The streets of the forgotten borough are still filled with greed, deceit and disloyalty. Messiah finds her mother and doesn’t know how to react. Her anger wants to put a bullet in her forehead, but the little girl inside is dying to know the woman who abandoned her so many years ago. The only problem standing in the middle of that is Tech. Messiah's mother, Carla, has to make one of the toughest decisions in her life, but will she make the right one? When Messiah digs up some old skeletons, it causes Carla to step back into the role she had lost so many years ago. Will she make the right decision? Rasheed is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Choosing between his sister, and fiancé he’s stuck. His loyalty and love for his sister wont allow him to turn his back on her, no matter how wrong she did him. With Messiah stepping into her new role, Rasheed doesn’t approve of; heads are sure to bud. Will Rasheed approve of his fiancé’s decision or fight back? Jaylah and Lb’s relationship is on the rock. When someone from her past enters her life, he opens her eyes to the stuff that Lb is putting her through, along with the possibility of rekindling a crush she had harbored for years. When Lb is caught up, and the truth hits Jaylah like a ton of bricks will she leave or continuing riding for Lb? Ock has a personal vendetta against Tech, since he was the reason he lost six years of his life. When he runs into Jaylah it’s fate’s sign that Tech has a death threat. Determined to handle business, and get his self right, he falls for the lovely Jaylah, hard. Eli thinks everyone thinks he’s dead. That is until his brother starts making costly mistakes that could end both of their lives. With a price on his head, and a reckless brother, will Eli fall into Messiah’s grasp or escape the forgotten borough?

The streets of the forgotten borough are still filled with greed, deceit and disloyalty. Messiah finds her mother and doesn't know how to react. Her anger wants to put a bullet in her forehead, but the little girl inside is dying to know the woman who abandoned her so many years ago. The only problem standing in the middle of that is Tech. Messiah's mother, Carla, has to make one of the toughest decisions in her life, but will she make the right one? When Messiah digs up some old skeletons, it causes Carla to step back into the role she had lost so many years ago. Will she make the right decision? Rasheed is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Choosing between his sister, and fiancé he's stuck. His loyalty and love for his sister wont allow him to turn his back on her, no matter how wrong she did him. With Messiah stepping into her new role, Rasheed doesn't approve of; heads are sure to bud. Will Rasheed approve of his fiancé's decision or fight back? Jaylah and Lb's relationship is on the rock. When someone from her past enters her life, he opens her eyes to the stuff that Lb is putting her through, along with the possibility of rekindling a crush she had harbored for years. When Lb is caught up, and the truth hits Jaylah like a ton of bricks will she leave or continuing riding for Lb? Ock has a personal vendetta against Tech, since he was the reason he lost six years of his life. When he runs into Jaylah it's fate's sign that Tech has a death threat. Determined to handle business, and get his self right, he falls for the lovely Jaylah, hard. Eli thinks everyone thinks he's dead. That is until his brother starts making costly mistakes that could end both of their lives. With a price on his head, and a reckless brother, will Eli fall into Messiah's grasp or escape the forgotten borough?

The streets of the forgotten borough, Staten Island, are cold. And so are the drug dealers that flood them. When your pockets are empty but your needs are full, you do the unthinkable. After her mother walks out on her at seven years old, Messiah Garibaldi was groomed to be a boss. Being the daughter to a mob boss and maid, she learned early to never mix business with pleasure. Messiah and her best friend, Jaylah, cook some of the best dope to man, which is how the ruthless drug lord, Tech, enters her world. Never being the one to be in love, Rasheed enters Messiah's life and opens her to the possibility to love. Will Messiah mix business with pleasure? There's only one thing in his way: Eli, Messiah's companion. Eli is money hungry and broke. When giving the opportunity, Eli pulls off a stunt that might end his life. LB is a low-level nickel and dime drug dealer for Tech. Tech has been promising to put him on for years. Tired of being broke and watching Tech reaps the benefits of his labor, LB decides to step out and link up with Rasheed. Staten Island is small, everyone knows everyone...but do they really? When you have crack money but cocaine dreams, envy becomes your best friend.

The streets of the forgotten borough, Staten Island, are cold. And so are the drug dealers that flood them. When your pockets are empty but your needs are full, you do the unthinkable. After her mother walks out on her at seven years old, Messiah Garibaldi was groomed to be a boss. Being the daughter to a mob boss and maid, she learned early to never mix business with pleasure. Messiah and her best friend, Jaylah, cook some of the best dope to man, which is how the ruthless drug lord, Tech, enters her world. Never being the one to be in love, Rasheed enters Messiah’s life and opens her to the possibility to love. Will Messiah mix business with pleasure? There’s only one thing in his way: Eli, Messiah’s companion. Eli is money hungry and broke. When giving the opportunity, Eli pulls off a stunt that might end his life. LB is a low-level nickel and dime drug dealer for Tech. Tech has been promising to put him on for years. Tired of being broke and watching Tech reaps the benefits of his labor, LB decides to step out and link up with Rasheed. Staten Island is small, everyone knows everyone...but do they really? When you have crack money but cocaine dreams, envy becomes your best friend.

