in New York in the 1980s the emergence of crack cocaine brought a new wave of violence drug dealers robbed and killed as they scrambled for power [Music] ordinary citizens were victimized even children were not immune the FBI joined forces with the New York City Police to take back the streets their best weapon against deadly drug gangs thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] New York City is no stranger to gang violence but when a 12 year old child was kidnapped The Gangs had crossed the line law enforcement raced to find the missing boy before it was too late I'm Jim calstrom former head of the FBI's New York office agents would have to infiltrate the secretive world of a vicious gang to stop the murderous exploits of a drug lord in the 1980s crack cocaine invaded the Harlem Section of New York as it did many urban areas in America over time the cheap and highly addictive drug crippled communities unlike any other drug had before with the crack came ruthlessly violent gangs that ruled the streets no one was truly safe [Music] on December 5th 1989 Paul Donnell Porter was walking to elementary school he never made it to class that day foreign [Music] when he didn't arrive home after school his family worried they hadn't been able to find him in the neighborhood [Music] at 9pm danelle's sister received a phone call the man on the other end said Donnell had been kidnapped he wanted five hundred thousand dollars so the boy would be killed the sister said the family didn't have that kind of money it didn't matter to the caller yeah he warned them not to contact police then instructed them to go to a restaurant at 125th and Broadway behind a trash can in the restroom they'd find something that would prove he was serious foreign [Music] went to the restaurant so the porters could stay by the phone he didn't know if it was a setup [Music] following the kidnapper's orders he checked behind the trash container and found a coffee can foreign were two rings an audio cassette and a child's severed finger [Music] Donnell was hurt and could be bleeding to death despite being warned not to the family called the New York City Police the family told investigators what they knew thank you detectives inspected the evidence the sister said that the Rings belonged to Donnell they've been given to the boy by his older brother on the tape a recorded plea for help was definitely Darnell's voice [Music] the family told detectives about a second call in which the kidnapper had lowered his Ransom to 350 thousand dollars [Music] it was still far beyond their means they said they didn't know why they were targeted for such a high Ransom but detectives knew what the family wouldn't say he came straight back the victim's older brother Richard Porter was a major crack cocaine dealer in the area police believe that kidnapping was related to his drug Empire [Music] NYPD contacted the New York FBI's reactive squad for assistance special agent David Higgins our narcotics expert was asked to provide more intelligence on Richard Porter Richard Porter then about 25 years of age was a well-known crack dealer whose activities took place in central Harlem he was one of those individuals who got in early on the crack trade in New York and he had created a significant drug Empire in central Harlem Richard Porter had made millions of dollars selling crack on New York streets what's going on man it didn't take long to find Porter detectives recognized the person he was with as his drug running partner Alpo Martin this visit wasn't about drugs it was about finding Donnell foreign ER agreed to come to the station for an interview though he said he didn't know how he could help what's up guys I don't know anything at least knew Porter was very close to dunnell but he claimed to know nothing about who was behind his brother's kidnap on the streets these matters are usually solved without the cops the porter most likely held the key to finding Donnell he was in no position to talk to authorities Richard Porter uh because of his situation as a drug trafficker found himself in a ticklish situation legally it would have been difficult for him to cooperate directly with law enforcement I believe he attempted to handle this situation on his own to some extent oh yeah police had nothing to hold him on authorities needed to find someone else to help them they canvassed the area trying to gather information on the kidnapping in such a close-knit neighborhood someone had to have heard something about Donnell but residents were too afraid to talk Harlem's violent gangs had a Stranglehold on the community detectives were left with nothing with each passing day police in nypd's 32nd Precinct Revival decreased investigators maintained contact with the boy's family who were desperate for more word from the kidnappers a week after the Abduction the family received a note in it the kidnappers hinted Danelle was still alive they demanded their money but no more Ransom calls came with no clues to the boy's whereabouts and no one talking police had reached a dead end they somehow needed to pressure Richard Porter into cooperation or hope he would pay the ransom to get Danelle back foreign then on January 4th 1990 a month after danelle's abduction the body of his brother drugged