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16-TKE CAROLINA TIKES SATURDAY, AUGUST 28. 1S82
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Durham's Dark Drug World
Features Deals and Death
By Isaiah Singlelary
Stanley Smith, Jr.,
and James Wood ran
together in Durham's il
legal drug scene.
For the most part, ac
cording to those who
knew both men. Smith
was a user, mostly co
caine and marijuana;
while Wood, whose
nicknames "Minnesota"
and "New York City"
indicate his penchant for
travel, was a dealer.
"I've known Min
nesota for about five
years," said one of
Durham's more prolific
pushers who refused to
be identified, '."and
we've sold some drugs
together, and used some
drugs together. Yeah.
Minnesota was . into
drugs."
Smith, too. was into
drugs, and sometimes
worked as a contact bet
. ween local and some out-of-town
suppliers and
Durham's pushers. Ac
cording to sources on the
street, Smith had helped
Minnesota turn some
deals in the past.
Thus were drugs the
link that tied Smith and
Wood together. It was
also the link that caused
Smith to be shot to death
in a patch of woods off
Fayetteville Road about
five weeks ago. And it
was this same deadly link
that has Wood facing
either the gas chamber of
a life sentence for
murder irt Smith's death. ,
This incident of ran
dom, but almost accep
table violence gives a
clear, but rare look into
Durham's dark world of
drugs, revealing that all
is not partying and get
ting high: There is the
much darker side of lies,
doublecrossings . and
double-dealings.
The drug scene is a
hard world. It is a violent
world.
There are no hard
statistics on how many
deaths in Durham are .
directly drug-related, but
police generally say that
much of all the violence
in a city this size can be
traced directly or in
directly 10 .the prolifera
tion of narcotics.
Drugs are addictive in
more ways than one.
First, there's the drug
itself, and according to
police sources,
Durham's main drugs
are marijuana, cocaine,
hashish and a broad
variety of pills .- uppers,
downers ' and in
bet weeners.
But the money that
drug trafficking brings is
even more addictive. The
money can be fast and
plentiful.
For example, right
now, with the market a
little slow, a pound of
top quality marijuana
could bring you $1000 a
day, according to certain
street sources.
And with cocaine, you
can make much, much
more money, if you have
the right contacts. ,
But the combination
of a high demand market
and the quick,- easy
. money produces a deadly
mixture. . . ,
Smith, 33, learned that
the hard way and it was a
tragic lesson one that
need not have ever hap
pened. '
According' to' Mrs.
Jane Smith, ' Smith's
mother, her son had
recently ; returned to
Durham after traveling
with his uncle whose
business - is . supplying
concession stands for
touring recording artists.
"We were trying to get
him set up in some type
of business,", she ex
plained, "because he just
didn't like regular jobs."
On the Sunday before
Smith was shot to death
the next night r he had
been scheduled to leave
Durham with his uncle to
begin another ; business
tour. 1 k
But, according to Mrs.
Smith, his sister and his
girlfriend talked Smith
into staying in Durham
for a couple more days.
That proved to be a
fatal decision.
By piecing together
testimony in, a
preliminary courr hear
ing where charges were
dropped against three of
(he five men originally
charged with kidnapping
and killing Smith, and1
conversations with a
' broad variety of street
' sources. The ' Carolina
Times has patched
together a picture that
shows the daily uncer
' tainty of life in the drug
world, the short fuse that
can explode almost
without warning.
One glaring irony is
'that in the drug world,
lives can be blown away
on a whim of suspicion, .
without even a hint of
proof. Justice, on the
other hand, comes only
after a clear case of pro
of. But proof comes hard.
According to the pro
secution's chiefwitness
t Richard Conrad m '
a preliminary hearing
last month, Smith and
Wood fought , over a
drug dispute in the park
ing lot next to the Party
Sac convenience store in ,
the 3000 block of Fayet
teville Street.
Another witness, Ms.
Anita Harris, Smith's
girlfriend, who said she
called the police after
seeing Smith forced into
a car following the fight
with Wood, told the
court that one of the men
with Wood, Michael
Chavjs, held a shotgun
to keep the crowd from
interfering in the fight.
Later, according to
Conrad, he. Wood and ,
Wilbert Richmond and
Smith got into a car with
Richmond driving and
heading south on Fayet
teville Street. Chavis,.
Kendrick Bagley . and
Kenneth Holloway
followed in another car.
Street sources say that
the fight was about some
drug money. There are
two stories on. the street,
one as acceptable as the
other.
One story says that
' r
Wood, with the other
four men chipping in,
had given Smith either
$3000 of. $5000 to buy a
supply of cocaine. :
y The - other story -says
that the men gave the
money to Smith , and
another man. known on
ly as Thad.
