Las Vegas police began investigating the murders and learned through Tones mother and girlfriend that he was there to meet Snoop Doggy way of a promise from Mac Minister. Keak Da Sneak would later tell VladTV it was he and Mac Mall who had an altercation, but with each other,and they are both associates of Dre. While still incarcerated, Mac Dre re-released Young Black Brotha as his debut album in 1993, featuring a number of songs with vocals recorded through a jail phone. According to Davey D, Dre had nothing to do with it, he says. In January 2021, DJ Fresh said he doesnt remember Whitmill at all and that he normally doesnt remember people if he only worked with them one time. [8][bettersourceneeded] Hicks recorded his first three EPs as Mac Dre between 1988 and 1992. "He was proud he was a suspect.". A judge heard arguments over the issue on Friday and continued the matter to Sept. 23 for further discussion. The talk with Drake opened Wanda Macs eyes to the significance her son had on music and helped her realize that she should celebrate his legacy. Dre was reportedly offered a deal to snitch, but he refused, telling the prosecutors to go fuck themselves. Piersey swerved off the highway and into the oncoming lanes, before crashing into a ditch, where Mac Dres body was thrown from the car. Detectives spoke with dozens of witnesses and suspects over the years; they spent an untold amount of money and manpower to solve this case and yet theyve never even released a suspect name. Dows attorney said his client adamantly maintains his innocence., Were going to keep fighting it, DeMarco said, but I am hopeful that he will ultimately be vindicated., Michael Barba can be reached at [emailprotected]. The hard part for us was we didnt really get a chance to grieve or mourn privately, because once he got killed he became an even bigger public figure., Freeway Tearfully Reflects On The Jacka's Passing: 'His Death Affected Me', Travis Scott Accused Of Punching Sound Engineer During $12K NYC Nightclub Rampage, T-Pain Reveals He Got Paid When Other Artists Used Auto-Tune: 'It Was Nuts', Rich The Kid Says He Was Once Signed To TDE, Dr. Dre & Big Sean Shower Michael B. Jordan In 'Creed III' Praise, OTF Rapper Doodie Lo Wins $11M Lawsuit Against Ex-GF Over Child Sex Abuse Claims, 50 Cent Accused Of Confronting Ex-Drug Lord At His Home Over $1B Power Lawsuit. According to reports, Tone had been shot around twenty times with an AK-47 and he laid slumped over in a blue 1992 Toyota Tercel. And his music was good. English. On November 4, just two days after Minister and Corleone were indicted, Fairfield police responded to reports of gunfire in a quiet neighborhood. As you know, we were really depressed, really hurt and really traumatized by his death and everything. On November 2, Mac Minister and Corleone were indicted on two counts of murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of Fat Tone and Cowboy. Gary Edwin, who performs under the name DJ Fresh, was working as the sound man and DJ for the show that night. After witnessing the shooting, Davila said he turned off his phone, took the nearest exit, went home and went to sleep. Investigators soon discovered he was wanted in Las Vegas, where he later pleaded not guilty. Its not a mystery if you look at the case file.. Corleone said he shot Watkins, then chased Atkins into the street and shot him while he was on the ground pleading for his life, the warrant alleged. In 2011, Mac Dre received an influx of new fans after Drake gave him a shout out in his hit single, Motto featuring Lil Wayne. But on March 13, 2006, Antwine finally admitted to detectives that he had been in possession of the black Infiniti used in Mac Dres murder. Thats how my activism started. Taylor was interviewed by Detective Babcock nearly a year later at the Wyandotte County Jail, where he was being held on theft and robbery charges and outstanding warrants. Detective Babcock also spoke with several jailhouse informants that Davila had allegedly been communicating with while awaiting trial at the Leavenworth Detention Center. Taylor said he asked the driver for a ride to 56th and Highland and the driver agreed. Bells lawyers had reached out to detectives saying that their client had information regarding two murders, Mac Dres being one of them. This stuck out to Detective Babcock since the vehicle ramming hadnt been information released to the public. I thought about my life and how I ended up talking to them and realized that it wasnt me and that I wasnt