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Comment by Lucinda F. Boyd on January 18, 2011 at 2:16pm

U.S.

Four Brothers Sentenced to Jail in Drug Case

AP
Published: March 25, 1989

DETROIT, March 24 — Four brothers convicted of leading a crack ring that supplied up to half the city's users from 1982 to 1988 were sentenced today to long prison terms and large fines.

Larry Chambers was sentenced to life in prison and a $250,000 fine; Billy Joe Chambers was sentenced to 45 years and a $500,000 fine; Otis Chambers was sentenced to 27 years and a $350,000 fine, and Willie Chambers was sentenced to 21 years and a $350,000 fine.

The four brothers and five other gang members, who were also sentenced today, were convicted on conspiracy charges last Oct. 28. In addition, Larry and Billy Joe Chambers were found guilty of the more serious charge of operating a continuing criminal enterprise, and Otis Chambers was convicted of cocaine possession.

At the trial, former gang members testifying in exchange for immunity and Federal protection said the Chambers brothers built their empire by recruiting youngsters from their native Marianna, Ark. Some former workers testified the Chambers paid them as much as $1,500 a week to break up crack into $5 and $10 chunks and deliver it.

At its peak, the ring sold an estimated $3 million worth of cocaine a day in the nation's sixth-largest city, said United States Attorney Roy C. Hayes.

Comment by Lucinda F. Boyd on January 18, 2011 at 2:00pm

The drug conspiracy involved an extensive crack cocaine distribution network in the City of Detroit, organized and directed by brothers Billy Joe and Larry Chambers, and known as the Chambers Brothers Organization. The conspiracy allegedly began in 1983 and continued through February 1988. There was testimony that the widespread and carefully structured operations generated narcotics sales of as much as $200,000 a day. The operation was conducted out of various locations in the City of Detroit and was policed by a cadre of conspirator/enforcers known as "the wrecking crew." All twenty-two persons indicted were members of the organization.

The Chambers brothers recuited many of their 500 employees from Detroit High Schools and their impoverished hometown of Marianna, Arkansas, keeping their troops in line with brutality and intimidation.