Kingpin Richard Porter was found in a Bronx Park he had been shot twice in the head and chest there would be no one to pay the ransom now it was widely assumed that Richard's death was connected to the kidnapping and probably the result of a ransom payment gone bad however it was noted early on that when his body was discovered his wallet contained over two thousand dollars in U.S currency his jewelry was there apparently his automobile was nearby so there was some question about what the actual motivations were behind his murder with Richard Porter's death investigators lost their closest connection to the abducted 12 year old to find another source they increased pressure on lower level dealers in Porter's organization [Music] facing drug charges they were offered leniency in exchange for information some said Porter's partner Alpo Martinez could be involved others claimed an Infamous Harlem gang called the preacher crew might be but none offered direct leads to the crime three weeks later a boy's body was recovered in the same Bronx Park where Richard Porter was found his family identified the body of Donnell Porter foreign [Music] cause of death was blunt force trauma to the Head a death of a child is always a disturbing event there's a 12 year old boy he's on the way to public school he's kidnapped uh tortured he's heard on the tape cassette uh crying for help from his family danelle's murder stunned the entire Harlem Community even though violence was a daily occurrence there foreign at the time Sergeant James Marr worked nypd's notorious 32nd Precinct where Danelle lived in the late 80s and early 90s 32nd Precinct which is actually geographically only one square mile was one of the most violent precincts in New York City they averaged in the area of the upper 60s to low 70s of homicides a year and added on to that were shootings several hundred shootings that the people didn't die in response to the increased violence in the city a task force called the c-11 squad had been formed at the FBI's New York field office [Music] detectives from the 32nd Precinct and FBI agents were assigned to the squad [Music] c-11 was created to address these entrenched criminal conspiracy groups in the city of New York the locals brought their knowledge of the streets the knowledge of the subjects involved to the table the federal agents brought along with them the access to the federal courts which included the access to the federal sentencing guidelines in the United States attorney's office after the murder of Danelle Porter they knew they had to take back the streets c-11 would first go after Alpo Martinez Richard Porter's partner the problem is here we haven't if their partnership had unraveled he would have had the most to gain from extorting Richard Porter and killing him we're working on some surveillance a year earlier a warrant had been sworn out for his arrest on drug charges but when Martin has couldn't be found Federal prosecutors had to drop the warrant in police computers the c-11 squad flagged the names of known associates of Alpo Martinez Annie were arrested they would be notified months later police in Washington D.C pulled over a car after observing its driver engaged in a drug deal the driver was a known Courier for Alpo Martinez police found a large amount of crack and thousands of dollars in his car [Music] noting the flag on his record from New York D.C authorities would contact the c-11 squad after The Courier was sentenced to 20 years to life on drug charges c-11 agents had him transported to New York for an interview an agent explained that under federal law his sentence could be reviewed if he cooperated with authorities he told what he knew about Martinez in porta's East Coast drug operation drugs would be distributed both in New York City by Richard Porter and in Washington D.C by Alpo Martinez while in Washington DC Martinez Allied himself with individuals that he found to be strong on the street if you will in order to protect his drug operation in Washington D.C and it was not unusual for literally sea bags worth of U.S currency to be shipped out of Northern Virginia and Washington D.C up into the porter neighborhood at 132nd and 7th Avenue in New York City it was enough for a renewed arrest warrant on Alpo Martinez agents canvassed the neighborhood talking to people who knew martiners most were afraid to talk eventually agents learned The Fugitive who's going to pick up his wife's car at a dealership in northern New Jersey undercover agents staked out the dealership please oh sir they didn't know if Martinez would show up but they knew he liked fast cars that afternoon a sports car pulled out they watched a passenger get out but it wasn't Martinez agents couldn't tell if the fugitive was driving they had to risk a closer look if they could arrest Martinez it might help solve the murders of Richard Porter and his 12 year old brother Donnell an agent visually identified Martinez as the driver he radioed a go-ahead signal but before the arrest team could respond Martin has spun away agents gave Chase but the fugitive disappeared into heavy traffic with Alpo Martin as still a fugitive the abduction and murder of twelve-year-old Danelle Porter remained unsolved [Music] murder of twelve-year-old Donnell Porter