Nicky Barnes: Mr Untouchable | A Fair Fight | 2

It's a cool afternoon at the end of 1976. Robert Geronimo pulls his car up out front of Harlem River Motors, a garage in the Bronx. The place is one of the more legitimate businesses owned by Nicky Barnes, New York's most famous drug kingpin.

Robert's not here to get his car fixed, though. In the passenger seat beside him sits DEA Special Agent Louis Diaz. Robert has been paired with Louis to gather incriminating evidence against Nicky Barnes and his partners.

Robert takes a deep breath, then rolls down his window. A group of guys are hanging out near the garage entrance, admiring paintwork, smoking, joking with one another. One of them is Wally Fisher.

That's who Robert's here to see. Robert whistles to get Wally's attention, then waves him over to the car. A few days ago, Robert told Wally that his uncle Louis is a big time heroin supplier, but he's all tapped out at the moment.

He's been looking for a reliable source to get him an eighth of a kilogram. Wally jumped at the chance to help out. His older brother Guy is tight with Nicky, and Wally's eager to get on Guy's level.

He approaches the car and leans down to greet Robert, who introduces him to his uncle, Louis D. Making like he's reaching in to shake Louis' hand, Wally passes a package in through the window.

Agent Diaz takes a quick look at the powder, then hands over a roll of bills. Robert's ears are ringing the entire time, but he tries to keep his face neutral, as Wally promises that it's good stuff he just gave them.

Robert nods, trying to imitate Diaz, but he almost looks bored. Wally promises he can get more for them if they need it. Just let him know.

Robert can't help noticing the note of pride in his friend's voice as he says this. He thinks he's finally making the name for himself like his brother. He's got no idea he's being set up.

After a minute of small talk, Wally straightens and walks back towards the garage. Robert looks over at Louie, who gives him the quiet order to drive on.

Robert rolls up his window, puts the car in gear, and breathes a sigh of relief as he puts some distance between himself and the guys at the garage. It's the first movies made against Nicky and the council since he was recruited by the feds.

Now, he has to hope they don't find out what he's done. From Airship and Evergreen Podcasts, I'm Jeremy Schwartz and this is American Criminal.

3:23

In the early 1960s, Nicky Barnes was coming to the end of a five-year sentence in Green Haven State Prison. He'd been caught dealing heroin in Harlem, where he enjoyed some renown as the dealer with the best stuff on the market.

But although a conviction and lengthy prison term might seem like a setback, Nicky's time at Green Haven proved invaluable. Inside, he had reconnected with Matthew Madonna, whose brother Frank was a big supplier on the outside.

Matty spent time teaching Nick about how New York's Italian crime families operated, while their structure insulated the men at the top from trouble with the law.

And so, when he was granted parole, Nicky was prepared to relaunch his career as a dealer, this time with an eye to building an unassailable empire.

But despite his best intentions, Nick was going to learn that it was impossible to win the game when the other side didn't play fair. This is episode two in our four-part series on Leroy Nicky Barnes. It's a cold, wet night in early spring 1964.

On the east side of Harlem, 30-year-old Nicky Barnes is asleep in his brand-new Cadillac Fleetwood. About 18 months ago, Nicky was paroled from Green Haven State Prison.

Inside the facility, he befriended Matty Madonna, whose brother Frank set Nicky up with drugs to sell once he got out. And that's what Nick's doing tonight.

Right now, one of his men is in a nearby building checking on another dealer, and Nicky shut his eyes to catch some Zs. Only he doesn't get to rest for long. He's startled awake by a loud knocking on the car window.

Bearing through the rain-streaked glass, he sees Steve Austin glaring down at him, a small group of men at his back. Nicky sighs. He should have expected this.

See, he's from the west side, and according to the unwritten rules of the drug trade, that means he's supposed to stick to his side of Harlem. But Nick's guy upstairs, he's an eastside guy.

So Nick figures that makes the fact that he's doing business over here copacetic. Steve Austin sees things differently.

