Hood Rich: The rise and fall of one of Brooklyn's Finest (3 page)

Zeke was my man, I couldn’t wait to put him on. I
slept good that night, and woke up the next morning
ready to start my new life. I was on my way to
Georgie’s, the bodega on the corner of Knickerbocker
and Decatur. I saw Zeke walking up the Street toward
me.
“Yo what up Zeke? Walk me to Georgie’s.”
“Aight.” Zeke answered.
“Yo... dig this.... we bout to be on. You know Manny
whole team got booked last night. He called Shakita’s
crib last night from the Tombs. He put me on that. I
got all the bundles. We gone be rock-stars yo. Get
Wiz, Dave, and Xavier.”
Zeke’s eyes opened wide. He stopped dead in his
tracks.
“Rich... is you serious? You said you already got those
bundles?”
“Yeah nigga.”
It was on and popping. That night was crazy. The
coke we had was amazing. That four and a half ounces was gone by the morning. I gave Shakita two thousand and another four and a half ounces to cook up. I
looked in the paper for an apartment to stash all the
coke. I found one on Halsey Street. The next morning
I went to look at it. I dropped four thousand on the
rental application, and the landlord smiled and asked:
“When would you like to move in?”
I got the keys and headed back home. The strip was
popping. It did over twenty-five thousand in three
days. The corners was crazy. It was like 42nd &
Broadway on New Years Eve.
I was trying to figure out how I was going to get
down to those bricks without anyone seeing me. I
chirped Zeke and told him to move all the workers on
Cooper Street down to Schaefer Street until the police
switched shifts. He didn’t ask any questions, he just
went along with it. I called Myrtle Car Service and
started gathering the duffel bags. This time I was
armed with a flashlight. I decided to venture into the
back of the basement where I found ten more duffel
bags. I managed to stuff them all in the trunk and
back seat of the cab.
In my new stash house lay me and my bricks... all 719
of them, plus a little bit that I had left over from the
first one. I met up with Zeke at the Hot Bar. This
would turn into our everyday thing. I loved their’
crab legs, mussels, and colossal shrimp. They had the
biggest drinks in Brooklyn too. My favorite was the
“Smooth Bitch”. It was a combination of: Bacardi 151,
Apple Pucker, 99 Apples, and 100 Proof Absolut all
blended with crushed ice and daiquiri mix. It tasted
good but was strong as hell and would sneak up on
you. I sat at the bar with Zeke. I wondered what was
going on in his mind. He didn’t talk too much. With
so much money coming in overnight, I guess he was
preoccupied as was I. There was a disturbed look on
his face though. One of those looks when you’re trying to balance something out in your mind, but you
just can’t do it. Zeke finally broke the ice.
“Yo, Rich, how long you think before the shit hits the
fan?” There was a seriousness in Zeke’s voice that
could not be ignored.
“What shit?” I responded.
“The shit that’s coming: stick-ups, war, bodies dropping, indictments.”
“Hold up yo... right now we under the radar. We

gone get this cake nigga. We gone stay two steps
ahead of the game.” Zeke’s facial expression lightened.
“So... who you coppin off?” He asked.
“It’s Manny’s connect, why what up?”
“Naw man, I’m just looking out, we gotta be careful...
I should go with you the next time. I got your back
sun.”
“It’s cool, he don’t like to deal with more than one
person Manny told me.” Zeke looked down at his
drink.
“Aight... but you say the word and I’m there.”
We sat at the bar for a while and ordered more
drinks. The night was still young. Zeke left the bar
and I sat back and finished another snow crab platter.
I wanted to go back over Shakita’s house so bad and
lay some pipe in her. However I knew it was in my
best interest not to get attached to her, especially given her mad wild past. She sent an alert to my Nextel
just as I was thinking about her. I chirped back.
“What up Shakita?”
“Where you at Rich?” Shakita asked.
“I’m at the Hot Bar.” I responded.
“I need you to come around. Manny calling me back
in ten minutes, he wanna talk to you.” “Aight... I’m
on my way.”
