protective order.

While Local 333 has more than its fair share of felons, new, old, or soon-to-be-again, it also boasts a high number of productive members of society who either have never demonstrated a criminal disposition, or shed their criminal lifestyles long ago. Whether or not these good people make up the union’s majority is hard to say, but they might. And the upcoming elections offer them the chance to control the local’s destiny.

When visited at his fundraiser at Kenneth Jackson’s Eldorado strip club on Nov. 15, Riker “Rocky” McKenzie declined to discuss his candidacy for president—or anything at all, for that matter. He refused to answer questions and said he was not interested in receiving a follow-up call to try to change his mind about being interviewed.

McKenzie’s opponent, John Blom, wasn’t eager to talk either when reached by phone a few days later. He was unhappy because a rumor had been making the rounds that he’d sicced City Paper on McKenzie, which was not the case. But Blom agreed to answer questions, though he was far from pleased with the prospect that his union would be portrayed as a den of thieves, drug dealers, and other ne’er-do-wells.

The union’s problems, Blom says, are not due to criminal elements in its midst, but instead to “disarray” and “infighting” that are detracting from its ability to defend workers from employers’ never-ending quests for labor-contract concessions.

“I was originally planning on retiring this year,” says Blom, who has been a member of Local 333 since 1977, “but I don’t want to leave with it in such a mess as it is in right now.” He says “there’s an incredible amount of infighting involving Mr. McKenzie,” and it’s gotten so bad that “people won’t work together. It’s pretty brutal, to the point of being, as far as I’m concerned, pretty dysfunctional.” He explains that “the infighting is making us ineffective when the companies are trying to wrest concessions from the workers,” but is circumspect when it comes to the details of what’s prompting dissension in the ranks.

“It’s all kinds of stuff,” he says, “kind of in-the-family stuff, so I don’t want to go into it. But it needs to stop in order for us to be an effective organization. I’m going to take a crack at making things better. I believe I can be a unifying force. I think I’m pretty well perceived as being a fair person.”

As for the contention, based on the roster analysis, that the local appears to have been infiltrated by active criminals, Blom believes the data City Paper turned up “pretty much matches up with the population of Baltimore City. Statistically, I don’t think that’s unusual,” he says of the high proportion of ex-cons, recent convicts, and recently accused people among Local 333’s membership. “We incarcerate people at a far greater rate than any other country in the world,” he points out.

Blom, who is one of the local’s many members without a trace of criminal blemish in his background, concedes that the local may have attracted some who want to be members just so “they can tell a judge, ‘Yeah, I work there, and I’ve worked there for five years,’ even though maybe they haven’t worked a shift in five years.”

Kenneth Jackson and Milton Tillman Jr., who both have legitimate business incomes, presumably don’t have to worry about explaining where their money comes from. Asked what advantage a union stevedoring job—especially one that they may not work—provides Jackson and Tillman, Blom says, “I don’t have a clue. That’s beyond my payscale.”

Blom adds, “I don’t even know who the Jackson guy is. ” Of Tillman, he says, “I recognized by sight the guy who said he was Tillman” while working at the docks, “and all of the sudden, he disappeared.”

Meanwhile, Blom is banking on winning the Dec. 3 election for Local 333 president so he can work to make the union’s problems disappear too.

Correction: Kenneth Antonio Jackson is not an owner of record of the Eldorado Lounge, as reported in this article. The club and the property on which it sits are owned by K.A.J. Enterprises, of which Jackson is resident agent, meaning he is the business’ primary legal contact. City Paper regrets the error.

Interesting article from 99.
When a drug lord is your landlord.

"facts show in mob controlled areas historically they were places of little to no street crime and little to no muggings, home invasions, drive bys, and street murders in general."

Where are the source to back these facts?

Also correction: Piru not pro.

good article.

I've read lots of stories about drug dealers in the crack era and it's RARE to read about them flipping their money into holding property. and especially not many with the foresight to buy property right before redevelopment happens. These true stories DEFINITELY formed basis for some of Stringer Bell's storyline on the Wire.