He's the top dog in East Harlem, and he's put the word out that he doesn't appreciate Nicky Barnes coming over to his side of town and taking his business. Now he's tracked Nicky down, presumably, to teach him a lesson. But Nicky's not in the mood.

He's exhausted from chasing down his pushers, making sure he gets paid so he can get Frank Madonna his money for the latest package.

He rolls his window down and tells Steve, well, I'm not gonna tell you exactly what he says, but he basically tells the guy to get lost. He's got product to sell and he'll sell it wherever he likes.

When Steve doesn't back up right away, Nicky's first thought is just to pull out his gun and shoot him. But he knows that even if he can get a clean shot into Steve, the guy's backup will return fire before Nick can get away.

He also knows that he just can't let this go and cede the territory. So instead, he announces that he's gonna put his gun in the glove compartment, then he's gonna get out of the car and kick Steve's ass.

He's half expecting to get shot as he takes his gun out of his jacket and slowly locks it away. Then he opens the car door and steps out into the pouring rain. Steve motions to the corner where there's a bar.

Nick follows him inside, hangs his jacket up, then starts swinging.

Both guys get in a couple of good shots on each other, but the floor is slick from the rain, and they eventually lock up, kind of leaning against the wall, grappling for the upper hand.

And that's when Nick hears the unmistakable sound of a stiletto blade popping out. He spins trying to see where the blade's coming from. Steve uses this opportunity to fire a punch right into Nicky's nose, who immediately tastes blood.

He's just pulling his arms up to defend himself from another hit, when he sees the flash of the blade coming towards him. It's a guy named Blue, one of Steve's boys. But Blue doesn't manage to get the knife anywhere near Nick.

Another of Steve's crew, Sam Jones, brings his hand down, slamming across Blue's arm, knocking the stiletto from his hand. This is supposed to be a fair fight. That's what Nicky signaled when he put his gun away.

And that means no weapons allowed, not even spectators. Sam forces himself between Nicky and Steve. It's over.

He says, no more tonight. Wiping the blood from his nose, Nick grabs his jacket and heads back out to his car. The fight hadn't gone the way he wanted, but he proved to Steve and his guys that he's not easy to push around and that's not nothing.

Nicky's fight with Steve Austin goes a long way to building his reputation in Harlem.

He's already got a decent rep on the west side, but after going toe to toe with the Eastside's number one, people on both sides of town put some respect on his name. Frank Madonna, though, is less impressed.

He looks at Nicky like a long-term investment in the future of his business. Nick's already proven to be someone who Frank can count on to take large shipments of heroin, sell it on and bring back money in a timely manner.

Frank doesn't want to lose him over some territorial pissing contest. So, he summons Nicky to meet him at a diner in Yonkers. Over coffee, Frank calmly listens to Nick's reasons for why he went after Steve.

And it makes sense. There are plenty of customers on the East Side. Still, there's a way to get those customers without setting foot in Steve's neighborhood.

They just have to be smart about it. Frank tells Nicky to call in all of his pushers and redistribute them west of Lennox, which will take them out of Steve's crosshairs.

Then he has specific instructions about what to do with the next package Nicky's gonna get. You remember how we talked about cutting heroin with other stuff to make it go further? That's something that happens on Nicky's level.

When it comes to him from a supplier like Frank, it's about as pure as it's gonna get. And suppliers like Frank know that their stuff is diluted. I mean, he doesn't mind so long as he gets his money.

But in this one instance, he has a suggestion. For this next shipment, he tells Nicky to keep it really strong, stronger than anything available on the east side. That should do the trick.

10:12

Nicky's not surprised when Frank's plan works. After all, as a heroin user himself, he knows that people with a drug addiction will seek out the strongest, best hit available. It's the same idea that Nick used to build his clientele a few years back.

Only now, he's got a direct hookup with a mafia supplier. So he's sending his strong powder out onto the streets at an even bigger volume than before. And the people looking to buy are desperate to get their hands on Nicky's stuff.

Before long, his pushers are telling him that customers who are actively going through withdrawals are turning down other dealers to wait for Nicky's powder instead.