Going back to Shakita’s house I figured in my mind
what Manny’s questions would be: who I was coppin
off, and who I had on my team. I was prepared for
that. This was the maneuvering part of the game. I sat
in front of Shakita’s door on the stoop before I chirped
her to let me in. I had already made up in my mind
that I was going to be a boss... bottom line. I needed to
make Manny an offer he couldn’t afford to refuse. As
Shakita opened the door, she interrupted my thinking
process with the lingerie she was wearing. I thought
to myself... hon’ really knows how to reel a nigga
right in. She stopped at the door and dropped down
to her knees and sucked me off like I was a Popsicle.
My knees trembled as her mouth went back and forth
as I went in and out of her mouth. The phone rang
and she abruptly stopped. She got up to answer the
phone... it was Manny. She passed me the phone and
I sat on the sofa. Shakita sat on my lap facing me. She
put my man inside of her and started riding me softly. It felt so good and gave me the extra confidence I
needed. Here I am on the phone with “Mr Big” while
I’m popping his chick, and my workers are on his
strip pumping my work... damn. Okay it was time to
focus.
“Hello.” I said to Manny.
“Yeah... what up youngin’, I hear you got the Avenue
popping.”
“Yeah its doing aight.” I responded.
“You know that’s my shit right, and you got my bitch
cooking up for you. Do you got a check for me?”

“O.G. I’m holding you down. I got you the best lawyer in Brooklyn, I’m gone look out for Shakita and the
twins, plus I’m gone make sure your commissary stay
piling. I got a horse for them visits too. In return just
let me do me. Everybody know that’s your strip. Its
gone stay that way. I’m just a worker holding it down
for you.” I took a deep breath anticipating his rebuttal.
“Damn youngin’, you smarter than I thought. You
really thought this out, huh. One hand wash the other. Keep it popping for me. I’m gone put you on my
connect.”
“O.G. I got a connect. He got some raw coke that’s not
even stepped on. Let me do me. Its better than the
work you was getting off your connect. I got you.
When you come home you can link back up with
your connect, or use mine.”
“Say no more youngin’, I hope you can handle the
strip cause all my niggas is booked. Send that check
up ASAP. Put Shakita back on the phone.”
Manny and Shakita talked for a few minutes before
she hung up. Shakita was still wet and straddling me.
My man rose up again and she rode me until I busted.
I came inside of her again but this time it felt empty. It
was just a nut. Like she said before... nothing happened.
The 4th of July came and went. After that everything
was fast forward. Smokers from East New York,
Rockaway, and Canarsie was coming through. Niggas
was trying to cop weight. As much as I wanted to sell
it, I decided not to. I wanted to fly undetected under
the radar. Nobody cared who I was, and that was
good. As a matter of fact, that’s how I wanted it.
Our strip was moving four and a half ounces daily. It
had been two weeks since I started and I’d already
stacked eighty thousand after paying my workers and
getting Manny a lawyer. Money came faster than I
expected. Everyone was happy, especially my man
Zeke.
I fell in love... in love with the game. The summer was
good. By the 31st of August I was richer to the tune
of three hundred fifty thousand. Man was I jaded. I
hadn’t touched a dime though. It felt like too much
money to have in one place. I divided the money into
three stashes. One-fifty at my foster moms house, one
-fifty at my new stash house in Bed-Stuy, and fifty I
kept at my house on Halsey Street. I decided to move
the work to Bed-Stuy too. I was feeling paranoid, and
Zeke was poking around more than usual.
The abandoned house weighed heavily on my mind. I
went back and retrieved the .357 magnum pistol that I
had stashed for Manny. I buried it along an old bike
trail in Nassau County. Who would find it there? I
picked that place because the only people to blaze
that trail were occasional bike riders and hikers. There
was plenty of woods and it was only 20 minutes from
the city.
I rode up there on the Long Island Railroad and had
about 45 minutes before the next train was heading
back to the city. I looked up from the train stop to see
if there was any stores. There was a strip mall and a
gas station. I walked down to McDonald’s. I figured
I’d catch a bite to eat and burn some time, killing two
birds with one stone. Besides, I would have been
bored to death sitting at the train stop, which consisted of a single bench and a billboard advertising mutual funds. I walked into the McDonald’s and stood in
line. I focused on the same menu that I had seen in
every other McDonald’s I’d ever been in.