Keep your friends close but your enemies closer. Messiah learns that the old saying holds weight. With all of her enemies working together and her family with no clue where she is, she has no choice but to lie down. Trying to hold on for her twins and to see her love, Rasheed's face again Messiah decides she isn't going lay down so quietly. Chafe may have kidnapped his niece but he soon remembers that she's just as lethal as he is. Chafe gets a dose of reality when his masterminds in this plan are terrified of Messiah, except Tyesha. Rasheed recruits his old business partner, Moses to help find his fiancé. When Moses gets the crew together, nothing but mayhem will occur. Ock wants nothing more than to bust his gun right along with his wife, Jaylah. When a turn events occur, Ock has no choice but to sit down man to boy with Lb. Eli thought fleeing to Miami would change all his problems, but all they did was follow him. With Messiah in his hands, he plans to kill her. Lorenzo and Carla are working on being together. When Lorenzo's past calls him and sends a 6'1 green eye secret he's been hiding for years to his door step, Will this secret come on good turns when they find out their sister is responsible for the murder she committed in the packed club months ago. Juan still has ill feelings that his sister is still involved with that scum, Lorenzo. He wants nothing more than to be rid of his half breed niece and whore of a sister. When skeletons start to fall that Juan set Messiah up, Lorenzo is coming for blood. Soon Cyn has to choose between her father and her cousin. Who will she choose? Frenchy goes against better judgement and starts to do business on the Haitians side of town. When war erupts with the crew gain new territory in Miami? The stakes are high and the streets are still gritty. Find out who's still having cocaine dreams, with crack pockets.

“Iced is a powerhouse. . . . Ray Shell writes beautifully. The story is heartbreaking. I kept putting it down and picking it up again—it won’t let me go.”—Maya Angelou A timeless tale of one man’s decline into the depths of addiction that is at both a shocking study of the addict’s life, and a deeply compelling and often uplifting tale of human love and loss. First published at the height of the crack cocaine epidemic thirty years ago, Ray Shell’s “powerhouse” (Maya Angelou) of a novel is as timely and relevant today as it was in 1994. It is the story of Cornelius Washington, a young upper-middle-class Black man blessed with burning talent and ambition, who enjoys experimenting with drugs—a dangerous pastime that gradually becomes a destructive addiction. Now a middle-aged crackhead, Cornelius ponders his life and the choices that have led him here. Written as a series of immersive stream of consciousness diary entries, Iced captures the despair and dashed dreams of a man caught between the harsh realities of his present and the adventures and upheavals of his past—a youth marked by a host of characters both intriguing and terrifying. A complicated man both compelling and maddening, sympathetic and defiant, Cornelius tries desperately to break free from his addiction, a struggle that ends in defeat time and time again. Despite the thought loops that lead to his bad choices, this painfully realistic character elicits hope for his survival, even though he will likely meet a devastating end. Resonant and haunting, illuminating and heartbreaking, Iced paints a portait of being Black in America, and the ways in which marginalized communities are targeted and ignored, left to suffer the consequences of policies made by powerful people ignorant and uncaring of their lives. It is a novel that transcends time, offering a glimpse of the past that is present in our lives today.

In the mid-1980s when hip-hop and the crack era were jumping off street dudes like Alpo and Rich Porter were the icons in Harlem. Everyone was watching and emulating them. Their stories have been told in many different formats and forums but now the complete tale is detailed in one concise volume. Read Alpo and Rich Porter's story from beginning to tragic end in this extensively researched new volume in the Street Legends series brought to you by celebrated and noted gangster writer, Seth Ferranti and Gorilla Convict Publications.

The New York Times Bestseller What if everything you think you know about addiction is wrong? Johann Hari's journey into the heart of the war on drugs led him to ask this question--and to write the book that gave rise to his viral TED talk, viewed more than 62 million times, and inspired the feature film The United States vs. Billie Holiday and the documentary series The Fix. One of Johann Hari's earliest memories is of trying to wake up one of his relatives and not being able to. As he grew older, he realized he had addiction in his family. Confused, not knowing what to do, he set out and traveled over 30,000 miles over three years to discover what really causes addiction--and what really solves it. He uncovered a range of remarkable human stories--of how the war on drugs began with Billie Holiday, the great jazz singer, being stalked and killed by a racist policeman; of the scientist who discovered the surprising key to addiction; and of the countries that ended their own war on drugs--with extraordinary results. Chasing the Scream is the story of a life-changing journey that transformed the addiction debate internationally--and showed the world that the opposite of addiction is connection.

"To have once been a criminal is no disgrace. To remain a criminal is the disgrace." MALCOLM X In Harlem's tumultuous history, there are many tragedies. For those growing up in this part of New York City, a young man known simply as Fritz from West 112th Street became an urban legend in Harlem. In the 1970s, Richard "Fritz" Simmons is introduced to the drug trade, by an associate of the Lucchese crime family, one of the five families of La Cosa Nostra (the Mafia). After negotiating a deal with the Medellín Cartel, Fritz becomes New York's Cocaine Consignment King. The lucrative deal unlocks a lavish lifestyle with more money than Fritz's family and Harlem could've imagined. Now, distributing kilos of cocaine on a kingpin level to many well-known Harlem heavyweights, Fritz employs hundreds throughout the five boroughs of New York City and neighboring states. Fritz further extends his generosity in ways few from the community had ever seen. Fritz reigns supreme for over a decade in the drug game, making millions under the radar of the NYPD and he never got busted. Some look at Fritz as the Keyser Soze of the 80s. The most enigmatic drug dealer of that time. ​ HARLEM HOLIDAY brings her readers the inside scoop after almost three decades of silence, speculation, and secrecy. This biography is the in-depth story of Fritz never before told; the tale of how a lowly street hustler rises to orchestrate a one-man syndicate. It's an account of events, as told by Fritz's family and closest friends, and details gathered from newspaper clippings, magazine articles, court transcripts, and social media. Fritz's truth, joy, and despair are fully disclosed, while circumstances surrounding his death still remain a mystery.