Freeway: Crack in the System

The definitive story of the birth of the crack plague, told by the man at the epicenter of the CIA/Contra/cocaine connection: “Freeway” Ricky Ross. In South Central LA, he is an urban legend – a black godfather figure whom most people have never seen, but know by reputation. Once a promising tennis player, he lost his chance at a college scholarship after it became apparent he couldn’t read. At a vocational school, an instructor set him up with a Nicaraguan drug connection. Ross built a drug empire, and by1983 was sending five million vials of crack a month to streets across the country, taking in over a million dollars in cash a day. But he didn’t know that his supplier and friend, Blandon, was using some of the profits to help fund the Contras in Nicaragua and was part of a network connected to the CIA. He would later betray Ross in a DEA drug sting, sending him to federal prison with a life sentence. His story defies all odds and proves that truth is indeed stranger than fiction.