Out the corner of my eyes I had noticed a beautiful
light caramel brown chick with a beautiful body. Just
my cup of tea. She stood there doing the same thing I
had just done: stare at the menu. My eyes started at
the crown of her head. She had straight silky hair and
beautiful almond shaped eyes. She had perfect D-cup
breasts and a healthy round backside. Perfectly
smooth skin and wide hips complemented a baby doll
face. She was dressed fresh to death in a form fitting
cream Lauren dress. Her feet donned a pair of brown
soft leather moccasins. The only jewelry she wore was
a pair of small diamond earrings and a braided fabric
anklet. I stood in awe of her beauty. She definitely
was not a city chick or a hood chick, because they had
“hoods” in the suburbs too. She just appeared to be
high siddity. Everything about her was right: the face,
the body, the lay. She just had it going on. In fact, she
made Shakita look like trash. As I stood there gawking at Mrs. Long Island I was interrupted.
“Welcome to McDonald’s, can I take your order?”

I felt eyes watching me as I stood there looking at the
menu in McDonald’s. I stole a peek out the corner of
my eyes. I was used to the attention though, and I did
have on a fitted dress that was hugging my body. I
guess I couldn’t be mad at him. The fact that he was
cute helped too. He was shorter than me, maybe five
foot six or so, compared to me being five foot nine.
That wasn’t a problem obviously because I couldn’t
resist his big round hazel puppy dog eyes. He was
nicely built on top of that. I was just waiting for him
to come at me.
I ordered a fruit and yogurt parfait and stood beside
him as he waited for his quarter pounder with cheese
with no onions to be made. I watched his eyes dance
across my curves until he spoke.
“What up ma... you pretty as shit.”
I smiled even though I wanted to frown at that lame
ass line he just tried to use on me. Instead I simply
sucked my teeth and shook my head.
“Was that supposed to be a compliment?” I asked
him.
“Yeah.” He replied.
“I mean... I never seen a piece of shit that was pretty,
have you?”
He was smiling at me.
“You know what I mean, wit’ your sexy ass, what
time you want me to call you tonight?”
I blushed as I looked into his eyes. His comeback was
good but I had to keep it sassy.
“So now my ass is sexy, and who said I was giving
you my phone number?”
I wanted to make him sweat.
“Aight, I’ll settle for your name first, and then we can
work on the minor details like when we gone get together. My name is Rich, what’s yours?”
I turned my eyes away from him and on to the cashier
who was standing idle watching us.
“My policy against talking to strangers is strict.” I
said as I was hoping that he didn’t take that comment
as rejection, because I did want to talk to him.
“You know my name now ma’, so I’m not a stranger,
I’m an acquaintance.”
“I was just playing, my name is Iyani.” I said.
“That’s a pretty name.” Rich replied.
“Thank you, are you from around here?” I asked,
hoping that he wasn’t.
“No.” He responded.
“Mineola?”
“No.”
“Good, where you from?” I was relieved, I hate locals.
“Brooklyn.”
“So what you doing out here?”
“Waiting on my train.”
“So what you going home to your girl?” I had to ask, I
assumed that he would have one.
“Home... yes, girl... no.”
“So where you live in Brooklyn?”
“Bushwick.” He responded.
“You smoke?” I asked.
“No doubt.”
“Aight, we can blow while you wait for your train.”
I didn’t believe I was doing this shit. I aint know dude
from a can of paint, but here I was flirting, and about
to let this dude jump in the whip, and about to smoke
wit’ him. I guess I needed the company bad. I hadn’t
been out the house since my dad got booked, and my
best friend Vita wouldn’t be back from Cali for a day
or two. We normally smoked together, but she had
spent the summer with her dad on the west coast.
