Thread by @_ValTown_

FREEWAY RICKY ROSS

GODFATHER OF CRACK

SOUTH CENTRAL LOS ANGELES

FIGUEROA ST.

FREEWAY BOYS

ALLEGEDLY THE INSPIRATION BEHIND SNOWFALL.

“You know how they say that everybody has a purpose in life? Well at one time I felt selling Cocaine was my purpose.”

Ricky Donnell Ross, was born on January 26, 1960 in Tyler, Texas.

At the age of 5, Ricky and his family moved to South Central Los Angeles in hopes of a brighter future; as many African Americans did during the 50’s and 60’s.

Pictured below is a beautiful picture of a Black family settling in South Central.

Life wasn’t any easier when they reached LA. Opportunity was scarce due to White flight which influenced the removal of funding for schools, programs, and other necessities for the Black communities in Los Angeles. Ricky grew up poor, sometimes with no food or good clothes.

Shortly after their move, Ricky’s Uncle George, was murdered by his sister, Ricky’s mother. George had been irate and permanently removed Ricky’s mother right eye, and when he had another episode, she finally had enough.

Uncle George is pictured in the chair.

Ricky’s mother and him on her lap as a child.

As Ricky got older, to distract himself from joining a gang and getting in trouble, he kept busy with high hopes for his future. After seeing some neighborhood buddies come home with new tracksuits and fresh Adidas, they told him because they were ranked in Tennis they got gear.

That’s all it took for Ricky. He fell in love with the game of Tennis because of the life he knew he could attain if he became a star; which he did.

Ricky earned All-City honors twice as well as First Team All Conference accolades for each of those respective seasons. Truly talented with real aspirations. Ricky attended Dorsey High School.

Ricky and his friend Norman Tillman pictured at the bottom right. Of the first pic.

Being a star in Los Angeles was a big deal, and the scholarship offers began rolling in for the young man. Unfortunately there was a major setback.. Ricky couldn’t read. And according to him, never read a book in his life at that point.

There was a failed education system for Black children in Los Angeles. If any child can move from grade to grade without the basic ability to read and write, there’s a major problem. But at that time and still today it is very common.

Because Ricky couldn’t go to school, he found ways to make money. Dealing with cars, and working with Chop shops.

A friend introduced him to Cocaine, told him it would be the next best thing. The friend let Ricky take $50 worth, which he ended up losing do to another friend ripping him off.

One day while playing Tennis with a former teacher Mr. Fisher, Fisher asked Ricky what he was up to and Rick told him he was getting into the Cocaine business. Fisher told him “Got some hookups for you”.

Ricky was introduced to Julio Zavala, a Nicaraguan who provided aid to the Contras by selling Cocaine. The U.S. at the time were aiding Contras during the Reagan administration because they were at War with the Sandinistas, supporters of Daniel Ortega, pictured below.

Zavala took a liking to Ricky because of his intelligence, also impressed with his clientele and they started off with a few ounces. A few ounces turned into a few kilos very soon.

Ricky moved up very fast because of his no tolerance to drugs and his focus. As he elevated, he went through different plugs, until he met Danilo Blandon. This changed everything. This is when Ricky became Freeway Rick.

Danilo Blandon was a formerly educated man from Nicaragua as well, with access to large amounts of Cocaine. When he and Rick started off doing business, they would park across the street and signal each other when the coast was clear. After that they found a secure location.

This connection made with Blandon allowed Rick to pocket $20,000-$30,000 more each day in the early stages. Rick got his team together from the neighborhood, Cornell Ward pictured below was his right hand.

Cool similarity to Snowfall in terms of age and the relationship between Cornell and Rick, as Leon to Saint. Leon is younger than Franklin, if you remember he was only about 17 in the first season, and Franklin was about to be 20. Same here with Cornell and Rick.

Cornell used to be a football guy, but ineligibility stopped him in College from moving forward. He was walking home that day and Rick pulled up on him, offering the opportunity of a lifetime. Cornell took his $1,800 refund check, and bought his way into Millions.

Working with Blandon meant more money, more weapons, which in hindsight created more problems. But that didn’t come till much later.