And of course, Steve Austin's Eastside customers are crossing Lenox to get their hands on it too. But all of this works out a little too well. People are literally standing in line to buy Nicky's stuff when his dealers hit the streets.

And that's the kind of thing that draws the wrong kind of attention. So to help alleviate that pressure, he'll need to change his delivery system, adjust the frequency of when the drugs are available.

Right now, he'll take delivery of a package from Frank, have it brought to an apartment to be diluted as a batch, bagged for sale and then brought to the dealers.

There could be anything from days to weeks between his drops, which is what leads to people lining up to buy from his pushers. But no more. Moving forward, he'll have to scale up.

Instead of sending out dealers with powder as and when it's ready, he'll start pumping it out 24-7.

That means he'll need a team of people working on around-the-clock schedule, dealers on the streets at all hours, a mill running constantly to dilute and bag the powder, and people making deliveries and picking up money.

All of it is going seven days a week. Obviously, it's too much for Nicky to handle on his own. He needs a couple of good lieutenants.

For that, he turns to a couple of guys from his past. When he was younger, Nicky used to shoot up with Reggie Isaacs. Luckily for Reggie, he got clean years ago.

And the most expensive habit he has these days is golf. But he's planning on getting married soon, so when Nick comes to him with promises of big paydays, Reggie signs up with no hesitation. Next is Stan Morgan.

When Nicky last saw Stan, he was just a skinny kid. Now he's bulked out, put on plenty of muscle. He'll be perfect to act as Reggie's backup.

Finally, he wants someone else, a woman. Before, his ex-wife Nita had helped him keep his machine running smoothly, and he wants to recreate that dynamic.

When he sees a beautiful woman on the arm of a customer, he decides he's found the perfect candidate. She tells him her name is Sista, and she agrees to help him out.

She's got experience running a small heroin mill for one of her exes, so she comes in with plenty of experience, as well as some ideas that really up Nicky's game to the next level.

For example, until now, people working in Nick's mill use a spoon to measure out a scoop of the powder into paper bags. But Sista's got a much easier way. She uses little glassine bags as the scoop.

With just a little practice, a worker can get the right amount of powder in one quick motion. That simple change makes a massive difference to Nicky's productivity.

Sista brings in her sisters and cousins to run the mill, and their method cuts their production time in half while tripling Nick's output. So as he scales his operation up to grab more of the market, Nicky Barnes is doing everything right.

He's running a disciplined machine, is careful with his money, and is always three layers of people away from his street dealers. Things are looking great. Until they aren't.

It's January 29th, 1965. It's been a little over two years since Nicky was paroled from Green Haven and started dealing heroin with Frank Madonna as a supplier. But his run of success ends tonight.

He's on the corner of Washington and 180th Street in the Bronx. Coat pulled tight against the cold when he's suddenly flanked by two cops. They slap a pair of cuffs on him and bring him to the apartment of Reggie Isaacs, his right-hand man.

Now, Nick's keeping real cool about all of this. He knows Reggie, knows that he taught him well. Reggie doesn't keep any drugs lying around his apartment.

Still, as one of the cops searches the place, another one picks up Reggie's phone to call their boss. This cop tells his superior that Nicky's clean, but that they know where his stuff is. He then says that they're going to quote, do the job on him.

And still, Nicky's not sweating. He's confident that no cops figured out where he keeps any of his drugs. But then, they bundle him into the squad car and drive him over to Davidson Avenue.

They pull up right outside a building Nicky knows very well. They drag him upstairs, uncuffing him as they make their way to the apartment that serves as one of his biggest mills.

They show him inside, pointing out the thousands of glassine bags, all the scales, and the half a million dollars worth of heroin. Nicky takes all of this in, wrapping his head around the situation and trying to work out how they found this spot.

Just then, one of the cops calls out to him, Hey, Nick! He turns to see something about the size of a brick flying out his head. He puts his hand up, catching the package of heroin and covering it nicely with his fingerprints.

It's a dirty trick, he thinks, but right now, he can't see his way out of it. That's the Ball Gang.

16:33

It's March of 1966. In the Bronx Supreme Court, 32-year-old Nicky Barnes sits at the defendant's table, drumming his fingers on the wood. Once again, he's waiting to hear what his sentence will be.