raised that way, Davila told me in a January 2021 interview. The news station contacted Kansas City police and the car was located by 6 p.m., about 15 hours after the shooting took place, and it, too, was totaled. he specializes in writing about prison, street crime, and how-o books for prisoners and hustlers. Young has been working for DoorDash and Uber Eats as a delivery driver and fears losing her rental car as she has missed payments in the past. The crime scene spanned several hundred feet and it appeared to Detective Babcock to be a targeted hit. For a long time I was not proud of it, but I am now and I think that conversation started with Drake, and with other up-and-coming entertainers like the Jabbawockeez. One of those names was Papoose, who Detective Babcock remembered from his interview with Elijah Taylor, who said Papoose was the nickname of the person seen driving the stolen black Infiniti. While driving back to Vallejo, the car was surrounded by the FBI, Fresno, and Vallejo police. Not feelin the heavy-handed tactics, Dre recorded Punk Police, proclaiming his innocence, in which he raps, They said some banks were robbed, and I fit the description / But thats drama, so save if for your mama / Im not criminal-minded, punk police / Ima dope rhyme dealer, not a money stealer, and You labeled us a ruthless G-A-N-G / But the biggest Gangstas are the VPD / They hate to see me drivin a car I bought / They hate how I talk, I cant spit on the sidewalk. He even went as far as to call out VPD detective David McGraw, the cop he felt was most responsible for the harassment. The van's driver crashed and called 911, but Hicks was pronounced dead at the scene from a bullet wound to the neck. Laursens dad claims she was forced into prostitution by Corleone, who, according to reports, would escort her into various Las Vegas hotels hiding an AK-47 under his clothing. The father had rescued his daughter once, in March or April, but she voluntarily returned to Corleone in Vegas shortly after. That cant be true, Davila says. Aside from a black Cadillac Escalade, Davila also owned a white van that he used for odd jobs around Kansas City. What happened here had been loud and violent. ". "[6] When asked about his childhood, Hicks stated that "Situations came out for the better most of them, I went through the little trials and the shit that I went through. He knew what happened to Mac Dre and felt partly responsible, but couldnt bring himself to testify in court. Its single, Too Hard 4 the Fuckin Radio, recorded while Mac Dre was still a student at Vallejos Hogan High School, lets the world know of his unwillingness to compromise for mainstream appeal, a promise he kept throughout his career. [20] Local rapper Anthony "Fat Tone" Watkins was alleged to have been responsible for the murder, but no evidence ever surfaced, and Watkins himself was shot dead the following year.[21]. Bell told detectives hes not sure what to believe, considering that everyone said that they had something to do with the murder at some point. "I told him we expected retribution," Babcock recalled. The senior Antwine was convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of two brothers, George and Winston Jones, on Nov. 11, 1983. Mac Dre had been enjoying the success of his most recent album, The Game is Thick, Part 2, and Davila was happy for his friend, looking forward to spending more time with him over the weekend. The majority of people who knew Dre and the crew say the same thing. He said no, and then they both left. Vlad blatantly said he knows who the prime suspect is based on interviews hes done, but he wont reveal the name as the individual has since died., We may already know, or we may never know who killed Mac Dre, or even Fat Tone and Cowboy, but what we do know is that Mac Dre is sorely missed; gone but certainly not forgotten. Just like Antwine, Kansas City Police never arrested anyone for Smiths murder and theres no proof that its connected to Mac Dres shooting. Demian Bulwa oversees the news operation, including metro, politics, business, sports and investigative reporting, and co-hosts the "Fifth & Mission" podcast. He died alone in Kansas City, thousands of miles away from his home in Sacramento; thousands of miles from the streets of Vallejo and San Francisco, where thousands of people still cling to his every word. Now a resurfaced 2010 interview with Dre's baby mama Lisa Johnson, 53 . Little youngsters between the age of fourteen and twenty-one. Local crews opened up the show, according