showed that Harlem's drug violence was out of control the FBI's c-11 Squad knew the murder was connected to the boy's brother crack dealer Richard Porter but Porter himself had been killed c-11 believed finding Porter's partner Alpha Martinez would provide answers but in 1991 Martinez had eluded an FBI undercover operation from the incident the FBI got his license plate number and alerted New York police to be on the lookout for the vehicle the next day police spotted it parked on a Harlem Street they impounded it hoping it might lead to marketers they believe the fugitive wouldn't retrieve the vehicle himself but FBI special agent David Higgins waited to see if he'd send someone a young lady showed up who claimed to be the true owner she was the registered owner ultimately a quick investigation established that she was uh what we call a straw man or somebody who had stepped forward in order to buy and register the car on behalf of Mr Martinez Martinez was nowhere to be found in New York acting on a tip that he had traveled to Washington DC Agents set up surveillance at the DC home of the fugitive's ex-wife in the early hours of November 7th 1991. they spotted Martinez getting into his ex-wife's vehicle this time he wasn't driving as they pulled out the FBI made their move the fugitive's ex-wife pulled over your hands up the cocaine in his possession helped cement the case against one of the biggest drug traffickers on the East Coast the Martin has pled guilty to an indictment in the eastern district of Virginia Which accused him of trafficking in over a thousand kilograms of cocaine the wholesale value of that would be uh 20 million dollars investigators also had evidence against Martinez on several Gangland murders they told him they knew he was Richard Porter's partner so he stood to gain from danelle's and Richard's death hoping to avoid the death penalty Alpha Martin has agreed to cooperate he admitted killing his partner Richard Porter Martin has had begun to suspect his partner had been cheating him out of hundreds of thousands of dogs he said that more than a year earlier on January 4th 1990 he and an associate had taken Richard Porter for a ride almost immediately Martinez and the associate each shot him they dumped his body in the Bronx Park where it was found the next day Martin has swore it was just about missing Drug Money it had nothing to do with Daniel Porter's kidnapping and murder no evidence or testimony linked Martinez to that crime [Music] he went to prison for life although they had put away a major drug dealer the local and federal investigators of the c-11 squad were no closer to solving the murder of Daniel Porter they reviewed FBI intelligence already gathered on other Harlem gangsters who might have profited from extorting and killing Richard Porter [Music] one gang stood out as likely suspect every week they were known as the preacher crew the gang's leader was Clarence preacher Heatley [Music] FBI special agent Joe Walsh formerly of the c-11 squad knew the preacher and his crew were well entrenched and very dangerous preacher cozy established crew in the neighborhood you know for a long time a preacher had been kicking around the streets of home since the early 70s and everybody knew him by his nickname The Black Hand of Death and everybody was deathly afraid of him NYPD Sergeant James Marr of the c-11 squad learned the preacher had a reputation for violence but the gangster was an elusive figure in Harlem you could walk up to anybody in the 32nd Precinct no matter how church-going they are no matter whether they're businessmen or local drug dealers they all have a preacher story they all know who preacher is ask any of them to describe preach it to you or a majority of them they're not going to be able to because this guy was an Infamous Legend in Hall the players in Harlem's drug underworld had carved up the area into zones each block each alley was the established Turf of a single dealer most dealers respected the boundaries but the preacher did not he considered all of Harlem his turf made his money not by dealing drugs but by taxing other dealers but he was mostly into extortion extorting drug deals these are guys that were violent in their own in their own right he would go up and claim their car if a drug dealer looked like he was getting paid so to say he was driving a brand new full-size Mercedes-Benz and preacher liked that car that was preachers those who argued with preacher paid a heavy price it was a system that made him a rich man if you're hitting every other drug dealer on the streets you know two thousand here three thousand here five thousand that's a lot of money it adds up and believe me they all pay because if they didn't pay Peter would pay him a visit or he would order his people to pay him a visit and they'd wind up dead we took him in last week the preacher's history of extortion and violence made him a likely suspect in the abduction and murder of Donald C11 had outlined the basic structure of the preacher crew [Music] the preacher's main Lieutenant was a man named John cuff he was a particularly dangerous criminal according to c-11's detective Vinnie Flynn John cuff who is an ex-new York City Housing cop as a cop he provided protection and bodyguard work for preacher