Green Haven State Prison Essay

The individual who has been chosen for this paper is Leroy â€Å"Nicky† Barnes who is an African American who became a legend in the history of organized crime. Born in October 15 1993, he is a former crime boss and even drug dealer who was the leader of the crime organization that was notoriously known as The Council, which mainly comprised of African – Americans (Roberts, 6). He was even nicknamed Mr. Untouchable owing to the manner in which his operations were well calculated. He was once a dope addict, but later stopped the habit of using the drug and became a distributor of heroin, as a matter of fact a main one in Harlem, New York. In his autobiography that he wrote about his life, Barnes says that the first heroin that he ever sold was one that belonged to his father, which he was holding for dealing within the street corners. He managed to sell some of this heroine to the older guys within his neighborhood, and he managed to make some easy money, and this made him to even value heroine more (Roberts, 6). Barnes later graduated to dealing for another dealer who was more established than him, whose name was Fat Herbie. This is the man that brought Barnes to the Italians with whom he made contact. With this connection, he was able to have heroine imported for him by the Italians, whose reputation for good heroine was good. In the 1950s, Barnes would make up to 1600 dollars a day from selling heroine packages, and managed to hire a security guy and some street dealers with the money that he got (Roberts, 6). He even bragged that his drugs was one of the best in the streets and kept the quality high, while ensuring that the cut was low. He claimed to know what addicts mainly wanted considering that he was once an addict himself. By the time it was 1959, people had started requesting for his packages and they were so famous that they had a name, and they were called that ‘Nicky Barnes thing’. This was his first step towards success, but it was short lived as he was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison in Green Haven State Prison, and this cut short his business operations (Roberts, 6). While in prison he met another Italian who he had earlier been introduced to. His name was Matty, short for Matthew and he educated him on how to run a drug ring. He told him that to be organized; he had to have at least 50 people working under him, as each person would act as a layer of protection (Roberts, 6). Three years later, Barnes was released and now that he had made some serious connections, he knew that he now had to make some big money. He was given a couple of things to start up his operation with including half a kilogram of heroine by Frank Madonna, and a car and house in which to stash his drugs in. he then managed top find seven strong men whom he included in his organization, since he knew that with strong men on his side it would all work. These men who later came to form the council included; Frank James, Thomas Foreman, Joseph Hayden, Guy Fischer, Wallace Rice and Ishmael Muhammed (Roberts, 6). 2. BUSINESSES Barnes later graduated to dealing for another dealer who was more established than him, whose name was Fat Herbie. This is the man that brought Barnes to the Italians with whom he made contact. With this connection, he was able to have heroine imported for him by the Italians, whose reputation for good heroine was good. In the 1950s, Barnes would make up to 1600 dollars a day from selling heroine packages, and managed to hire a security guy and some street dealers with the money that he got (Barnes, 352).. He even bragged that his drugs was one of the best in the streets and kept the quality high, while ensuring that the cut was low (Barnes, 352).. He claimed to know what addicts mainly wanted considering that he was once an addict himself. By the time it was 1959, people had started requesting for his packages and they were so famous that they had a name, and they were called that ‘Nicky Barnes thing’. This was his first step towards success, but it was short lived as he was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison in Green Haven State Prison, and this cut short his business operations (Barnes, 352). The manner in which the business between Matty and Barnes was operating was very organized and well planned (Barnes, 352).. Matty would park a car that was filled with drugs at a spot that was pre arranged, then the key would be passed on to Barnes, who would then send one of his men to drive the car to the destination and sell the drugs. The car would then be taken to another pre arranged spot, this time filled with money and the key passed on to Matty. In this way, they both managed to make millions of dollars in their operation (Barnes, 352). 3. Theory Rational choice theory is one theory that seems to fit into this organization which is The Council or even the case of Barnes. This theory is of the notion that man is a reasoning individual who tends to weigh the beliefs and costs the means and the ends and makes a choice that is most rationale according to his understanding (Abadinsky, 98). This theory is related to several other theories including the drift theory and even the systematic crime theory. The theory states that in order for crime to take place there has to be three elements that have to be present; and offender who is motivated, a target that is available and suitable and finally the lack of an authoritative figure that is capable of preventing the crime from taking place (Chainey, 20). This theory fits into the case of Barnes and The Council, more so considering that the motivation that Barnes had was to be successful, the target available was the drug addicts that were present in Harlem and the law enforcers were unavailable to stop their operations. Barnes also used reasoning to weigh the profits and losses in all his decisions, and this managed to define his success. 4. LAW ENFORCEMENT’S RESPONSE Apart from the short three year stint that Barnes served in Green Haven State Prison, Barnes and some of the member of his crew were arrested, with Barnes being sentenced to life. He was charged with the crime of heading a criminal enterprise and also fined 125,000 dollars (Abadinsky, 67). References Abadinsky, Howard. Drug Use and Abuse: A Comprehensive Introduction. New York: Cengage Learning, 2007. Print. Abadinsky, Howard. Organized crime. New York: Nelson-Hall, 1985. Print. Abadinsky, Howard. Understanding Crime: Essentials of Criminological Theory. New York: Cengage Learning, 2009. Print Chainey, Spencer & Ratcliffe, Jerry. GIS and Crime Mapping. John Wiley & Sons, 2005. Print. Clarke, R. V. & Eck, J. Becoming a Problem-Solving Crime Analyst. Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science. London: University College London, 2003. Print. Leroy â€Å"Nicky† Barnes, Tom Folsom. Mr. Untouchable: My Crimes and Punishments (March 6, 2007 ed. ). Rugged Land. p. 352. Roberts, Sam. Crime’s ‘Mr. Untouchable’ Emerges From Shadows. New York: New York Times, 2007. http://www. nytimes. com/2007/03/04/nyregion/04nicky. html. Retrieved 2010-05-03.