I led the way out of the McDonald’s and hit the unlock button on my key fob. I was driving my dads
brand new BMW 760Li. I noticed Rich stopped dead
in his tracks looking the wheel up and down. We slid
out the parking lot and down to the train stop. I
parked facing the tracks. I went into my pocketbook
to get my Dutchmaster and the rest of a jar of Hydro
that I was smoking earlier. I opened the door and
cracked the dutch. I put one of my legs out of the
door and cracked the dutch. I let the tobacco from the
dutch fall to the ground. My dress rode up and revealed more of my thighs. I felt Rich eyeballing my
legs. I pulled my leg back in and closed the door. I
rolled the Dutch and lit it with my Zippo. There was
an uneasy silence as I took the first puff. After I took
the second puff, I passed it to Rich. I looked into his
eyes and thought to myself, damn I’m tripping. I’m
sitting here smoking with this dude I Don’t even
know, and I know how I get when I smoke.
“So how old are you Rich?”
“I’m seventeen, how old are you?” He said.
I busted out in laughter. Partly out of shock, and partly because I felt silly. I was there smoking with this
dude that was a couple of years younger than I was.
He didn’t seem that young though.
“Damn, you is a baby. I can work with that though.
I’m nineteen, I got you by a couple.”
Even though he was young, I decided I would still
talk to him. He passed the dutch back to me and I
took puffs.
“Let me see your phone Rich.”
Rich passed his phone to me and watched as I entered
my number and called my phone. I did that so I
would have his number too. Fair exchange... no robbery, I thought to myself. I passed him his phone
back. I took a few puffs and passed the dutch back to
Rich.
The car was fogged with weed smoke, and both our
minds were fogged with T-H-C. Rich passed the
dutch back to me with his right have, and I grabbed it
with my left. Rich reached over and placed his left
hand on my thigh. I felt a warm sensation throughout
my body. I put my right hand on top of his.
“Don’t start nothing you cant finish!” I said to Rich as
I felt myself getting hot. I made eye contact with him,
but he paid my plea no attention. He slid his hand up
my short fitted dress and found his way to my thong
which he pulled to the side to enter my wet hole. I
breathed deeply and licked my lips before I protested.
“Damn boy... you getting me started...”
I yearned for more, but I didn’t want to let go. It had
been more than six months since I had been touched
by a man. I spent the last six months mostly to myself.
Rich was a stranger fifteen minutes ago, but I was
way overdue. I needed to get this itch scratched. He
kept probing me with his fingers. My mouth told him
to chill, but my body said keep going as I rocked my
hips against his fingers. I was almost at the edge. I
grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand back. I climbed
over to Rich’s lap and pressed the button to let his
seat back. Once it was reclined all the way, I took off
my shoes and got on top of him. I unzipped his pants
and pulled him out. He slipped into me with a little
bit of me pushing down my one hundred forty pound
frame onto him.
I looked into his hazel eyes the entire time I rode him
until I erupted in orgasm. I locked up like a vise-grip
causing him to explode inside of me like a cannon. I
laid on his chest until I caught my breath. I turned
around to open the glove compartment to get some
tissue. Rich held out his hand to stop me.
Naw... that’s gone stick.” Rich said, as I got up.
“Is that better?” I asked him after I licked my sticky
juices off of him.
“Damn ma’, you gone tease me like that?”
I smiled. It was already bad enough I let him smash
on the first day. I wasn’t about to give him some head
too. I was thinking I already gave him to much.
“You don’t get all that this time. Don’t worry, you
gone get the whole treatment.”
I cracked the window and let in the fresh air as he
fixed his pants. We had both lost track of time. I could
see the train approaching from the horizon.
“So when you want me to call you?” Rich asked as he
opened the door to get out.
“Just call me, it Don’t matter.” I said as I slipped my
shoes back on.
“How about next month?” He said sarcastically.
“How about I put this moccasin up your ass... you
better call me tomorrow.” I said as I pinched him on
the arm and watched him close the door.
We said our goodbyes and I watched him get on the
train. It felt good to finally get laid, but I was wondering if I had just put myself out there and just got
smutted. I didn’t really care though because I needed
the release, but at the same time I was attracted to
him. I was praying that he didn’t burn me, cause I did
let him smash raw. At least I had his phone number. I
would cuss him out if he didn’t call by tomorrow.