um so if they were driving through the neighborhood and was stopped John cuff had a shield where he would probably be let go and not given a summons or anything further would happen um John cuff had a reputation of one to be feared a very violent person yet no evidence linked either man to Donnell Porter because those c-11 suspected preacher was involved in the deadly kidnapping he probably didn't commit it himself surprise painting he distanced himself from most of the crimes having his main lieutenant and other henchmen carry out his orders at preacher's command their brutal extortion tactics earn the money and kept Witnesses too intimidated to talk effectively insulating the crew against investigation go into you know Bodega you know someplace up in Holland and we'd say we know we came in here and the guy would have a cast on his hand we know he broke your hand and and the shop owner was saying I don't know what you're talking about you know and that that shop owner would be paying rent you know or taxed and to preacher but nobody would tell us anything with people too afraid to talk crimes continued to pile up on New Year's Eve 1992 emergency units responded to a call in the preacher's territory a man laid dead in his car the victim of a drive-by shooting [Music] he survived the harrowing ordeal they described how The Killers pulled up next to them on the street and opened fire [Music] they claimed they didn't know who did it or why and like danelle's kidnapping no one in the neighborhood admitted seeing anything was another tragic killing in Harlem that might go unsolved the c-11 squad had to breach the areas violently enforced Code of Silence and finally get insiders to talk a shocking drive-by shooting was added to the list of unsolved murders in Harlem with Witnesses too afraid to cooperate with police the case was open for two years then in 1994 the c-11 squad found a witness who told them the shooter was a preacher crew member named Malik detective Vinnie Flynn learned that Malik had a violent reputation he became a so-called director of security for the preacher organization he was in charge of the group of members who were known as the janitors the janitors were the people that had to clean up problems or the mess of the family and you couldn't be a janitor unless you killed somebody [Music] tried to send in undercover officers it was yet another dead end according to FBI special agent Joe Walsh [Music] we weren't able to really get in so to speak and get an undercover in that to buy narcotics from preacher because preacher was very very careful he was you know he's a very smart man and we couldn't get the the undercover you know close to him the preacher had closed ranks ordering the people he extorted not to sell to new buyers and to keep a low profile on the street investigators needed a witness with close ties to the crew [Music] debuted business cards hoping one would find its way to an Insider willing to talk their persistence paid off in April 1994 a crew member contacted the c-11 squad because he realized his life was in danger he said the preacher had started going after his own crew members preacher had killed two of the informants partners fearing he was next he asked Sergeant James Marr for protection who was a stone cold killer himself who became an informant that was so fearful of preacher enough being killed like his Partners had that he came to me that he came to us that he gave us information on specific crimes that he talked about crimes that had been unsolved for years investigators were frustrated that the informant knew nothing of 12 year old Donnell Porter's kidnapping and murder but he did give investigators their first specific Insider information about preacher heatley's organization he mentioned a killing basement that the crew used as a meeting place and execution chamber at some meetings creature would call for a vote on the fate of gang members who had fallen out of favor if the majority voted thumbs down preacher ordered in March 1994 preacher called for a vote on Malik the janitor who had done the drive-by shooting he believed Malik could no longer be trusted the vote was thumbs down [Music] preachers summoned Malik to headquarters Malik thought he was there to take part in the beating of a crew member that he had had problems with in the past not realizing he was the real Target Malik was excited when others invited him to the basement if you went down there and you were followed in there you know somebody's behind you you weren't coming out alive what's up man what's up man what's up man yo reach back I think you told Malik he had to die he was gaining too much influence within the organization the preacher wouldn't tolerate [Music] Monique pleaded for his life but the order had been given at preacher's command other janitors used a circular saw to dismember me informants said that preacher ordered him and another crew member to dispose of the body parts poured acid on Malik's arms to remove gang tattoos that could link him to the cruel then they left the body parts in several crumbling abandoned buildings they kept Monique's head in a refrigerator for a couple of weeks and they kind of paraded it around on a stick you know that's how preacher would you know keep the fear of