A lot of ex drug dealers in newly gentrified parts of town across the country have to be kicking themselves for squandering money on trinkets. Dudes made obscene amounts of cash..lived the high life for 2-4 years.....spent 10 years in prison and have nothing to show for it

I think Krs-One had a song about this on the Edutainment album.

first of all it is not a dem/gop issue, the racism there is on a grass roots level on up. the everyday redneck is in on the game because they want somebody to be underneath them. they know the calvert hall, gilman and roland park folks look down
on them.

two I saw those degreed folks get discriminated against they are friends and family. I have been around enough in corporate America to know folks play major games aginst black males especially. I personally know of two cases where folks tried to promote white hs grads over blacks with master degrees. I knew the whites and the blacks in those cases and their qualfications. you will never convince me that a white male with a master degree from a ivy school will have trouble landing a interview like my friend experienced in Baltimore.

you cannot erase 450 years of social engineering in 50 years.the blacks were socially engineered into poverty and you see the effects today . my mother is 85 years who was born into jim crow in Mississippi when I visit her in Mississippi I see the effects of jim crow still in that state. you want to act like the whites in that region did not play a role in the state of Baltimore today.i call bs I saw them truck in white guys from delaware to do freaking laborer jobs on construction sites. the mercantile bank building was where I saw it first hand dec 1978

nobody should have been building shit in that city and not making sure the poor folk get some of those jobs.i know they applied just like I did.that crap goes on then folks cry because folks turn to crime. here is what I know about Baltimore is that city is 60 percent black but I can find a ton of lily white job sites and offices there.


screw affirmative action talk when a ton of whites have to take remedial math and English class their freshman year,only the whites who went to the best high schools do not. test scores like the SAT are a test of exposure, you think a kid who grew up in a landlocked city is going to know what a regatta is? but that kid from Newport Beach,California whose family owns a big boat will and will get that question right.

Satch7

Out of curiosity , which city did your mother grew up in Mississippi?

our family roots are on 92 acres in jasper county ms right off the Heidelberg exit on 59 south. she lives in meridian though but she was raised on that land in jasper county

Wow. I've been through Jasper before and Meridian is just an hour and half South from my city. Meridian have quite the rough reputation too.

Interested if anyone has any knowledge of OC's involvement past or present day in The Block or any of the adult businesses in or around Baltimore?

Satch- so wait you do or dont live in Baltimore and are making these generalizations!?... bc they are dude.. im not trying to say you're not telling the truth dude but you cant make sweeping generalizations on the hiring practices of an entire city based on these few instances.

And look im not gonna get into a political argument with you here but as someone that works here in Baltimore i can tell you unequivocally this is a liberal city with a liberal mayor.. and these race/crime issues pervade this city in every corner...

This article mentions Scarfo down in Baltimore on The Block with his Atlantic City associate Alvin Feldman, who had moved down there and got into pornography. It's possible Scarfo had some interests down there also:

http://articles.philly.com/1986-04-21/ne...fo-crime-family

This guy seems like he is the biggest drug trafficker in baltimore. I dont think he has been arrested yet, this article is from 2013.

Baltimore businessmen in federal crosshairs for massive cocaine conspiracy
Van Smith
Gerald Lamont Jones of Randallstown is a "self-made entreprenuer [sic] who clearly understands hard work, commitment, and discipline," according to his bodybuilding website, joethebodybuilder.com. But if federal authorities are correct in the allegations they've recently disclosed about Jones, who owns Gold's Gym in Owings Mills, the Pimlico Motors chain of auto dealerships, and JBL Construction, among other companies, then his entrepreneurial success has a secret ingredient: large-scale cocaine trafficking.