Just over a year ago, he was arrested for possession of an illicit substance, which he insists was because the cops use dirty tricks. At his trial a few months ago, some of those dirty tricks were exposed.

It turned out that one of the officers involved in the case had lied when applying for a warrant to tap the phone of Nicky's partner, Reggie. That's how they found the location of the mill and how everything else had come unstuck for Nick.

But like I said, the officer lied in his affidavit when asking for said warrant.

When he was put on the stand, he admitted that he hadn't seen or heard any of the things he swore he had and that he just wrote down what some of his colleagues told him to.

That revelation infuriated the judge, and he threw out the evidence from the apartment on Davidson Avenue as the product of an illegal search. For a little while, it seemed like Nick might walk free.

But then, an agent from the Narcotics Bureau took the stand to explain that his arrest of Nicky was legit because he'd heard Nick talking about the location of his drug mill.

The agent said that he put his ear up to the wall of Reggie's apartment and heard Nick say, Oh yeah, I got some heroin and I'm going to get my heroin now over at 1789 Davidson Avenue.

Between you and me, I don't buy that Nicky Barnes would ever put that combination of words together like that.

But the judge in this case did, and all of the evidence he'd thrown out was suddenly back on the table, and Nick was found guilty of possession. Now it's time to find out what his prison sentence is going to be.

The judge walks into the room and everyone gets to their feet. Then the people in the gallery sit down while Nicky and his lawyer stay standing.

The judge goes on and on about Nick's crimes and how his previous sentence of five years hadn't curbed his appetite for peddling drugs. The longer he speaks, the dimmer Nick's hopes get. And then the hammer falls.

15 to 20 years in Green Haven. Nicky sways a little. 20 years is a lifetime.

He might not get out until he's 50. It's ridiculous to his way of thinking he's only in this mess because the cops cheated. They pulled the dirty trick to get his prints on that heroin, then lied on the stand to keep their evidence in play.

The thought of that is enough to fuel Nicky. As he's led from the courtroom, he makes a promise to himself. He won't take this lying down.

He's gonna fight. Nicky's fixation on how unfair it is that he's only in prison because the cops broke the rules is amusing because the only reason he was in the cops' crosshairs was because he was breaking the rules.

So from the outside, it's one of those pot-kettle-glass houses situations. But yeah, Nicky fixated on this. So as he settles into the depressingly familiar surrounds of Green Haven State Prison, he plays everything in his head over and over.

Eventually, he zeros in on the one thing that he sure will win him his freedom. Now we're gonna go down a rabbit hole here, so stick with me. So, remember that tap the cops put on Reggie's phone?

He's one of Nicky's lieutenants, and despite what the Drug Bureau's agent testified to, Nick sure that the tap is the only way anyone could have found out where his mill was.

But those audio reels were thrown out because of the illegally obtained warrant, so they were never played in court. The thing is, those tapes are the key to Nicky's plan.

On the night he was arrested, one of the police officers used Reggie's phone to call his superior to report that they had Nick in custody and that they were gonna do the job on him.

Nick's theory is that same phone tap that led to his arrest will have captured the cop admitting to some kind of evidence-planting slash frame-up.

But again, the contents of the reels aren't on any official court records, and Nicky's lawyer thinks that if they make a request to listen to them, they'll be erased. So, you know, they're kind of stuck.

They can appeal, but unless they have something new to bring to the table, like proof the cops played dirty, then they'll get smacked down by the appellate court. Nicky Barnes is stubborn, though, and he's smart.

So, instead of just punching the wall and complaining about the injustice of being framed for a crime, he absolutely committed, he gets to work. He subscribes to 37 different law journals and spends every possible hour in Green Haven's law library.

He wants to find something that his lawyer might have missed or learn about some new case law that'll allow him to have the audio reels played without setting off any alarm bells at the DA's office.

And just to be clear, I'm not saying that the DA or anyone working for him would try to tamper with evidence in Nicky's case, but Nick and his lawyer are both convinced that's what'll happen, so they have to proceed with that assumption.

