Freeway Ricky Ross
Freeway Ricky Ross
Ricky Donnell "Freeway Ricky" Ross (born January 26, 1960) is an American author and former drug lord best known for the drug empire he established in Los Angeles, California, in the early to mid 1980s. He was sentenced to life in prison, though the sentence was shortened on appeal and Ross was released in 2009.
Biography
Ross attended school at Susan Miller Dorsey High School in Los Angeles. He played for the tennis team but was unable to get the college tennis scholarship he aspired to because he was illiterate.
Biography
In 1996, Ross was sentenced to life imprisonment under the three-strikes law after being convicted for purchasing more than 100 kilograms of cocaine from a federal agent in a sting operation. Later that year, a series of articles by journalist Gary Webb in the San Jose Mercury News revealed a connection between one of Ross's cocaine sources, Danilo Blandón, and the CIA as part of the Iran–Contra affair. Having learned to read at the age of 28, during his first stint in prison, Ross spent much of his time behind bars studying the law. He eventually discovered a legal loophole that would lead to his release. Ross's case was brought to a federal court of appeals which found that the three-strikes law had been erroneously applied and ordered that he be resentenced. His sentence was reduced to 20 years; he was released from Federal Correctional Institution, Texarkana on September 29, 2009.
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