THE DOSSIER

In hip hop, the end of the 80s ushered in a thriving music industry, with hip hop, diversifying itself immensely. In 1990 alone, A Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy, Ice Cube, D Nice, Special Ed, LL Cool J, Vanilla Ice, and EPMD all had seminal releases. These artists would start to define the trajectory of hip hop music as it invaded white suburbs and penetrated the minds of American political thought as hip hop started to gain in popularity. The traumatic events inside the crack epidemic and the war on drugs resulted with draconian drug sentences, and most of the major drug kingpins facing huge life sentences or death. The crack trade that spawned 1000s of corner millionaires was now coming home to roost, and its path of destruction was young men and women just out of their teenage years, being shipped to federal and state jails for 30 year and two life sentences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There were many defining events as it relates to the intersection of crime, the War on Drugs, and hip hop throughout the 80s. That being said, there was a singular event that took place in Southside Jamaica, Queens, in February of 1988 that arguably changed the course of policing in this country, the mythology of the drug trade, and symbolically ended the crack era for the exalted hustlers inside New York City. This event was the execution of a rookie NYPD Cop named Edward Byrne. The NYPD, led by Chief Bill Bratton, would form the Tactical Narcotics Team, aimed at systematically taking down all drug crews in the city. In part 2 of our interview with Prince Miller, he discusses the ramifications of Ed Byrne’s murder and Fat Cat Nichols' cooperation with the government leading to the fall of The Supreme Team. **If you’re a fan of The Dossier, please visit our Patreon page for free and paid content featuring exclusive documents, unedited interviews, and monthly online meetups with other Dossier fans and the Dossier team. Go to Patreon.com/Dossier to subscribe!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The years of 1987 and ’88 ushered in the golden age of hip-hop, when a few groundbreaking artists, acting as cultural critics, show the power of this art form. Led by the protest rap of KRS-One, Public Enemy, Eric B & Rakim, among others, hip-hop was now shining a light on the plight of the inner-city struggle, the crack epidemic, mass incarceration & other societal plights. The presidential race of 1988 is filled with subtle racial dog whistles, aimed at scaring white America into voting for George H Bush. On the West Coast, we witness the rise of LA street gangs such as the Bloods & Crips, while NWA releases the seminal album Straight Outta Compton. **If you’re a fan of The Dossier, please visit our Patreon page for free and paid content featuring exclusive documents, unedited interviews, and monthly online meetups with other Dossier fans and the Dossier team. Go to Patreon.com/Dossier to subscribe!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As hip hop and the war on drugs hit the mid 1980s, it can be argued that both commercial endeavors hit their strides in inner cities across the United States. As crack cocaine exploded, members of the United States government enacted one of the first steps in the revolution of our criminal justice system in soaring incarceration rates. The comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 was the first revision of the US Criminal Code since the early 1900s. It was sponsored by a racist Strom Thurmond, a Republican from South Carolina in the Senate, and by Hamilton Fish, a Republican from New York. **If you’re a fan of The Dossier, please visit our Patreon page for free and paid content featuring exclusive documents, unedited interviews, and monthly online meetups with other Dossier fans and the Dossier team. Go to Patreon.com/Dossier to subscribe!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If any story defines what New York was like at that time, it's the story of New York City subway vigilante Bernard Goetz's shooting of unarmed black teens. On December 22, 1984, Barry Allen, Troy Canty, Darrell Cabey, and James Ramseur were shot and wounded by Bernard Goetz after they accosted him on a New York City subway train in Manhattan. In America, you would think that we would learn from our mistakes as it relates to race, class, and the divisions that have been created. One could see this case taking place in 2024, with protests in the cable news wars elevating it into the mainstream. In the first two episodes, we set the stage in the early 1980s with iconic hip-hop drug kingpins who came to define an era. Those names are "Freeway" Rick Ross in Los Angeles, Lorenzo "Fat Cat" Nichols in Queens, Guy Fisher in Harlem, And finally, a mention of a crew called the Supreme Team. These early kingpins were the table setters for what would become a new breed of hustling and the young men from Queens who launched a business idea that would revolutionize the drug trade forever. In the Bible of hip-hop gangsters, Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff and Gerald "Prince" Miller of the Supreme Team were the top dogs. **If you’re a fan of The Dossier, please visit our Patreon page for free and paid content featuring exclusive documents, unedited interviews, and monthly online meetups with other Dossier fans and the Dossier team. Go to Patreon.com/Dossier to subscribe!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices