| Nicky Barnes | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 15, 1933 Harlem, New York |
| Alias(es) | Nicky |
| Charge(s) | Drug Trafficking |
| Occupation | Retired |
Leroy Nicholas "Nicky" Barnes (born October 15, 1933) is a government informant, former drug lord and crime boss, who led the notorious African-American criminal organization known as The Council, which controlled the heroin trade in Harlem, New York during the 1970s.[1] In 2007 he released a book, “Mr. Untouchable”, written with Tom Folsom and documentary DVD of the same name about his life.[2][3] In the 2007 film American Gangster Barnes is portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr.
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Leroy Barnes was sent to prison in 1965 for low level drug dealing. While in prison he met Colombo crime family member "Crazy" Joe Gallo[4] and Lucchese crime family heroin dealer Matthew Madonna.[3] Gallo wanted to have more of a stake in the Harlem Heroin market but didn't have any personnel to deal in the mostly black Harlem. It is believed Gallo passed on his knowledge of how to run a drug trafficking organization to Barnes and asked Barnes to assemble the necessary personnel.[4] When Gallo got out of jail he provided a lawyer for Barnes. The lawyer got Barnes' conviction overturned on a technicality and he returned to New York City.[5] Once home, Barnes began to assemble his personnel and began cutting and packaging low-quality heroin. To deal more efficiently Barnes and other black gangsters created The Council, a seven man organization modeled after the Italian mob families. The Council settled disputes, handled distribution problems and other drug related issues.[5] In addition to Barnes, The Council included Joseph "Jazz" Hayden, Wallace Rice, Thomas "Gaps" Foreman, Ishmael Muhammed, Frank James, and Guy Fisher.
By 1976 Barnes' operation spread throughout all of New York State and into Pennsylvania and Canada. According to DEA records, Barnes' operation in 1976 consisted of seven lieutenants, who each controlled a dozen mid level distributors, who supplied upwards of forty street level dealers each. During this time Barnes was given the name Mr. Untouchable, after successfully beating numerous charges and arrests. It is believed while under surveillance Barnes would often make pointless stops and go on high speed chases with little purpose other than to aggravate those following him.[4]
Barnes set up front companies to protect some of his assets, such as numerous car dealerships, which appeared to be rented through those companies. The DEA eventually discovered the true ownership of the companies and seized the cars, including a Mercedes-Benz, a Bentley, a Citroën SM, a Maserati, several Thunderbirds, Lincoln Continentals, Cadillacs and a yellow Volvo. Nicky Barnes' net worth was well over one-hundred million dollars at the height of his career. A New York Times article estimated Barnes purchased hundreds of tailor made suits, Italian shoes, coats, and jewelry, which alone was estimated at over one million dollars.[4]
On June 5, 1977 The New York Times magazine released an article titled Mr Untouchable with Barnes posing on the front cover. The Times told Barnes that they were going to use a mug shot of Barnes unless Barnes came and posed for the cameras. Barnes, who hated mug shots, agreed and took the shot.[3]
Barnes’s posture of smug invulnerability so affronted President Jimmy Carter that he ordered his attorney general to prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law.[1] The Justice Department did just that. Barnes was prosecuted for his drug-related crimes and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on January 19, 1978. The chief prosecutor in the case was Robert B. Fiske, then the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, who was assisted by two younger Assistant United States Attorneys, Tom Sear and Bob Mazur. His arrest and conviction would not of been possible with out the dedicated work of DEA agent Louis Diaz .
More details about his arrest can be found in the book Dancing with the Devil by Louis Diaz.
According to Barnes, while in prison, he discovered that his assets were not being taken care of, The Council stopped paying his attorneys' fees, and one of his fellow council members, Guy Fisher, was having an affair with his mistress/girlfriend.[6] The Council had a rule that no council member would sleep with another council member's wife/mistress. In response, Barnes became an informant. He forwarded a list of 109 names, five of which were council members, along with his wife's name, implicating them all in illegal activities related to the heroin trade. Barnes helped to indict 44 other traffickers, 16 of whom were ultimately convicted.[6] In this testimony, he implicated himself in eight murders. While in prison, he won a national poetry contest for federal inmates, earned a college diploma with honors and taught fellow inmates English.[1]
After Barnes cooperated with the government by working as an informant, Rudolph Giuliani sought a reversal of Barnes' life sentence. Eventually, he was resentenced to 35 years and housed in a special Witness Security Unit at Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville in Otisville, New York. By working in jail Barnes earned two months off and was released in August 1998. Work was something Barnes seemed to thrive on during the more than 15 years he spent at Otisville.
| “ | He worked all the time ... He worked in the kitchen, in the dining area, separating the recycle stuff from the regular garbage. You name it he did it. He seemed obsessed. | ” |
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— Prison official
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In 2007 Barnes and his former competitor, Frank Lucas, sat down with New York magazine's Mark Jacobson for a historic conversation between men who have not spoken to each other in 30 years.[7] Now in his 70s, Barnes is part of the Witness Protection Program.
Barnes wrote Mr. Untouchable, a book about his life, in 2007 and appears in a documentary about his gang life entitled Mr. Untouchable.[2][3]
On January 31, 2008, Barnes was interviewed by Howard Stern on Stern's Sirius Satellite Radio show.[8]