uh fear of God so to speak in the uh in the younger younger Turks in his organization Georgia the fear was too much for the informants though he knew leaving the crew was equivalent to a death sentence he hoped the c-11 squad could protect it didn't take long for word to get back to the preacher that the informant had cooperated one day the informant was leaving a New York courthouse when he spotted preacher and cuff he was sure they were there to abduct and kill him he went to his car and called his c-11 handlers the employment advised me that his fear that he was going to be killed by the organization he was going to be abducted right in the middle of the afternoon in front of the courthouse the Agents of C11 rushed to stop another murder in the preacher's territory [Music] okay let's get it there a former member of the preacher crew feared the gang was out to kill him for cooperating with authorities agents and detectives from the FBI C11 Squad came to his Aid just in time they arrested Maine lieutenant John cuff and the crew leader himself Clarence preacher Heatley Sergeant James mob and the other arresting agents searched the vehicle it was evidence inside including information about my informant masks tape it was Apparent at the time that my informants feelings were right he was going to be abducted that day come on man but no one could prove that the men were coming to kill the informant 20 minutes the preacher and cuff were released the incident brought the c-11 squad's investigation of the crew into the oak [Music] foreign that's when it became apparent that they were being investigated by the FBI I mean here's this detective that they know from the 3-2 that when he does make an arrest makes arrests with FBI agents it became apparent to coffin preacher that the FBI was breathing down their neck preacher further insulated himself the FBI would have to get him by going after his organization [Music] they would use federal racketeering statutes known as Rico originally designed to bring down organized crime families Rico requires that strict criteria are met according to FBI special agent Joe Walsh you have to have your organization you have to have your leader which in this case was preacher and he has to have five or more people working Underneath Him you know facilitate the conspiracy of the organization but you also need three predicate offenses three Federal offenses C11 investigators surveilled the preacher crew Gathering evidence on offenses to support the RICO case they noticed unrest within the Gang seemed the pressure of c-11's Investigation was getting to the preacher from an informant agents learned he even ordered the murder of his main lieutenant John cuff foreign agents were obligated to warn cuff of the hit I wish my shield he goes I know who you are you don't have to show me your shirt I said you know John just wanted to let you know that there's a contract out in your life and I swear there's nothing but space when you look in his eyes and he goes everybody wants me dead was undaunted by the threat though the preacher was tightening his grip on his men investigators still needed to get evidence of the crimes the crew committed to support the racketeering organization as more buyers and sellers were arrested some agreed to court helping to outline the group in detail according to detective Vinnie Flynn we obtained the informants through narcotics investigations arrests made by the 3-2 Precinct and the 3-2 detective squad through information they developed and informants they developed because of arrest information was compiled which built a case against the preacher crew murders what murders do you know about unfortunately no one had information on the Donnell Porter murder and so we took about one arrested crew member offered details of another murder committed by the crew hoping for leniency said they decided they didn't want to pay for a shipment of drugs they told the supplier that a young woman had stolen them and that they would take care of him she was a single mother who sometimes worked as a courier for the crew there you go they brought her to a harlem apartment telling her they wanted her to hear a record they had produced she hadn't stolen any drugs that didn't matter to the crew the informant explained how they cleaned up the crime scene then dump the body in an abandoned building remember exactly which building it was [Music] in August 1996 after more than five years of meticulous investigation U.S attorney's Office of the southern district of New York decided they had enough for indictments and arrests on federal Rico charges the first indictment was against Clarence preacher Heatley and John cuff the indictment was kept sealed if word got out to the preacher he might disappear forever investigators staked out preachers Harlem headquarters they hope news of the indictments hadn't been leaked and that if they found him they could arrest him without a fight they knew preacher was surrounded by armed men willing to kill at his command in late 1996 the c-11 squad was ready to arrest Clarence preacher Heatley [Music] no one had seen him in days August 12th he emerged from his headquarters building detectives made sure he was alone then moved in the phone as he was arrested The elusive gang