This sordid episode deals almost exclusively with trying to bring down one, big drug gang in New York City in the mid 1980s, a time when drugs and gangs had just about taken over this famous city. It was a bad period in NYC history.
One of the worst of the dealers was a Queens guy by the name of Lorenzo "Fat Cat" Nichols. He dealt mainly in cocaine and heroin and then with "crack" when that hit the streets big-time in 1987. With his second-in-command, "Pappy" Mason, and a string of workers which include a string of young kids serving as lookouts at many street corners, Nichols and his gang were tough to put behind bars....and keep them there.Nichols was one of these guys that still ran the show despite being jailed.
To make a long story short, the undoing of Nichols and his group came after a parole officer was shot-and-killed and then later another policeman murdered. As it states several times in this episode, you don't want to kill a cop because you will always go down for that crime. Police will go the ends of the earth to track down and nab a cop-killer. In this case, the NYPD, the DEA and the FBI were all involved in putting these murderers and drug dealers behind bars.
Wiretapping "was essential" in cleaning up the mess, police said.
One of the worst of the dealers was a Queens guy by the name of Lorenzo "Fat Cat" Nichols. He dealt mainly in cocaine and heroin and then with "crack" when that hit the streets big-time in 1987. With his second-in-command, "Pappy" Mason, and a string of workers which include a string of young kids serving as lookouts at many street corners, Nichols and his gang were tough to put behind bars....and keep them there.Nichols was one of these guys that still ran the show despite being jailed.
To make a long story short, the undoing of Nichols and his group came after a parole officer was shot-and-killed and then later another policeman murdered. As it states several times in this episode, you don't want to kill a cop because you will always go down for that crime. Police will go the ends of the earth to track down and nab a cop-killer. In this case, the NYPD, the DEA and the FBI were all involved in putting these murderers and drug dealers behind bars.
Wiretapping "was essential" in cleaning up the mess, police said.