It just means things might take a while. Lucky for Nick, he's building a community inside Green Haven's walls. Last time he was here, he struck up a friendship with Matty Madonna, a member of an Italian crime family.

It was a connection that proved incredibly useful to him once he was on the outside. This time, he links up with Frank James, a babyface guy with a fearsome rep and a pension for violence.

Like Matty, Frank is someone Nick crossed paths with when they were doing business on the outside, though it wasn't always on friendly terms. They'd even exchange some pretty serious death threats over the years.

But prison can be something of an equalizer. Past grudges are left at the gate. At least they are between Nicky and Frank.

Outside they were just doing their jobs. In here, they're doing their best to get by. Frank introduces Nick to some of the other friends he's made.

One of them, a smaller guy with angular features is named Joseph Hayden. Everyone calls him Jazz. He and Nicky were in Rikers together years ago, so there's an easy familiarity that builds up between them.

Over those first months he spent hanging around with Frank, Jazz and the others, Nicky listens to their ideas about religion and society. Nick was raised Methodist, and even served as an altar boy when he was a kid.

But his new friends shake their head at the idea of a black man identifying with Christianity. It just doesn't make sense to them to call a white man father.

They find a stronger sense of self in Islam, specifically the writings of Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam. Soon enough, Nicky starts to see things the same way as his new friends.

The more he studies, the more he sees that the things he learned about in school seemed to exclude or ignore the achievements of Africans.

He'd been taught that Europeans, like Alexander the Great, brought culture to Egypt, but no one had ever pointed out to him that the pyramids were standing long before Alexander set foot on the African continent.

In contrast, the Nation of Islam embraces the achievements of African peoples. And through this, Nick finds a new sense of pride in his heritage. He converts to Islam and vows to stop abusing drugs and alcohol.

He'll uplift his fellow black men and stop using derogatory terms for them. He wants to show others the kind of respect he wants them to show him.

He gets that respect from plenty of the other black men inside Green Haven, but he also gets it from at least one of the white inmates, too.

Joey Gallo is a member of the Colombo crime family, and he's happy to associate with just about anyone on the inside.

His connections within the organized crime world give him a decent amount of protection, which is helped by his outgoing personality. He and Nicky hit it off right away.

They both read a lot, so they have long conversations about philosophy, art, and culture. Then over games of chess, Joey starts offering Nick some surprising advice.

He says that he thinks that black men like Nicky should rise up and take control of New York City's drug trade from the Italian crime families. The mob used to be the ones running the streets, sending dealers out to control their territory by force.

But after years at the top, they've gotten complacent, Joey says. With a little teamwork, the two of them could take over before the families knew what hit them. It's a wild idea, but then again, Joey's nickname is Crazy Joe.

Still, even if Nicky was interested in such a partnership, he's still stuck serving his 15 to 20 years. Until he isn't. In December of 1967, about two years after Nicky arrived back at Green Haven, the US.

Supreme Court rules in the case of Katz versus the United States. The case involved federal agents who placed a listening device on the outside of a phone booth where a suspected criminal made regular phone calls.

The Supreme Court ruled that this was a violation of the man's Fourth Amendment rights, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Nick brings the case to his lawyer, making the argument that the case set a precedent they can apply to his case. That federal drug agent claimed to have put his ear against Reggie's apartment wall. And what's an ear, if not a listening device?

It feels like a long shot, but the appellate court sides with Nicky. His rights were violated by the use of an illegal listening device.

As part of the ruling, the court orders the DA to allow Nicky and his lawyer to access the recordings from the phone tap. They don't even have to ask for it. The judge just decides that it's the right thing to do.

Only when they play the reel, there's no sound at all. The assistant DA shrugs and says the recording must have just faded over time. Still, Nick's lawyer insists on listening all the way through to the end.

And in the final seconds, soft, muffled sound jumps out of the speakers. It's impossible to make out what's being said, but there's definitely something there. The tape is sent to the Department of Criminal Investigation for a forensic analysis.

