Thread by @michaelharriot

I'm sad Netflix removed the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air because it was one of the greatest crime dramas of all time.

Wait...You didn't know?

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was about a police informant working undercover to expose a drug-trafficking cartel.

A thread.

I don't know how y'all bought that story about Will moving across the country because he got in "one little fight." When the Fresh Prince started in 1990, the crack game was too lucrative for Philly dope boys to risk all that drug money by killing a high school kid over a b-ball

If you listen closely, Will said it was a "couple of guys who were up to no good" and they were making trouble in the neighborhood even before he got in that fight.

The fight happened, but there was more to the story.

Will was a dope boy who was making too much money, so they had to take him out. The fight was just an excuse. But the plan to take Will out was foiled when the cops showed up.

Unbeknownst to will, the feds had been watching him the whole time. So they gave him two choices:

1. He could do a bid for drug trafficking or

2. He could help him take down his supplier's drug operation

Here's where it gets good. Will's supplier was an international drug kingpin:

Phillip "Big Bank" Banks

Why would a successful lawyer get involved in drug trafficking?

COINTELPRO, that's how.

Remember, Phillip was a poor boy from NC who cared about his people. In exchange for information on civil rights leaders, the FBI offered him a scholarship to Princeton.

That decision would haunt him but there was no way out.

He was really trying to help his family but the FBI had him under their thumb with nowhere to turn. So when the CIA wanted to introduce crack into Black communities in Southern California, who do you think they chose?

Maybe you're wondering: Where did Phillip get drugs from?

Notice, Phillip never mentions his college roommate? Maybe that's because he doesn't want anyone to know who his plug is.

Who else was at Princeton in the 1960s? They'd have to be powerful, corrupt, could launder money & have a connection for pure Peruvian snow.

Who, though?

Soon it was time to expand to the East Coast. So what does Phillip do?

He contacts his nephew's in Philly. Will knows drug dealing is wrong. But when he's hanging out, laughing, relaxing & cooling, he feels guilty watching his mother struggle financially after his dad left

Plus, everyone in the family brags about his rich, successful uncle! How could he say no? His mother was suspicious but she stopped worrying after Will assured her that he was making a few extra dollars at a part-time job.

In reality, he was pushing weight for the uncle Phil

Will stacked his money & stayed low-key but the other dope boys needed to get him out of their way. They started telling the corner boys that their plug's street name was "The Fresh Prince"

When a low-level dealer was nabbed for possession, he snitched, just as they had planned

Now the cops had information that this high-grade cocaine that was flooding the streets was coming from one source. They knew it was a guy from West Philadelphia, born & raised. They asked around & an informant told them:

"On the playground is where he spends most of his days"

The basketball fight was actually a sting operation. They arrested Will but he wouldn't talk. But Will's mother refused to let her only son spend the rest of his life in jail, so she called Phil and told him the fight story.

It's all on tape.

Will knew that this was bigger than Phil. Now that his mother's life was at risk, he had no choice. He agreed to go move in with his auntie and uncle in Bel-Air. Every few days, he reported to a federal agent who couldn't get info because Phillip didn't like him:

Jazz

After moving in with the family, Will found out that the entire family was in the dope game

Hillary played dumb, but her job as a meteorologist gave her access to the latest radar & satellite imaging. Because of Hillary, the Banks cartel never lost a single shipment

Although Carlton pretended to be a preppy conservative, he was very cunning & cruel. He supplied drugs to the wealthy kids at Bel-Air Academy, then used their addiction to get information and blackmail their rich & powerful parents.

Ashley was too young to know anything.

Geoffrey "He'll Cut'ya" Butler was the Banks' money guy. Being from London, he could launder millions through British banks & offshore shell companies without raising suspicion.

But Geoffrey cleaned more than money, he was the Banks' muscle, bodyguard and "problem solver."

Geoffrey grew up on the mean streets of London, where handguns are banned, so he's deadly with a blade and can walk, unnoticed into any location

Think about it: MOST people are suspicious of a Black man wearing gloves & an all-Black outfit...

Unless he's there to clean up.

Remember when Phil ran for judge, lost, but his opponent mysteriously died on election night?

Who do you think did that?

Why do you think Will's dad left in a hurry? Some call him a deadbeat but the truth is, he recognized Geoffrey from an incident in a Philly alley 25 yrs ago

After allowing Will to cry on his shoulders, Phil told Geoffrey to slice Will's father's neck and bury him in the backyard. So he might be a DEAD and beat but he technically never left Will

Also, Who do you think killed Aunt Viv?

Wait... You know Aunt Viv was murdered, right?

Being a trophy wife of a drug kingpin was beginning to weigh on Aunt Viv. She filed for divorce and threatened Phil with exposing his secret cartel if he didn't give her the house, so Geoffrey killed her and replaced her with the woman you know as "light-skinned aunt Viv."

But you know they think "we all look alike," so the feds didn't notice for years. Will never mentioned it either...

Until the feds were ready to round up the Banks family.

They had already gotten warrants. Will had given them all the information they needed. The raid was set.

That's when Will made his move.

He was going to blow the whistle on everything.

For years, he had been keeping records. He threatened to expose how the gov't was secretly pumping drugs into Black communities.

He had evidence about how the feds ignored the murder of a prominent judge and let a serial killer Butler evade taxes. He had info on how the US was collaborating with the Peruvian govt.

"Who'd believe you?" They asked, laughing

"They don't have to believe him," someone said.

It was Carlton! "What if it came from some of the most powerful people in Hollywood?" Carlton asked. "Because with the info I have, I could get half of show business to say anything I wanted."

The feds still balked. "No newspaper would print such outrageous allegations."

"They wouldn't have to," said Hillary, waltzing into the room. "I could just invite them to appear on the number one new talk show in America."

"But you don't have any evidence," said an agent. "You could've made all that stuff up"

"But what if a 25-year federal agent said it"

It was Jazz!

"Or a British Intelligence officer who has put dozens of people in witness relocation," said Geoffrey

Will was never undercover. He had informed them of the plot from the beginning. The Banks now had so much money & leverage, they were free from COINTELPRO forever.

And THAT'S actually how he became the prince of a town called Bel-Air

True story.