After more than three decades in prison, Martorano plans to grow his Hip Hemp Cafe into a chain of 12 shops down the east coast from Staten Island to Fort Lauderdale. In the early evening light of Saturday, June 27, four men barely disguised by low-drawn baseball caps casually strolled into a Philadelphia luxury apartment complex, took the elevator to the seventh floor, and shot up-and-coming club promoter, 34-year-old Rian Thal, in the head. We had hours and hours of tape.. 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Martorano was released from prison and now owns the CBD cafe at 607 S. 7th St. in South Philly, which has been open for three weeks. The staff also wanted me to get out. His drug trafficking organization operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, tearing at the fabric of the neighborhood at the expense of the families, seniors, and other neighbors living there. They each face a mandatory life sentence at sentencing. On May 31, 2013, a jury voted in favor of death for Savage, 38, who is the first defendant in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to receive the death penalty in federal court. Every time there was a mob hit in Philadelphia, they threw me in the hole, he said. "You, in a predatory way, took advantage of the circumstances of the women who were with you," Judge Boylan said. They thought no more of taking lives than of taking a phone call. By all accounts, Martorano was a stellar inmate with a gift for storytelling. The firebombing killed the man's mother, another woman and four children. I kept hearing about CBD, he said. Im not saying I was innocent, said Martorano, the son of the late mobster Raymond Long John Martorano. Once described by the FBI as a drug kingpin, Martorano has an empire that is small, but he plans to grow it into a chain of 12 shops down the East Coast from Staten Island to Fort Lauderdale.. With so much time on his hands, Martorano penned the first of his hard-boiled novels. Northington will be formally sentenced by U.S. District Judge Surrick on June 19, 2013. Her scheme unraveled when one of her drug operation members experienced a reaction to the meth and needed medical attention. Once described by the FBI as a drug kingpin, Martorano has an empire that is small, but he plans to grow it into a chain of 12 shops down the East Coast from Staten Island to Fort Lauderdale. As a convicted felon, Martorano is prohibited from selling medical marijuana in Pennsylvania. Alex "Reds" Rivera, 29, is accused of controlling drug sales in and around North Lawrence Street and. The case was investigated by the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Philadelphia District Attorneys Office, and the Maple Shade, New Jersey Police Department. I hadnt held a cellphone until Oct. 5, 2015, when I was released to my sister in St. Pete, he said. A federal jury in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania that voted in favor of death for a North Philadelphia drug kingpin, Kaboni Savage, today voted in favor of life for a co-defendant, Steven Northington. Among the titles: Pain Grows a Platinum Rose, Lion Love Last, and The Honey Keeper. Martorano winced as he pulled the device out of his sport coat pocket and muted the ringer. Once-disgraced Tour de France champion Floyd Landis, who remade himself as a marijuana entrepreneur in Colorado, announced last week that he would open the first of several cycling-themed CBD cafes in Lancaster. Six people were killed in the arson murder, including four children. Celebrities at the funeral (Allen Iverson, Beanie Sigel, Jay Z) purportedly knew Real Roller from his entertainment business. Louis R. Pichini, the former federal prosecutor who locked him up, said Martorano was trying to reconstruct history. He said the feds arrested him at a North Miami hotel and charged him with shipping a truckload of cannabis to Philadelphia. I know while he was in prison he made the best of his time. Market data provided by Factset. But that doesnt prevent him from vending dozens of products infused with a legal cannabis derivative called CBD, or cannabidiol. Martorano who once trafficked tons of marijuana and other illegal substances -- has been reborn as a legal cannabis entrepreneur. In 1986, he was stabbed to death in jail, where he was serving a life sentence he began only a year earlier. A lock ( Its easy to imagine Rian Thals killers felt the same way about her the day they slipped into the Piazza and turned out the lights on her. He employs five millennials none with an Italian last name, he quipped within the 600-square-foot retail space just off South Street. Martorano, who has been called the longest serving nonviolent offender in U.S. history, spent 32 years in prison. A glass display case highlights pre-rolled joints packed with industrial hemp, CBD vape cartridges, CBD creams, and CBD-infused hot sauce. The head of a multi-state cocaine trafficking operation has been sentenced to life in jail. Multiple surveillance cameras captured the seeming ease with which the killers performed. My coke dealer friend was invited; he showed me the glossy flier invitation. He no longer writes. May 13, 2013 / 6:07 PM / CBS Philadelphia by Ian Bush PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A Philadelphia drug lord is found guilty in the witness retaliation murder of a North Philadelphia family, and. Martorano is one of several business operators seeking to resurrect themselves in Pennsylvanias emerging legal cannabis marketplace. Remember that title: George Martorano, the Kingpin of Hope. Kidada Savage was convicted of six counts of racketeering murder, one count of retaliation murder and other charges. I know I did nothing wrong." The jury voted for death. Outside the walls, Martorano now takes credit for personally training more than 8,000 men. If anything, I want to be known as the Kingpin of Hope. CBD is a non-intoxicating compound extracted from industrial hemp, the look-alike cousin of psychoactive