Brian (Waterhead Bo) Bennett

Brian (Waterhead Bo) Bennett

So who was the biggest black kingpin of all time? Just how do you measure that? Money, volume of dope, power, cultural impact? Perhaps it was Frank Matthews… you can learn more about him in my documentary “The Frank Matthews Story” link. But in terms of documented transactions that we know about for sure, who was convicted in court: One man stands alone. Brian “Waterhead Bo” Bennett. Bennett and his Colombian Partner, Mario Villabona, were eventually convicted of moving nearly l5 thousand kilos that they talked about on certain wiretaps between December of 1987 and November of 1988. Some of the loads were as large as 1000 kilos and cheaper than $9,000 dollars each wholesale. That’s 1500 keys a month for nearly a year. And that’s just on the wiretapped phones. Who knows how much he really sold in total. Claims are made about this one and that one selling more, but 15,000 keys sold for sure is the most we know about for any black dealer. Waterhead Bo supplied such “icons” of the crack era as Rayful Edmond of Washington D.C- 300 to 500 keys a month. Rayful was out in Las Vegas during early April of 1987 for the Sugar Ray Leonard Marvin Hagler fight when he met Melvin Butler, a Los Angeles Crip gang member who was working with Bo Bennett. In 1987, less than half of D.C. criminal arrestees tested positive for cocaine use, according to monthly drug testing figures compiled by the D.C. Pretrial Services. Over the next 14 months, as Rayful’s shipments increased, the number testing positive climbed: By May 1988, when federal and city officials believe Edmond's operation was in full force, 67 percent of those arrested by District police tested positive for cocaine use. Waterhead Bo Bennett was also the supplier to Michael “Harry-O” Harris of Los Angeles. Harry-O was making so much money that he was able to finance the first Broadway play for a young actor named Denzel Washington. Oh, and he also started Death Row Records. Waterhead Bo’s status was the first it was the first known case of a major Colombian supplier turning to a big-time street dealer to market his product. The relationship started in 1983, when Brian Bennett was just 18 years old and had a job stocking supermarket shelves in South Central Los Angeles. Waterhead Bo’s family had moved to Los Angeles from Michigan and Brian was bused from South Central to the Valley for high school. Mario Villabona came to Los Angeles in 1983 to work for his uncle Oscar. Oscar was the Cali Cartel’s main main in California and when the price of powdered Cocaine began to drop fast, the Feds claim that Mario explicitly told Waterhead Bo to find new customers for the “crack” cocaine that was sweeping the inner cities of America. Waterhead Bo apparently did an excellent job. The Villabona clan was soon importing huge quantities of cheap Cali cocaine and selling it to their new-found business partner at cut-rate prices of about $11,000 per kilogram. Federal law enforcement said that at its peak, the Bennett-Villabona partnership may have been the largest cocaine distributorship in the country, feeding street dealers across the country. Waterhead Bo was not a gang member himself (insert AC Moses talking about Gangs and drug Dealers) but his brothers were Crips and his main Los Angeles customer, Michael Harris, was closely allied with the Bloods. It’s no coincidence that the Bloods and Crips spread their gang mayhem across the country at this same exact time. After all, the black gangs of Los Angeles had become, for a period that lasted, roughly into the early 90’s, the “plug” for cheap Colombian cocaine for all of Black America. Bennet was flying so high at the end that he was actually in Denmark with a woman, possibly his wife, when he orchestrated his last big deal. A massive deal in Detroit- $5.4 million dollars in cash was seized near the Detroit Metro Airport, I assume for about 400 to 450 kilos of Cali Cocaine. Villabona and Bennett, who had been under investigation for three years, were arrested in November 1988 after two couriers transporting 500 kilograms of the organization's cocaine were arrested in Missouri on drug charges after a routine traffic stop. Waterhead Bo and Mario Villabona finished up their 25 year sentences not too long ago and are both, now, free men. So, Brian “Waterhead Bo” Bennett, the biggest black kingpin that we know for sure about. 15,000 kilos on record. Who knows how much they actually sold. During the investigation, 12 million in cash was seized, including the $5 million from a suburban Detroit hotel room, and the 500 kilos seized in the American heartland of Springfield, Missouri.
Source: AMERICAN DOPE SNAPBACK: https://amzn.to/2EERSiP