7 Books Published by Gorilla Convict Publications on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

In the mid-1980s when hip-hop and the crack era were jumping off street dudes like Alpo and Rich Porter were the icons in Harlem. Everyone was watching and emulating them. Their stories have been told in many different formats and forums but now the complete tale is detailed in one concise volume. Read Alpo and Rich Porter’s story from beginning to tragic end in this extensively researched new volume in the Street Legends series brought to you by celebrated and noted gangster writer, Seth Ferranti and Gorilla Convict Publications.

Fat Cat and Pappy Mason are the most infamous and legendary figures out of New York’s crack era. A time that massively influenced rap culture and led to the ghetto icons becoming mythical figures in hip-hop’s lyrical lore. Not only did the street stars inspire rappers like Run DMC, LL Cool J and 50 Cent with their styles, attitudes and swagger, they set the tone for a generation of hustlers, gun thugs and drug barons, who tried to live up to the hype and standard of violence these street legends set, with their vicious and brutal foray into the drug game that transformed the black underworld as Uzi-toting drug thugs in bulletproof vests, Timberlands and BMW’s became the norm. This book details Fat Cat and Pappy Mason’s story chronicling their rise and fall in the annals of gangster lore. Both drug lords are imprisoned for life, due to their crimes and exploits, but their legends live on in hip-hop and popular culture. Written by noted true crime historian, Seth Ferranti, this is the most concise, prolific and detailed account of Fat Cat and Pappy Mason to date. It explores their lives and impact on hip-hop culture and America in general, as their violent and unconscious tactics ushered in the War on Drugs and mandatory minimum legislation that has affected millions, as the United States has become incarceration nation. Read how the street legends of the Southside of Jamaica Queens influenced hip-hop, the streets and the dope game, changing the course of American judicial policy and sentencing practices, with their blatant disregard for law and order.

To many in his hometown of Washington, D.C., during his 1980s reign as the city’s biggest cocaine and crack dealer, Rayful Edmond was public enemy number one. At the height of Dodge City’s brutal crack epidemic in 1987, this 22-year-old man was responsible for distributing 60 percent of the cocaine that flooded the city’s streets. In the Chocolate City, Rayful was the undisputed king of cocaine. He was street royalty with a certified gangster resume. At his peak Rayful sold 2,000 keys a week, reaped gross profits of $70 million a month and ran an operation with over 150 soldiers to support him. By his early twenties he had established himself as the city’s most notorious drug kingpin. In the high profile and glamorous life he led, champagne flowed like water, trips to Las Vegas, New York and Los Angeles were commonplace and $50,000 shopping sprees were the routine. Rayful personified the big city drug lord and his stature epitomized all the accolades that position demanded. To the mainstream media, he encompassed all that was wrong with the city’s crack epidemic, but in the streets Rayful was a hero, an inner-city gangster who made it to the top echelons of the drug trade. A Lucky Luciano, Billy the Kid-type figure. But there were consequences to his reign. His volcanic rise coincided with an unprecedented explosion of street violence and drug addiction in the capital city. The era is remembered for murder, mayhem and bloodshed. Historians have blamed the crack storm that seized D.C. on Rayful, but Rayful maintained he was only trying to help his family live a better life and enjoy the finer materialistic trappings of capitalism that were often denied denizens of the ghetto. To the block huggers, four corner hustlers and hood mainstays Rayful was beloved, even worshipped. His appeal crossed boundaries and he was adored by children and adults alike. But to others he was feared, a man who wreaked havoc on his community. Neighborhood people saw the effects of his crack enterprise outside their front doors and it wasn’t pretty. A community divided was in essence, a community destroyed. But regardless of what people thought of Rayful, he was an enigma, the president and CEO of what authorities called “the largest network for cocaine street sales in Washington D.C.” He was a gangster legend of epic proportions, until he tarnished his legacy by turning snitch.