leader remained relaxed and confident as soon as he was in custody other teams arrested his main lieutenant John cuff two months later 15 more preacher crew members were in the rest teams prepared for simultaneous takedowns foreign they had to strike fast full force to arrest gang members safely detective Vinnie Flynn and other c-11 investigators developed more cooperating Witnesses among the arrested crew members once people were arrested and being prosecuted they agreed to cooperate and they felt that they were used by the preacher crew and felt that if in some cases if they didn't participate they would have been killed too so this was their way out of the preacher crew and from under Clarence heatley's control investigators learned in which Harlem buildings the crew dumped some of their victims till evidence was crucial order to prosecute the RICO case one building was a shell partially collapsed on the inside further complicating the retreat after days of Excavating tons of rubble a body was discovered [Music] lab examiners determined it was the body of the young mother who had been killed as a cover for stolen drugs foreign apartment in an adjacent building evidence response teams checked the apartment that's the department where they kept the Malik's head and in the refrigerator there was a lot of blood still left in the apartment and inside the refrigerator there was Malik's blood from when they really kept his head they were able to trace out at the land Malik and several others had been killed in the basement of the preacher's headquarters crime scene technicians processed the basement arrested crew members said preacher had them scrub the place with boric acid after each killing the basement was clean but technicians were able to recover traces of Blood on the windows and on the saw blade that had been used to dismember Malik foreign but the investigation was not over the abduction and murder of young Danelle Porter was still unsolved morning gentlemen have a sweet answers about his death finally came from an unlikely source with an assistant district attorney convinced the boys of preacher crew member John applefort to come into talk pull them in through he was one of the crew's main players left on the street and had been labeled a snitch two attempts had been made on his life because you want to take business away suggested that Porter cooperate to earn protection in prison he confessed to several murders and revealed what happened to his nephew Donnell according to Sergeant James Marr the kidnapping was prompted by jealousy and greed the underlying factor with Johnny Porter Johnny apples with the kidnapping was when he came home from prison Richie Porter his nephew was this big Harlem drug dealer he was getting paid Richard Porter used to wear a lot of gold used to really like flashy cars he was making a lot of money and he wasn't giving any to Johnny Porter and Johnny Porter felt he was oldest he decided to take it and the way he was he took it is he snatched the kid Porter said the preacher agreed to the kidnapping he sent one of his janitors Malik to help they believed Richard Porter would pay anything to get his brother back shot no they kept the boy in a basement where no one would hear it so cut off his finger and recorded the boy's pleas for help to prove to his family they were serious apple and preacher hoped for five hundred thousand dollars enough to set Apple up in his own drug trade and enough to [ __ ] Richard Porter what time was it when Richard couldn't come up with that amount of cash they lowered it to three hundred and fifty thousand dollars you hold down his hand then the unexpected happened preacher and apple learned that Richard Porter was murdered there'd be no Ransom creature Heatley later told special agent Joe Walsh about his decision our preach sat right down in a room and uh and told me exactly what happened you know he looked me right in the eye and said you know I couldn't let that boy live after uh after what had happened yeah John Porter insisted that it was Malik who actually did the kill ER Malik was later killed and dismembered at the preacher's command John Porter was sentenced to Natural Life [Music] because of the evidence collected by the c-11 squad each member of the preacher crew went to prison [Music] their leader Clarence preacher Heatley pled guilty to Federal racketeering charges that included drug trafficking assault and murder he was sentenced to life with no chance of parole [Music] and his crew will never again terrorize the streets of Harlem it's estimated that they're responsible for approximately 45 murders that we're aware of numerous robberies if you add the extortion in these people were were a decade long or better crime wave in themselves they were they were just amazing the devastation that they caused in these communities that changed when the c-11 squad dismantled the preacher crew forever since the case was closed Harlem has seen a rebirth call him today the 32nd Precinct is running somewhere between 15 and 20 homicides a year down from the 70s down from 70 a year in the late 80s during the crack cocaine bench I think we accomplished quite a bit with destroyed this case and drug organization doesn't exist anymore so you can't hurt anybody else [Music]