Book Of Boonce (eBook)

70’s

It was the month of May, the year 1973, at Butterworth hospital in Grand Rapids, MI. The game gave birth to a new healthy baby boy. The baby’s biological parents were known in the streets as “Dean the Queen” and “Bubble Gum Red”. Dean was one of the prettiest women in Grand Rapids, MI with plenty of game, and knew how to maneuver. A couple of her brothers, “Shang” and “H”, controlled the drug game in the city back in the 70’s. If anybody was trying to do any business, it had to go through them. If you were from out of town you were forbidden to do business in Grand Rapids in the 70’s. If an out-of-towner came to the city, and tried to set up shop, they were dealt with accordingly. They would send a firm warning, by raiding the shop, and confiscating any product or weapons the outsiders were in possession of. Her brothers and their organization ruled the city with an iron fist.

Red was a clean well-dressed high yellow man with the gift to gab. He was a smooth character, a gentleman of leisure and an international player. He became close friends with Dean’s brothers and were in business with them. Red had an older brother who was known in the streets as “Chewing Gum Red”, and he was a monster in the streets and a well-connected man. He was also a gentleman of leisure and an international player doing a lot of business out of Cleveland, OH. Before I was born, he played a major role in the Alaska Fur Company heist in Grand Rapids, MI. He and his associates made a getaway with three barracks bags or laundry bags stuffed with cash. They were eventually apprehended by a Trooper of the Ohio State Highway Patrol on the Ohio Turnpike. A registration for a black Cadillac Brougham involved in the Grand Rapids fur heist was found in their possession. FBI Special Agents presented a group of photographs to two of the victims of the robbery, Chewing Gum’s photograph was one of the photos that were picked out of the group. He was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to ten to twenty years. The streets used “Chewing Gum” and “Bubble Gum” to distinguish the two Reds when speaking of them. Some people referred to them as “Big Red” and “Little Red”.

Life was going up for Dean and Red. They had access to plenty of money, cars, clothes and everything else that came with the lifestyle. They bought a new home on the southeast end of the city that was plush with luxury items and decorated with red décor. There was a lot taking place in that house. There were after hour parties with big time gambling being held on a regular basis. Well-dressed gentlemen in suits, suspenders and shoulder gun holsters surrounded a tall, large table located in the den of the house. The dice game was like the Super Bowl with women surrounding the men as spectators. You heard a loud celebration from some of the men as well as disappointment from others participating with side bets. There were dinners being sold from the kitchen, and a man was always on post at the front door. Most of the parties would carry over into the early mornings. It was like a scene you would see in a movie.

After some of those parties, I can remember my father beating the shit out of my mother. One time he was beating her ass so bad that I yelled “get off my momma muthafucka!” He immediately stopped and came over to me and knelt. As he was kneeling tears were coming down his face. He grabbed and hugged me and repeated sorry I don’t know how many times. It was the last time I witnessed him putting hands on her. Not to say that he never did it again, he just never did it in front of me. I don’t think either one of them knew that I was never comfortable with them being in the same room together. To me, it seemed things were better for them both when they were apart.

In the meantime, and in between time, my father and uncles were moving more dog food than PetSmart. There was a whole lot of pimping going on too. They owned a business district, an entire block of buildings which were legitimate businesses being used as a front. They had security surveillance systems installed on all their establishments. I was young, but I see it so vividly. It was one time we were coming back to the house from somewhere, and when we got there, my cousin and I raced to the bathroom. When we made it to the door, it was partially open but hard to push. When we finally got it open, my godfather was lying on the floor with his foot resting against the door. He had OD’d on some of that dog food. I remember seeing the needle stuck in his arm and his head being held up by the bathtub. He laid there motionless, wearing a pair of dark brown slacks and a silk copper colored wife beater t-shirt. We ran downstairs to tell my mother and father that he was upstairs dead. They both rushed upstairs, and we followed behind them, but they told us both to go back downstairs. We stood at the bottom of the stairs watching them carry him down the stairs. My mother lost hold of him and dropped him at the bottom of the stairs. As she tussled to recover her grip, they finally managed to get him into the car and my father floored it, the tires squealed as the car pulled off. Later, that night I learned that my godfather didn’t die, and was very much alive. They all said that I saved his life and treated me like a boss. To this very day I still wear that as a badge of honor. My godfather was a real slick, well-groomed, well-dressed money getting ass man. He also had the gift to gab, and the ladies loved him. He was another gentleman of leisure and an international player, one of his favorite sayings was “pimp or die”. He was a bona fide Mack.

My father, godfather and uncles had a good run, but a monkey wrench had been thrown in their well-oiled machine. There was an altercation that took place, and I don’t know the full details of it, but somebody was foolish enough to make a life-threatening gesture toward one of them. My uncles didn’t tolerate shit like that, so you know they didn’t hesitate to get active with the gun play. One of my uncles shot the man up in broad daylight, on one of the busiest intersections in the city. He emptied every bullet that he had in his gun in the man, and somehow the man miraculously survived the onslaught of bullets. After the incident occurred, my uncle, my father and godfather were forced to leave town and were on the run for a while. The organization had lost three of its main arteries, costing the business a considerable amount of cash flow. The business had to be restructured. They headed down south plus a few other spots, but eventually ended up having to face the consequences. I remember being in the courtroom during my father’s trial. Somehow, I was allowed to speak with him during the time of his trial, I’m not sure if it was before or after court. But as a youngster at the age of maybe like five years old, I understood the severity of the situation. It could have been the steeliness of his eyes and serious expression on my father’s face that led me to that conclusion. I imagine that he never intended for me to see him in such a difficult situation.

My life changed when my father, godfather and uncle got sent off to the penitentiary. Not just my life but my mother’s life changed as well. Without their presence, things had gotten difficult for her on the streets. She started slowly veering off in another direction, and eventually lost her way. I can say that she was damn sure trying, but the streets started to get the best of her. In the 70’s there was a hot spot in Grand Rapids called the “Limelight”. I remember going there with her and waiting there in the car for hours. A lot of the hustlers, pimps and hoes that were going in and out of the establishment knew and respected my father and uncles. They would buy me chips and all types of shit from the store that was located across the street from the “Limelight”. Some of the hoes would even come and put money directly in my hand. Many of the pimps and hustlers would even sit out there with me for a minute and give me some good game. People would be telling me all types of stories about their experiences with my father and uncles. I would witness tricks being turned left and right (men paying for sexual favors from women). That was during a time that you would see more brown codeine syrup bottles than you would see pop cans laying around.

After a while, my mother found herself in a place in life that I know for a fact that she never planned to be. It had been like a year and a half since my father and uncles went away when my mother started dating a man which resulted in my little sister being born. She was born premature. I remember seeing her for the first time in that incubator with tubes connected everywhere on her. She took my heart right then and there. After I left the hospital and made it home, I cried like a baby for my little sister. I’ll never forget the day they brought her home. From that day forward, I’ve always felt that my little sister was my responsibility. My mother and my sister’s father had gotten lost in the sauce. The streets had just about swallowed them whole. Things started getting tough around the house for us. There were times that I was left there with my little sister by myself. It was one time that I couldn’t get her to stop from crying. She wouldn’t take a bottle or anything. Finally, I wrapped her up and carried her over to my grandmother’s house, on Oakdale St, which was only like a half mile away, a ten- or fifteen-minute walk. This became a normal pattern for us. I had become so...