to DJ Fresh, including 40 Kal, who introduced Whitmill to the West Coast artists. Although Mac Minister maintains his innocence, the judge decided to uphold his life sentence in 2010 after Dows lawyers argued that mistakes were made during trial. They called Washington next. Losing consciousness for a brief moment, Piersey claimed to have lost his cell phone in the crash and tried climbing out of the embankment, where he noticed another car aggressively charging towards him. Mac Dre Fans Also Viewed . [2] And would they have killed Tone if he wasnt? Know Your City! There, he founded his independent label Thizz Entertainment, which is currently managed by his mother Wanda Salvatto. His Las Vegas attorney, Keith Brower, was not available for comment. The limo was gone, but the white van driven by Harold Piersey was there, following behind. Smith was also mentioned as having been seen with Antwine in the black Infiniti numerous times in the months leading up to the murder. They had to make a brief stop at The Baymont, a hotel where members of Mac Dres crew were staying, before heading to The Sheraton. They counted a total of 3 exit holes on the passenger side as well, with most of the windows getting broken in the process. [13] He later took it back, saying he broke even but that he had expected to make much more. Sleep Dank looked up to Mac Dre. Hicks' funeral took place on November 9, 2004, at the Mt. Hes a Kansas City native and allegedly a small-time drug dealer, according to witnesses and informants who spoke with Detective Babcock in the months following Mac Dres death. At around 2:30 a.m, the white van was traveling northbound on Highway 71 just south of 75th street, when a dark sedan pulled along the drivers side of the van and unloaded upwards of 30 bullets from two seperate guns: an automatic rifle and a .45 pistol. The source of the story was Alonzo Washington, a Kansas City activist who has led numerous anti stop snitching campaigns, including one he did after Mac Dres murder, titled Hip to give Tips., I received a tip about a gun that was connected to the murder of Mac Dre, Washington tells me in August 2020. He called Whitmill back and told him and then Mac Dre ended up dead. When he was three, he moved 30 minutes north to Vallejo, a city of just over 120,000, famous for having the first United States Navy base on the Pacific Coast. Mohave 13. When Mac Dres friends saw the news crew, they called it off, according to documents provided by the FBI. But it wasn't long before rumors started to fly about a rap war -- and "Fat Tone" Watkins. Police found drugs and multiple firearms, including an AR-15 assault rifle the same type of weapon used in Mac Dres shooting. People were interviewed at the scene, including a pair of women who came upon the accident, before heading to a nearby gas station to call it in. He is a former metro editor and longtime reporter at the paper whose chief topics included policing, civil rights, public corruption and big-wave surfing. "She had information that could be very damaging," Hendrix said. But I dont think he did it.. Hes been shouted out at least twice by hip-hop superstar Drake;My city loves me like Mac Dre in The Bay, and Shoutout to Mac Dre in The Bay. Rap superstar Rick Ross has shouted him out as well; Rest in peace Mac Dre, throwing up Thizz. Mac Dres impact on hip-hop culture has been undeniable as fans celebrate him around the world, still to this day. He even rented a limousine to transport Mac Dre to and from the Atlantic Star. I never discussed anything with anybody at Leavenworth. The case was highlighted in an episode of Unsolved Mysteries from March 4, 1992, where police said they believed the men belonged to a local gang called The Romper Room Crew. I did seen Mac Dre on the turn knock out a cat three times his size. It wasnt like he was the greatest rapper in town, but he would be getting into a lot of trouble with the law and so he had this sort of edgy thing with his music. He left prison with a new lease on life, founded an . He was named to the position in 2020 by Boudin, a progressive prosecutor who lost his seat in a contentious recall election earlier this week. In 2015, the KCPD Facebook page interviewed Detective Babcock as part of an officer spotlight series. In the years after Mac Dres murder, Detective Babcock began to hear rumors that Damon Whitmill, the promoter who paid to fly Mac Dre to Kansas City, might have also paid to have him murdered. 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