FREEWAY: CRACK IN THE SYSTEM

In South Central LA, he is an urban legend – a black godfather figure whom most people have never seen, but know by reputation.

Once a promising tennis player, he lost his chance at a college scholarship after it became apparent he couldn’t read. At a vocational school, an instructor set him up with a Nicaraguan drug connection. Ross built a drug empire, and by1983 was sending five million vials of crack a month to streets across the country, taking in over a million dollars in cash a day.

But he didn’t know that his supplier and friend, Blandon, was using some of the profits to help fund the Contras in Nicaragua and was part of a network connected to the CIA. He would later betray Ross in a DEA drug sting, sending him to federal prison with a life sentence. His story defies all odds and proves that truth is indeed stranger than fiction.