WEBVTT - A Hustler's Life 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:03.480 As my research took me deeper into the heightst that 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:07.040 happened that night, I realized there were two people who 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:09.440 had a clear view of the events and who were 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:14.000 directly involved. One was J. D. Hudson, whom you met 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:18.720 in the last episode. The other was Chicken Man, a 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:22.280 hustler who was blamed for the heist and consequently had 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:24.119 a hit put on him by the higher ups in 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.120 the world of black organized crime. These two guys were 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:32.200 like two sides of the same coin, and just like J. D. Hudson, 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:35.360 I knew that in order to fully understand this world, 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:39.600 these players, and these events, I would have to find 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:43.320 out who Chicken Man was too, who he really was, 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:47.280 and how his life led him to be in the crosshairs. 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:50.920 The life of the hustler with my dad was he 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:53.480 liked nice things, he liked to dress well, he liked 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:56.360 behind cars. So in order to have those things, he 0:00:56.480 --> 0:01:04.800 hustled me listen then, don't hear that? And the press 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:08.759 of made them bat We started moving a lout of marijuana. 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:11.680 Shipments start coming in really really big. I'm talking about 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:14.119 two tons three times. I matter one of the girls 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:15.800 who would come by and say, I don't know his 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:20.640 name both I think he called Chicken Man man from 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:23.880 my Heart Radio and Doghouse Pictures. This is Fight Night. 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:32.680 I'm Jeff Keating. In episode one, we found out that 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:36.160 Chicken Man had been killed in a supposed gangling assassination 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:40.680 according to the New York Times and numerous other sources. Luckily, 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:44.200 I was able to track down his son, Gordon Williams Jr. 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:46.760 To help me fill in the missing pieces of his 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:51.280 dad's story. Well, the early year is where my dad 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.200 growing up. My dad was in the military, of course, 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.080 but I was so young, I really don't remember his 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:01.120 military years. But when he came home, Dad when his 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:06.320 hustling started, and it started as bootlegging, wound shining, and 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:10.320 that turned into number writing, which is now a forming 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:12.840 of Georgia Lottery, because Georgia Lottery ran a lot of 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:17.120 the number bookies out of the business. That's right. Chicken 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:20.360 Man's first major source of income as a hustler was 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:23.160 the illegal lottery, also known at that time is playing 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:27.080 the numbers or the bug. You get the individual who 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:31.280 plays the numbers, And they called my dad, Hey, listen, 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:33.799 my numbers already, come pick them up, just like cash 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:36.800 three today you go buy and you pick your numbers up. 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:40.679 Here's the story in Dr Maurice Hopson. The lottery in 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:43.440 the black community, often known as the bug, was a 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:46.560 real source of income. Someone will play a number, they 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:48.520 will be able to win three to four hundred times 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:51.600 the amount that they put down. It allowed for the 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:54.520 lucky ones to actually gettin some income to do some 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:55.960 of the things that they wanted to do. I mean 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:57.640 whether it's to pay bills or buy a new car 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:01.320 or whatever whatnot. So it was a real stream of income, 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:03.079 and it was believed to be a stream of income, 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:07.400 but it was a risky way to make a living. 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:10.480 And Chicken Man knew that the easiest way to get 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:13.360 busted for running numbers was getting caught with the actual 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:16.720 list of players names and their picks, known as the ribbon. 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:19.919 But Chicken Man figured out an innovative way to get 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:23.480 rid of the evidence. He printed his ribbon on flash 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:26.359 paper and he wrote these numbers down on this piece 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:30.160 of paper and lit it with a cigarette lighter and 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:31.920 threw it in the air and there was no ashes. 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:36.200 And I was like, oh my god, this is so. 