The technicians at the DCI are able to clean up and restore the audio, and it confirms Nicky's story. The cops had planned to frame him all along. With that transcript in hand, Nicky and his lawyer meet with the Bronx District Attorney.

Nick's been in prison for five years at this stage, so the DA offers him a deal. If he pleads guilty on a new trial, they'll recommend a sentence of five to seven, and he'll be eligible for parole right away. Nick doesn't blink.

If they think they can convict him with their dirty evidence, he'll see them in court. Well, it turns out the DA isn't confident in the case after all. A week later, sometime in 1970, Nicky Barnes is quietly released from Green Haven, again.

And this time, he's leaving a changed man. He's not going back to his old life. Never again.

28:51

It's June 17th, 1971. 37-year-old Nicky Barnes was released from prison about a year ago. He's sitting on his bed reading a book when he hears the TV gets suddenly louder in the living room.

With a sigh, he snaps the book shut and walks down the hallway. His wife, Sista, is standing by the television set. She fixes him with a pointed look, her hand on the volume dial.

Nicky turns his attention to the screen, where President Richard Nixon is in the middle of addressing a room full of journalists.

America's public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new all out offensive.

I have asked the Congress to provide the legislative authority and the funds to fuel this kind of an offensive.

This will be a worldwide offensive dealing with the problems of sources of supply as well as Americans who may be stationed abroad wherever they are in the world.

It will be government wide pulling together the nine different fragmented areas within the government in which this problem is now being handled.

Nicky's hurt enough. He shrugs his shoulders at Sista. What do you want me to do?

She stares him down, pointing at the screen. He knows she wants him to get out of the game, but he's not about to let his wife tell him what to do. And he's certainly not going to be scared out of his business by some old white guys in Washington.

After leaving Green Haven in 1970, Nicky really did intend to walk the street narrow. Before he went away, he'd given four packages of heroin to his trusted lieutenant, Jimmy Terrell, to sell on his behalf.

The upshot of that was that there was a brand new caddy Fleetwood waiting for him when he got back to Harlem. And there was 15 grand in the glove compartment too. Wasn't as much as the guy owed Nicky, but he'd take what he could get.

Plenty of New York's biggest suppliers of powder heroin sent word that they wanted to meet with Nicky now that he was back in town.

He'd been running a big operation before his arrest and proved he was capable of moving large quantities of drugs quickly. These suppliers were looking to use him to sell the stuff they brought into the country, which could make him very rich.

But Nicky wanted to make his money honestly now, get involved in legal business. So, when he heard that another dealer had opened a broasted chicken joint as a side hustle, he was intrigued.

The place had potentially thought they could turn it into the next McDonald's with just a little creativity. And money. They'd need money.

Nick figured it would take at least 30 to 40 grand to take the brand national. Fresh out of jail, he didn't have those kinds of funds. So, to kickstart his new life, he had to dip his toe back into the old one.

But just to get his seed money, then he was going to get out. Only, that's not what happened. Jimmy let things slip while Nick was away.

He'd scraped together enough for Nicky's car in the 15K, but he didn't maintain good relationships with any suppliers. That's why so many people were anxious to see Nicky once he got out. Jimmy convinced Nick to take some meetings with him.

He didn't even have to be hands on, he said. Just add some credibility to Jimmy's operation. One of these suppliers wanted Nick to be more hands on.

If they were going to give Jimmy their product, then it was only on the condition that Nicky take responsibility for it, make sure it got sold and that everyone got paid in a timely manner.

It was a lot more involved than Nicky wanted to be, but it would also bring in plenty of green to invest in the chicken restaurant. So he dove in and got to work.

After just a month of running things for Jimmy, he had enough cash to move ahead with his plan for a new law abiding life. And his wife's sister was eager for him to make the change.

She'd been running Nicky's Mills for him back in the 60s, but now she turned over a new leaf and wanted her man to do the same. She wanted him home for dinner every night, maybe even some kids and a house.

Only Nicky was getting distracted by the new cars, the fine clothing and glittering diamonds that the drug trade could buy him.

So pretty soon, he told sister that she could leave if she had to, but he was going to do exactly what he wanted, and that was sell powder.