marijuana. May 11, 2019 / 10:46 AM He taught classes, said Bill Sweeney, the retired FBI agent who led the investigation that found Martorano guilty of dealing tons of marijuana and tens of thousands of quaaludes. Since the shop opened Jan. 23, the Hip Hemp Cafe has grossed $1,000 to $2,000 a day, Martarano said. Philadelphia drug kingpin Kaboni Savage has been awaiting federal execution since 2014 when he was convicted of murdering 12 people, which included a family of six killed in a brutal. Not me. Its hard to say, and by my friends report there were a lot more drug dealers than entertainers or athletes at the service. It was only 2,600 pounds of weed, and I wasnt even there, he protested. You always give the credit to the warden, he said with a broad smile. He also said he only supplied dealers with equipment, not drugs. A lock (LockA locked padlock) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. Coleman was a federal witness at the time. Roberto DeJesus Negrin was sentenced to ten years in prison last week for multiple narcotics offenses stemming from his role as a drug trafficker and a leading supplier of heroin in one of the most drug-laden neighborhoods in Philadelphia. The Piazza wasnt meant for cold-blooded drug crimes. Suite 1250, 615 Chestnut Street Though the FDA recently approved a prescription version to treat some rare forms of childhood epilepsy, there is no scientific evidence CBD is effective for any other conditions. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sit-down-a-mafia-history-podcast/id1561478045 So he took a course in running a dispensary where he could provide it to people who need it. We are hopeful that the jurys verdict brings some measure of justice to the victims of Savages heinous crimes., Achieving justice sometimes requires us to ask the citizens on a jury to make the most difficult sentencing decision imaginable, said U.S. Attorney Memeger. He survived and was able to come back on the other side of this, said Anastasia. George Anastasia, retired mob writer for the Inquirer, said Martorano was one of the few figures associated with local organized crime to successfully overcome his past. You need to be a member of Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org to add comments! Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, and penalty phase deliberations are scheduled to begin next week. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. We never had a case with the evidence as strong as that one. On the 13th episode of the Sit Down, Jeff and BlackJack get into the sickening and disturbing life of drug dealer Kaboni Savage. Also known as "Granny Evil," Kath ran a sprawling crime operation that included a stranglehold on Melbourne's illegal drug business as well as arms smuggling and prostitution. He wants to help people. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. This Philly hustler, once called a 'drug kingpin' and spent 30 years in prison, now owns a CBD cafe After more than three decades in prison, Martorano plans to grow his Hip Hemp Cafe into a chain of 12 shops down the east coast from Staten Island to Fort Lauderdale. A sign reading Under Constant Video Surveillance is prominently displayed at the entrance to the apartment complex where this took place, and on June 27, those cameras paid off: Last week, 25-year-old Katoya Jones, seen in the video letting the killers into the building, was charged with murder and conspiracy. The agent also videotaped Martorano conspiring in a hotel room to distribute mass quantities of heroin with the Black Mafia in North Philadelphia. Phillips, 39, was sentenced to five consecutive life terms by Joyner last week following his conviction on murder, drug dealing, conspiracy, and money-laundering charges. Credit: Bucks County District Attorney's Office. But in prison, his love of storytelling blossomed into a full-time job. Savage ordered the Oct. 9, 2004, firebombing of the home of Eugene Colemans family. Such, it seems, was Rian Thal. Any of those long nights I spent in that room above my friends store, the door could have been kicked in and both of us shot in the head for that coke sitting on the table and the money knot in his pocket. Felix Mitchell. Martorano looks nothing like the Philly street hustler he once was. Ive turned my nightmare into something more profound, said Martorano, 69. I had been following the news about marijuana getting legalized out west. When he was set free, there were only two places in South Philly he said hadnt changed in the years since he was locked up: His mothers house on Fitzwater Street, where he lives and takes care of her, and his favorite restaurant, the Saloon, where hes a regular. Over the decades, he evolved from a budding wise guy to self-styled wise man. He doesnt deny his past. She was an influential figure, a girl who, through circumstances not as unlikely as you might think, became an apparent middleman for the Real Rollers of the drug world. He blogs about his experiences on the frontlines of urban poverty at Phawker.com. The question came up more than once. By all accounts, Martorano was a stellar inmate with a gift for storytelling. Gave them hope.. Not me. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, And now around Philadelphia, even as the details of the case are still unfolding, the question is on everyones lips: How did this white girl (in the hip-hop clubs, she was actually known as white girl) from the wealthy suburbs get to this level of the drug game in the first place? When we walked in the door, heads turned, the shout outs came in waves, big men got up from their seats to throw enthusiastic hand slaps and shoulder bumps at my friend. An investigation found she hid the drugs in a pill bottle and secreted it inside her vagina. Government organization in the hole, he said the feds arrested him at a North Miami hotel and him... Budding wise guy to self-styled wise man death in jail thought no of! 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