Jones has not been publicly charged with any crimes and has no prior criminal record in Maryland. But on Oct. 28, just days before Jones took second place at the International Drug Free Athletics bodybuilding championships in Ontario, one of his employees, George Sylvester Frink Jr., was charged in Maryland U.S. District Court with possessing 15 kilograms of cocaine while in the parking lot of the nerve center of Jones' business affairs, a small Pikesville office building at 8 Church Lane.

In the ensuing weeks, more details emerged in Frink's case, including court documents implicating Jones. A search-and-seizure warrant affidavit signed Oct. 25 by DEA special agent Robert Blanchard and docketed in the court record on Nov. 12 says that a California drug organization's cocaine shipments to Jones and others came in 24 shipments of between 50 and 60 kilograms of cocaine, 10 shipments of between 50 and 120 kilos, a 150-kilo shipment, and a 200-kilo shipment. That means that, if Blanchard's affidavit is to be believed, Jones and others-the affidavit suggests the bulk of it was bound for Jones-received between 2,050 and 2,990 kilograms of cocaine, eye-popping amounts whose wholesale value comes to about $60 million to $90 million.

The probe is being conducted by DEA and the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division. Part of Blanchard's 21-page affidavit-which supported an application for a warrant to raid two properties associated with Frink, including 8 Church Lane-describes alleged patterns of money laundering in records of Jones' personal and business banking accounts, which showed 380 cash deposits totaling more than $2.6 million between 2008 and 2012.

Attempts to reach Jones by phone and email were unsuccessful, as were efforts to determine whether he is represented by a criminal defense attorney. Jones' civil attorney, Diane Leigh Davison, who manages legal aspects of many of his business dealings, wrote in an email to City Paper that "I have no comment as I know nothing about any of these allegations."

Blanchard's affidavit dubs Jones' alleged California suppliers the "Lopez-Brascom DTO," short for drug-trafficking organization, and notes its members were indicted in California in 2010. City Paper covered the case ("Bringing It Back Home," Mobtown Beat, Feb. 2, 2011), since it involved Baltimore-bound cocaine and three defendants-Ricky James Brascom, Charles Dwight Ransom Jr., and Darrin Ebron-who originally hailed from Baltimore.

In that case, which involved shipments of 400 kilograms of cocaine and more than $4 million in cash during a six-week period, DEA wiretaps recorded conversations between Brascom and his alleged girlfriend, the actress and singer Drew Sidora Jordan, while Ebron-a star-tied fashion designer and deejay who performed at Eddie Murphy and Tracey Edmonds' 2008 wedding on the island of Bora Bora-claimed his wiretapped conversations were not about drugs but about music-industry work he was doing for Brascom and Ransom's company, Behind Da Scenes Entertainment, which produced the rapper Paypa.

At the time, City Paper determined that Behind Da Scenes was actually Jones' company and that Jones had given two pieces of Baltimore real estate to Ransom in 2007. When reached for comment, Davison said Jones had "has no involvement in or awareness of" the allegations in the "unfortunate" California indictment and explained that "the real estate transactions have no relation to the recent allegations," adding that Jones "has always tried to assist and mentor family and friends in business, and tried to do the same for his former college fraternity brother, Charles Ransom."

While Ebron-convicted and currently in prison, set to be released in 2017-and Brascom-with a 2019 release date-met the same fate, Ransom escaped from a South Carolina jail shortly after the indictment and remained on the lam until his arrest in California in March. He pleaded guilty in September and is scheduled to be sentenced in January. The indicted head of the DTO Heriberto Lopez remains a fugitive, according to Blanchard's affidavit.

The investigation into Frink and Jones began in October and November 2010-just as the California indictment was handed down-when a "cooperating defendant" that Blanchard's affidavit calls "CS1" told DEA agents that he or she "routinely got kilograms of cocaine" from a man named Paul Alexander at "On the Rocks" bar on Liberty Road in Randallstown, and that Frink, who owned the place and was Alexander's cocaine partner, would be present at the meetings. According to business records, Frink's bar was actually On the Roxx, located in the Randallstown Plaza Shopping Center.

