Black Brothers, Inc. update: Dawud Bey back in the news

Discussed quite a bit in the latter portion of the updated (2007) version of my Black Brothers, Inc, Dawud Bey is back in the news.  According to the Philadelphia Daily News, Bey, 41, was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison yesterday "for witness-tampering conspiracy, half of which is to be served after he completes a sentence he's serving for a drug-conspiracy conviction...Bey was overheard on jailhouse tapes threatening to kill three witnesses - Paul Daniels, Craig Oliver and Robert Wilks - or their family members, according to court papers."

Gaming the Game cover and promo text

The cover and brief promo text for my new book on the NBA betting scandal can be found here.

Gaming the Game

Quick update on my forthcoming book on my NBA Scandal blog.

Interview and Black Brothers, Inc. mention in March 2010 Playboy issue

I was interviewed some time ago by journalist/author Frank Owen for a piece he was writing on the Philly underworld.  In particular, he was examining the widely-publicized murder of party promoter Rian Thal and the sociology of the area's drug trade.  The lengthy and compelling article appears in the March 2010 issue of Playboy.  Though for obvious reasons I can't link to the article on this quasi-academic blog, the Black Brothers, Inc. mention appears in the following context:

"As one of Philadelphia’s top party promoters, Thal was privy to powerful personalities in the entertainment industry and in the drug underworld. She stood at the nexus of a trickle-up economy, an intermingling of dirty and clean money. 'You see those worlds intertwined all the time in Philadelphia, going back to the 1960s,' says Sean Patrick Griffin, author of Black Brothers, Inc. The Violent Rise and Fall of Philadelphia’s Black Mafia, about the ruthless gang that ruled the local drug trade in the 1960s and 1970s. The figure from the past most reminiscent of Thal, says Griffin, is Major Benjamin Coxson, an outwardly respectable businessman and mayoral candidate who was even profiled in Time magazine before he was shot execution-style in 1973. Coxson was a financier for the Black Mafia and also rented out luxury apartments, some of which were used as stash houses, others as the site for sex and drug- saturated after-hours parties for music and sporting celebrities. 'It was only the real exclusive people who could get into these parties,' says Griffin. 'Very much like Rian Thal, Coxson brought together high society and low society. Thal was the hip-hop generation’s version of Major Coxson.'”

Dawud Bey pleads guilty to witness intimidation

I have been so consumed with putting the finishing touches on my forthcoming book on the NBA betting scandal that I haven't posted about the ongoing cases against Kaboni Savage and Dawud Bey.  The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News cover Bey's guilty plea in today's papers.  Savage and Bey are given considerable attention in my Black Brothers, Inc.: The Violent Rise and Fall of Philadelphia's Black Mafia (Milo, 2007).

Donaghy media blitzkrieg on NBA Scandal blog

Latest media coverage of former NBA referee Tim Donaghy's book tour and revelations re: NBA betting scandal at my http://nbascandal.blogspot.com/

BET's American Gangster on Philly's Black Mafia

Black Entertainment Television (BET) has posted the entire (40 min.) "Philly Black Mafia: 'Do for Self'" episode of their wildly popular American Gangster program.  I mentioned the program in a broader context elsewhere, but have never commented specifically on this episode - which is based on my Black Brothers, Inc.: The Violent Rise and Fall of Philadelphia's Black Mafia (Milo, 2005/2007).  The producer, Henry Schipper, certainly did his homework, much of which never made it into the relatively brief show (covering 40 years in 40 minutes was quite a challenge for him and his colleagues, obviously).  The final product is a great representation of the story, told by several of the people who lived the experience and thus know it best.