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:38.760 I was gonna back back then, I was in school, 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:41.280 I was gonna take it the show and tail saying 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:43.240 you know, I was a show to people that hey, 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:46.160 I got paper that can disappear in the air. But 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:49.120 that became real popular because if you get caught with 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:51.960 those not what you're going to jail. Before the Georgia 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:55.840 Lottery essentially legitimized number running in the state and forced 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.160 hustlers like Chicken Man to look for other ways to 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:01.440 make money. The numbers were an important source of revenue 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:06.720 within the black community. Here's Dr Hobson. The lottery becomes 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:10.000 not only a source of revenue, it becomes a vehicle 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:14.480 to an aspect of prosperity in a particular kind of way, 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:17.960 and so people embody the numbers. The number runners or 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:20.080 men and women in the community were seen as pull 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:22.800 as in the community because they always have money. They 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:25.400 made sure that people, you know I had food, They 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:27.039 buried the day, they took care of the sick, They 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:30.240 gave little kids money. So even though it's criminal activity, 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:35.120 they're not seen as criminals per se. One of the 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:38.880 biggest lottery men in Atlanta was Wesley Merit. He was 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:42.120 known around town as a banker because not only did 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:45.880 he finance and profit from his illegal operations. He also 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:49.279 loaned money to members of the black community who couldn't 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:52.480 go to an actual bank. Here's Chicken Man's son, Gordon 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:56.960 Williams Jr. Western Mayor was like the mayor of Atlanta 0:04:57.240 --> 0:04:59.000 is one of the biggest bankers in Atlanta. You know 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:01.440 what I mean. Everybody to Wesley Merrit for everything. If 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:04.640 you needed help, you needed some money, West the Merit 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:06.719 will help you out. He would help you. You would 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:09.200 have to pay him back, of course. But Western Merritt 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:12.040 was a very good guy, a good friend of my dad. 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.520 My dad respected him. He was not a very flamboy 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:18.359 and a flashy kind of person. Quiet man loved where 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:22.200 you know, a colored white shirt, starched blue overalls, and 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:25.719 shine shoes. And so that was his trademark is you know, 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:29.159 to be clean but not flashy. Merritt was also known 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:31.640 for taking care of the sick, for burying the dead, 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.600 for sending children to schools, for feeding the hungry. He 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:36.800 was considered to be the kind of person who could 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:40.000 prop up of community. He was known for putting lights 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:43.919 on streets that didn't have lights. He was instrumental in 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:46.279 trying to help roads get paved in the black community. 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:50.400 He was committed and dedicated to Black communities flourishing and 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:52.960 was willing to step in and ways in which the 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:58.960 city of Atlanta had failed black communities. Even Detective J. D. Hudson, 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:02.080 a no nonsense cop whose job it was to chase 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:05.440 down and arrest criminals, saw the value in hustlers like 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:09.520 chicken Men and Wesley Merrit taking care of their own community. 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:15.960 You take a hustler and put them here, and then 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:18.800 you take the president and hustler hustling put them over here. 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:22.160 The two divent. It is so the best citizen in 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:27.120 the city. They go to church, they spend money at church, 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:31.720 They feed the hungred, they be rent, they support the 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:35.360 wime seated Red Cross. They send that you're in the college, 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:39.360 but they don't hear. The hustlers and the press have 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:45.560 made them bad people, hi criminals. Wesley Merrit also owned 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.120 a pool hall on Hunter Street that was a very 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:52.760 popular meeting place for diverse cross section of the black community. 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:55.360 You have your ministers that would come that way. You 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:58.040 would have your entertainers who would come to town. They 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:01.960 would frequent Wesley Merits pool hall. You have your politicians 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:04.480 that would come to the spot. You have your businessmen 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:06.400 shoot a couple of rounds of pool and have a 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:08.960 couple of drinks, smoke a cigar or something of that nature. 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:13.600 But it also brought in the hustling community in Atlanta, 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:18.080 I mean bootleggers, other number runners, you know, pimping and pandering, 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:21.640 all aspects of the game, money, laundry, all kind of 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:25.280 things took place in these pool halls, and all kinds 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:29.320 of characters hung around this pool hall, hustlers we've already mentioned, 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:33.000 like Fireball and Buddy Gloss and of course Chicken Man. 