CS1's information paled in comparison to that provided by CS2, a "cooperating source" interviewed by DEA agents in February 2011, according to Blanchard's affidavit. The Lopez-Brascom DTO brought hundreds of kilos per month from California to Maryland, CS2 explained, and in 2008, shortly after CS2 introduced Ransom to Lopez, Jones flew to California to meet with them. Ransom told CS2 that Jones was his "partner in the cocaine distribution business."

When the scheme got up and running in 2008, the affidavit continues, Jones allegedly received 10 shipments of 50 to 120 kilograms of cocaine hidden in secret compartments in cars that Jones and Ransom had provided to Brascom and Lopez. The coke-laden cars would then be placed on "tractor-trailer auto-carriers that were destined for Baltimore," the affidavit states, and once the coke was sold, the cars' secret compartments would be filled with cash for shipment back to Brascom and Lopez in California. Then the cross-country circuit would begin again.

But in May 2009, the affidavit continues, after law enforcers stopped a Honda Ridgeline being transported from California to Pimlico Motors' Liberty Road location and seized cocaine, the DTO switched up, opting instead to ship the coke hidden amidst legitimate cargo carried by tractor-trailers.

Other than information provided by the two cooperators, much of Blanchard's affidavit is filled with observations gleaned from surveillance, which circumstantially links Jones to criminal conduct-if the agents' conclusions based on what they saw were accurate.

They noted, for instance, that on July 2 Jones moved items from one vehicle to a minivan in the parking lot of 8 Church Lane, and concluded that "Jones was moving bundles of cash into the minivan, preparing it for transportation out of state to purchase more kilograms of cocaine," since "Jones and his coconspirators in the drug business have a long history of moving drugs and money in this fashion."

While Jones has not been charged, Frink is facing a maximum sentence of life in prison, according to the prosecutor on the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Kay, speaking at a Nov. 21 court hearing. Frink had initially been ordered detained pending trial, but at the hearing he won supervised release after his attorney, Kenneth Ravenell, pointed out that what the government had called Frink's lies-about his employment at Gold's Gym, for instance, and where he resided-were, in fact, true.

"You were given information that was not accurate," Ravenell told U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth Gesner at the hearing, "by a less than stellar investigation."

Jones must be hoping the same is true of the affidavit calling him a high-volume cocaine trafficker.

Damn!!
2,000- 2,990 Kilos !!
We've found Baltimore's Gustavo Feng.

I was not born there, born in south side of Chicago butI am sure you do not know a lot the Chicago black folks roots are Mississippi. I am a 1977 Southwestern HS school grad was just there for a HS reunion out in Randallstown,Md. I lived on 2500 block of West Baltimore street and 1900 block of Hollins st. I was at the Belvedere and Lexington markets, up on fulton and north avenues,down westside shopping center, 2200 block of East Madison when I was there last month, my sister lives in 300 block of N Fremont she is retired baltimore 911. I do not live there anymore but I am always there and I stand by what I said about the job market there. that is why black folks rented po boxes with county zip codes to transact business out of.

liberal ran cities? I live in Seattle there is not one city in a red state that compare with Seattle. Because of all the technology jobs here in aerospace and IT up here there are training programs for any skilled trade and IT job here.It's booming here.

but here is the real deal with urban America has nothing to do with that liberal vs con stuff:


U.S. multinationals shifted millions of jobs overseas in the 2000s. Data from the U.S. Department of Commerce showed that “U.S. multinational corporations, the big brand-name companies that employ a fifth of all American workers… cut their work forces in the U.S. by 2.9 million during the 2000s while increasing employment overseas by 2.4 million.”

Furthermore, a recent Wall Street Journal analysis showed, “Thirty-five big U.S.-based multinational companies added jobs much faster than other U.S. employers in the past two years, but nearly three-fourths of those jobs were overseas.”

urban America lost their jobs in the 80's and 90's. I can list all the well paying jobs that left Baltimore.