After a year or so of being back in the game, Nicky heard from his former lieutenants Reggie Isaacs and Stan Morgan. They did really well for themselves while Nick was locked up.

Mansions, wives, kids, and the joint ownership in a GM dealership in Yonkers. Now they introduced Nicky to their supplier, guy by the name of Mikey Coco, and the three of them teamed up again to work the east side of Harlem.

Mikey started giving them all of his product to sell. So according to Nicky, the three of them were making 150 grand in profit every 10 days each. Adjusted for inflation, that would be well over 1.2 million today.

But the game was changing. In June of 1971, President Nixon publicly declares drugs are enemy number one of the American people. To some folks in the business, it might feel like a warning shot.

Maybe that's why Reggie and Stan tell Nicky they're getting out. But Nick is not going anywhere. Not with money like that for the taking.

The thing is though, with his partners gone, there's a lot of responsibility resting on his shoulders. So he needs to find new trustworthy guys to help him out. First person he turns to is Frank James.

He's fresh out of Green Haven too and is looking to sell some powder if Nicky has it to spare. So Nick tests him out with a small package, telling him he wants it sold in a couple of days. It does not go well.

A week goes by and Frank reports that he's not making any money from the heroin. And that's something that Nicky just doesn't understand.

After checking every other aspect of the distribution system, he realizes something's going wrong with Frank's mill. Depart when the heroin is cut with other products to make it go further and then bagged up for sale.

And if there's one person who knows how to run a mill, it's Nicky's wife's sister. At first, she refuses to help him out. Nick has to buy her a brand new Cadillac to convince her to give them advice.

And she sees the problem straight away. Frank's been using a husband and wife team to run the mill. Sister's sure they're stealing some of the powder from him.

So she tells them they need to kick that couple to the curb, them and their whole team, and bring in a new set of girls to package up the cut powder. And to make sure that none of them are stealing, Sister tells Frank to make the women work naked.

36:09

Frank follows Sister's plan and starts making money right away. Soon enough, Nick and Frank need help running their growing operation. So Frank suggests a guy by the name of Wally Price.

Next, they hook up with Ishmael Mohammed, a friend of Nicky's wife. He is a guy who loves cocaine almost as much as he loves the Quran, and recently changed his name from Sam Jones.

He also happens to be the guy who stopped Nicky from getting stabbed by the stiletto knife when he was fighting Steve Austin back in 1964. Like Wally, Ishmael has his own operation already, but he's eager to partner with the others.

Together with Frank, Wally and Ishmael carve up Harlem's east side. The next guy is Thomas Foreman. He's called Gaps because of the big space between his lower front teeth.

He's got a sinister vibe, it just radiates danger. But he's great with money and has a foothold in Brooklyn. So with Nicky covering Harlem's west side, their group has a strong and growing presence.

And without really meaning to do it, Nicky's pulled together a criminal found family. It's Ishmael who comes up with the name for them after a night of cocaine and Koran, the Council. Nicky likes the sound of that.

The Council will be a coalition of sorts. They'll make decisions democratically, respect each other's territory, and be united by a sense of brotherhood. They'll be equals.

But equal or not, Nicky Barnes will be their leader. And he'll make them all wealthier than they ever dreamed. From Airship, this is Episode 2 in our series on Leroy Nicky Barnes.

On the next episode, the Council welcomes its final members, and Nicky partners with an old friend to flood the streets of New York with heroin. We use many different sources while preparing this episode. One we can particularly recommend is Mr.

Untouchable, The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Heroin's Teflon Don by Leroy Barnes and Tom Folsom. This episode may contain reenactments or dramatized details.

And while in some cases, we can't know exactly what happened, all our dramatizations are based on historical research. American Criminal is a co-production of Airship and Evergreen podcasts.

It's hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Jeremy Schwartz. Audio editing and sound design by Sean Ruhl Hoffman. Music by Thrum.

This episode is written and researched by Joel Callan. Managing producers are Emily Burke and Sarah Willgrube. Executive producers are Joel Callan and Lindsey Graham.