Frogman dove into the San Francisco Bay and found 400 pounds of Coke, which was the first case to tie Contras with selling narcotics. Zavala was one of the men arrested due to those findings. Blandon was involved as well. Zavala was handed 10 years in prison. Blandon was freed.

Blandon at the time unbeknownst to his associates, was an asset for the CIA in aiding the Contras after Congress voted to stop providing aid in Nicaragua. Reagan said as long as he has breath in his body he will help the Contras, and even referred to himself as a representation.

Rick and the Freeway Boys became Millionaires overnight. Rick began making a million dollars a day. And he maintained an extremely low profile despite being very powerful in LA. His diplomacy allowed him to mingle and create relationships in many spaces outside of South Central.

As Rick continued to grow in notoriety, the LA County Sheriff’s Department opened an investigation on him. They wanted to know where he got his Coke from. Blandon was fully invested into providing as much Cocaine as Rick needed to make the Crack, which at the time was Ready Rock.

When Blandon was approached by an officer, his security and associate was a member of the CIA, and told the officer you’re not supposed to be here.. so the investigation focused itself on Rick.

Law enforcement created the Freeway Task force, which was put in place to catch him in the act. Rick was always steps ahead, and they had no idea how he looked like, and informants were hard to find. Rick had different aliases, always switched cars. Even rode by raids unnoticed.

Rick set up many businesses to clean his money, laundromats, car dealerships, motels, restaurants, all so he could eventually go legit which was his goal.

As they were leaving Big Palace, police were trailing them, they noticed. And one of Rick’s partners, Al; saw a known officer with a rifle. Al told Rick if that officer had a good shot, he would take it, so they went on a high speed chase.

Rick jumped out the car as it was still in drive, and his other two guys got caught. Officers planted drugs in the trunk and took pictures. Thankfully because of Rick’s lawyer, they all got off. That’s when Rick decides to expand to other places and begins with Ohio.

Cornell had a moment of truth experience shortly after when he encountered some young boys dealing with a hooker and told them to get up and go home. The boys, age 11-13, drove off in a stolen car, but lost control and flipped it right in front of him. They all died.

Cornell then saw a 10 year old smiling crack, that he got from another young dealer who worked for him. Cornell wanted out, couldn’t sell drugs anymore.

Similar to Leon wanting out due to his experiences.

After Rick’s stint in Ohio, he decided to come back to Los Angeles in 1988 and focus on his businesses. He was out of the drug game.

Similar to Franklin’s quote about not wanting his past to affect his future. It’s a hint that he’ll go harder with legitimacy in the future.

^smoking for the tweet about Cornell.

Rick turned his attention to his motel business. He wanted to be the king of motels. For majority of the time he was dealing in LA he built a trust and rapport with the neighborhood and the gangs. Employing their family members and friends. The guys in Ohio became informants.

The violence in Los Angeles got out of control, and the spotlight was on Rick although he got out the drug game. The damage was too much to go unnoticed. I touched on this a few years back here.

https://twitter.com/_ValTown_/status/988996506207313920

With the War on Drugs rhetoric, and the scandalous support of the Contras, Black communities were at a huge risk. Too much money, too much drugs, and a ridiculous amounts of homicides.

Rick also helped many artists in the area get started in their music careers. One of the few Godfathers of Gangsta Rap but a silent one. You might see this in future Snowfall seasons with Franklin’s entrepreneurial aspirations.

After a series of arrests, Rick decided to testify against the officers for their exploits in exchange for lesser time. Officers beat on him and let the dogs harm him as well during one of the arrests.

After doing a brief stint behind Bars, Rick got out and gave the legit route another shot. He was soon set up by Blandon, who by this point he looked at as somewhat of a father figure. Blandon smiled as Rick got arrested. Rick was then hit with a life sentence.

Gary Webb, an investigative reporter, was interested in the story of Rick’s life. He decided to aid Rick in telling his story, which cost him his life in the long run. Contrary to Irene in Snowfall who wanted to bring Franklin down.

When Rick went to prison, he learned how to read, and eventually was able to be his own defense and lessen his life sentence to just 20 years. It’ll be interesting to see how the rest of Snowfall plays out. Many layers.

Thanks for reading. Peep my other threads in next tweets.

Check them out.

https://twitter.com/_ValTown_/status/945782810886967296