But whoever had the
money, " it disappeared,
and no cocaine replaced
it. In the drug world
that's an unpardonable
sin. "
Sources estimate that
quality cocaine sells for
about $)00 a gram on the
street (retail), or about
$2800 per ounce. These
sources say that if a
group of guys, such as
these five Y had ' put
together about $5000 to
buy some cocaine, they
. were probably making a
wholesale Y purchase.
"With there being about a
two for one: profit
margin on cocaine, a
$5000 purchase would
translate to more than
$11,000 worth of dope
on the street.
,- What . is not clear,
either from police
reportscourt testimony,
or interviews on .the
street, is what the men
thought had happened to
the money. There is no
indication whether they
thought Smith had kept
the $5000, or if he had
bought the cocaine, and
kept it, hoping to hog the
profit.
But whatever the case,
according to Conrad's
court testimony, the five
"investors" drove into a
patch of woods, and
when they left, Smith
was fatally wounded and
dying in the back seat of
one of the cars.
He was pronounced
dead at Duke Medical
Center about 11 p.m.
Monday, July 12. Y
- Originally, kidnap and
murder charges were fil
led, against alt five men:
Wood, Bagley, Chavis,
Richmond ' ' and
Holloway.- But following
a preliminary ' hearing,
District Court Judge J.
Milton v Read : dropped
charges against Bagley,
Chavis - and Holloway.
Wood 'and Richmond,
both out .on , $15,000
bonds, are still charged
with murder, . v .
But ; more : - than
anything else, this case
graphically shows .. the
deadly demeanor of the
drug world, where deals
are part of the day today
activity, and ? death, is
Often the bottom line.'
Black Voting;
Age Population
Now 17 Million
NNPA The number
of voting, age blacks rose
44 per cent from 12
million in 1970 to 17
i million in , J 980, with
four states . reporting a
black electorate of one
million or more, accor
ding' to a new report
from the Commerce
Department's Census
Bureau.
In 1980 New York had
the largest number of
voting age .blacks" (1.6,
million) followed . by
California, Texas anil IU
linois. The increase
reflects the lowered
voting eligibility to 18
years in all states, and
growth of the black,
population, up 17.5 per
cent from 1970.
Two-thirds of., the
District of Columbia's
' V I
:. '-;v -'-i - yy '"' :,
STi I.ODISRt'p. William I., ( lay, (he only Mack congressman In Missouri's hislorv. is mobbed by
supporters after winning the right lo seek an cighth-lerm by defeating the stiff est opposition of his 14-ear
political career. Stale Sen. Allan (. Mueller of SI. I-ouis, who is while, waged a vigorous fighl against'
Clay. : .-".'v' 'i"v.- MP,
electorate is black. States
with the highest propor
tion of voting age blacks
are . Mississippi (3 1 ),
South Carolina and
Louisiana (27),
Georgia (24),
Alabama' (23),
Maryland (21), North
Carolina . (20 and
Virginia (17).
In 1980, blacks com
prised 10.5 per cent of
the total voting age
population nationally,
with 53 per cent living in
the South In 1980, 9.8
million blacks reported
being registered while 8.3
million reported voting
in the 1980 election.
The ' black outmigra-.
tion from the South that
began in "World War I
and which spread settle
ment of blacks
throughout the United
States until the mid-70s
(considerably equalized
the regional distribution
of blacks. Nevertheless,
in 1980 one in every six
persons of voting age in
the South was black.
The Spanish-origin
voting age population
comprised about 5.5 per
cent of the total elec
torate in 1980. Califor
nia and Texas together
contained half of the
Spanish-origin electorate
(2.8 and 1.8 million),
followed bv New York
(1.1 million) and Florida
(629,000). Nearly 70 per
cent ' of the Hispanic
L voting aee population
resided in these four
states.
The report notes that
women are the majority
of the voting age popula
tion jn all states except
AlncVa Hawaii.
Nevada, and Wyoming.
It- projects that the na
tion's voting age popular
tion will reach 170
million in November
1982, a five million in
crease over the total for
the 1980 election and 29
million more than in
Novermber 1972.
Copies of the report,
Projections of the
I Population of Voting
Age for States:
November 1982, Series
P-25, No. 916, (GPO
Stock No.
003-001-91411-5), v are
available for $2.25 each
prepaid from ' , the
Superintendent ,of
Documents, .'U.S.
Government r-; Printing
Office, Washington,
D.C. 20402, for from
Commerce district of
fices in major cities.
Ellis Media Report
(Continued from Page 15)
first step toward progress in this struggle like all
others faced is to know what we're up against.
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