When the crack era jumped off in the 1980s, many street legends were born in a hail of gunfire. Business minded and ruthless dudes seized the opportunities afforded them, and certain individuals out of the city s five boroughs became synonymous with the definition of the new era black gangster. Drugs, murder, kidnappings, shootings, more drugs, and more murder were the rule of the day. They called it The Game, but it was a vicious attempt to come up by any means necessary. In the late 1980s, the mindset was get mine or be mine, and nobody embodied this attitude more than the Supreme Team. The Supreme Team has gone down in street legend and the lyrical lore of hip-hop and gangsta rap as one of the most vicious crews to ever emerge on the streets of New York. Their mythical and iconic status inspired hip-hop culture and rap superstars like 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Biggie, Nas and Ja Rule. Born at the same time as crack, hip-hop was heavily influenced by the drug crews that controlled New York s streets. And the cliché of art imitating life and vice versa came full circle in the saga of the Supreme Team’s infamous leaders- Kenneth Supreme McGriff and Gerald Prince Miller. In the maelstrom of the mid-80s crack storm and burgeoning hip-hop scene, their influence and relevance left a lasting impression. Going from drug baron to federal prisoner to hip-hop maestro to life in prison, Supreme was involved in hip-hop and the crack trade from day one. His run stretched decades, but in the end he fell victim to the pitfalls of the game like all before him had. His nephew, the enigmatic Prince, who had a rapid, violent, and furious rise in the streets also fell hard and fast to the tune of seven life sentences. The Supreme Team has been romanticized and glorified in hip-hop, but the truth of the matter is that most of their members are currently in prison for life or have spent decades of their prime years behind bars. This book looks at the team s climatic rise from its inception to its inevitable fall. It looks at Supreme s redemption with Murder Inc. and his relapse back into crime. This book is the Supreme Team story in all its glory, infamy, and tragedy. It s a tale of turns, twists, and fate. Meet the gangsters from Queens where the drug game influenced the style and swagger of street culture, hip-hop and gangsta rap and made the infamous cast of characters from the Supreme Team icons in the annals of urban lore.

The Original Gangster – Legendary Figures from the black underworld and hip-hop’s lyrical lore

Ice-T spit, “Gangsters don’t die, they multiply” and to keep it all the way official read about the street’s real legends. The Original Gangsters that inspired BET’s American Gangster series, all those Hollywood gangsta flicks, the litany of true crime street documentaries and gangsta rappers galore. The Black Gangster is in effect. Taking over where the Italian mobsters and Colombian cocaine cartels left off. Street Legends gives you their stories. Read about the black John Gott’s and Pablo Escobar’s. True to life and hood to hood. Real recognizes real. And this book will give you the truth. Let recognized prison journalist and gangster chronicler Seth Ferranti aka Soul Man take you on a journey to the criminal underworld. Where real O.G.’s go hard and suckers get exposed. In Street Legends Vol. 1, he mesmerized readers with the exploits of the Death Before Dishonor six- Supreme, Wayne Perry, Anthony Jones, Aaron Jones, Pistol Pete and Boy George.

Now in Street Legends Vol. 2, he introduces the Original Gangsters. Men of honor, respect and violence. Street stars and hood icons. The Black Caesar, Frank Matthews- Original King of New York, Peanut King- Lord of B-More’s heroin trade. Michael Fray- the Ambassador of Chocolate City, The Boobie Boys of Miami and rapper Rick Ross fame, Short North Posse- the Columbus, Ohio crew that Triple Crown publisher Vickie Stringer snitched on, and The New World- Islamic bank robbers from Newark, New Jersey. Read these tales of chaos, murder and mayhem that embody elements of cash money, debonair style, brutal diplomacy, unchecked violence, vicious betrayal and brotherly unity.

In Street Legends Vol. 1, Seth brings forth powerful biographies of six of the most notorious gangster of the crack era who influenced hip-hop and street culture. This book profiles six of the biggest street legends from the crack era- Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, Wayne Perry, Anthony Jones, Aaron Jones, Peter “Pistol Pete” Rollack and George “Boy George” Rivera. Kilo’s of cocaine and heroin, millions of dollars of drug money, luxury customized cars, dime pieces galore, bling-bling to shine, multitudes of violence and vicious murder- these dudes were street stars and their lifestyles are what gangsta rap represents. Read their stories and ride shotgun with a hood legend.

Prison Stories is what “OZ” and "Prison Break” weren’t real enough to be.

Prison Stories reveals a world of fearless convicts, inconspicuous snitches and deadly gang rivalry. The book is a vivid look into the brutal and vicious world of prison. It takes the reader inside the belly of the beast, giving real life accounts from the netherworld of corruption and violence. Prison Stories’ outlaw rawness mixes well with hip-hip’s street essence. Fans of Iceberg Slim’s Pimp Tales and HBO’s OZ series will really dig this.

In Prison Stories, Seth Ferranti brings forth a powerful memoir of life in federal prisons in the 1990s when the War on Drugs and Mandatory Minimums were in full steam quadrupling the population of the Bureau of Prisons.