Drug Trade

Drug Trade

Len Bias and the 1986 Drug Laws: How One Death Changed Sentencing

Len Bias died from powder cocaine in June 1986. Six weeks later Congress passed mandatory minimums with a 100-to-1 crack disparity — with no hearings no experts and no analysis of who would pay.

Drug Trade

Freeway Rick Ross: The Biggest Crack Dealer in American History

Ricky Donnell Ross moved more than $600 million in crack cocaine through Los Angeles in the 1980s by buying directly from Contra-connected Nicaraguan suppliers — undercutting every competitor.

Drug Trade

How Crack Hit America: The Drug That Rewrote the Rules

Crack cocaine appeared in South Central Los Angeles and the South Bronx around 1984 — selling for $5 a rock. Inside the chemistry price point and structural rupture that followed.