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:36.679 J D remembers the first time he ever met Chicken 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:40.040 Man at a restaurant across the street from the historically 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:44.680 black Clark Atlanta University. But it wasn't what you call 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:48.240 a friendly encounter. That makes Chicken Man. When I was 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:52.200 a rook at policeman, I was in a Capital restaurant, 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:55.160 a frostrate from the school and in a Hubcami and 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:57.880 asked me to get out of my seat. They did nothing, 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:01.200 And I guess, look at us is because that's truly 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:05.320 in the streets and spina who got to spend, You 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:08.480 got spreended. And that was the first time that you 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.360 met Chicken Man. Yeah, he was. He was devided god 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:20.720 of the Husbus. Papa Chicken Man was with Short Papa 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:24.239 a k a. Robert Vambrose and they were actually hitting 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:28.000 on j D's girlfriend. J D gave Short Papa quite 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:31.440 the beating after being disrespected, which led to Chicken Man 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:34.720 testifying against j D and court as a witness to 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:38.600 the assault. But j D never held a grudge against 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:42.040 him because Chicken Man told the truth and j D 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:47.120 valued honesty. The Chicken Man's testimony led to j d's suspension. 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:58.200 The two would eventually form a friendship. The hit on 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:02.120 Chicken Man was still weighing on my mind. After spending 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:05.680 time with his son, Gordon Williams Jr. I was starting 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:08.600 to develop a real picture of the man who hosted 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:12.280 the infamous Fight Night after party. The robbery of this 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:15.800 party would ultimately get him killed, according to a New 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:20.320 York Times article. But was the hit justified? Had he 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:24.400 organized the robbery or was he just another victim? To 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:27.679 find out, I needed to learn more about Chicken Man's 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:33.000 past and his life as a hustler. My dad always 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:36.480 was chasing a dollar from Bootleg and Moon China to 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:41.200 write numbers to drugs and it became lucrative for him, 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:44.400 and it helped us have a good lifestyle. Also, the 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:48.040 lag and fall suss like that you're big on the 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:51.360 top and you get locked up, you lose a big set, 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.240 you get overhead and you go down, and you get 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:56.400 the work back up and you go down. I think 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:58.959 that with the life of rustle, the life of the 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:02.160 hustler with my dad was he liked nice things. He 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:06.160 loved nice things, he liked to dress well, he liked jury, 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:10.240 he liked find cars, women. So in order to have 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:14.880 those things, he hustled, and that in turn led to 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:18.240 him hustling more and more. There was times that I 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:21.440 don't even think he would sleep. He would just go, go, go, 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:25.280 go go. It was phenomenal watching him just go from 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:28.559 doing numbers and bootleg too drugs because it was a 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:31.720 whole different lifestyle and the money was coming so fast. 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:35.280 The money was coming, like extremely fast into the house. 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:39.239 I learned from Chicken men Son that in their communities 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:43.880 hustling was considered a business, not a criminal activity. I 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:47.120 remember he was dating a lady one time called Ola May, 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:49.960 and she was a shoplifter and she had three daughters 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:52.640 and all three the door to shoplifted, and they would 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:56.120 dress up in really fine, nice clothes and they would 0:10:56.160 --> 0:11:00.480 go to Landry Square. And I remember Ola May getting 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:04.640 a tuxedle for me for my junior singer pram So. 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:08.319 My dad, he was into a lot of different aspects 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:15.080 of hustling, but soon Chicken Man started getting into the 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:18.880 far more risky and lucrative world of drug dealing. It 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:22.080 all started with smuggling marijuana out of one of the 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:27.880 country's most notorious drug mechas, Miami, Florida. My dad, he 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.440 liked Miami. My dad was one of the only black 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:33.520 members in the Jockey Club in Miami. They only had 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:36.440 three black members Sammy Davis Junior, Muhammad Ali and my Dad. 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:40.280 That's how powerful this guy was. The Jockey Club and 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:42.720 the Cricket Club. But he was one of the three 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:46.000 black members in that era. And and liking to go 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:49.120 to Miami, he met drug dealers. He met this one 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:52.760 particular guy. And this guy was a record producer, real 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:56.679 powerful guy in Miami, real powerful. He had marijuana connections, 0:11:56.679 --> 0:12:00.680 cocaine connection and he liked my dad. He loved my dad. Well, 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:04.839 I speak Spanish fluently because I married a Cuban. I 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:08.960 would translate for my dad. So we were by the 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:11.959 marijuana from him and we would bringing to Atlanta, we 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:14.720 take it to Chattanooga, we take it up to Detroit, 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:18.240 and doing that we started moving a lout of marijuana. 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:23.360 They started talking about bigger shipments, and shipments started coming 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:26.240 in really really big. I'm talking about two tons, three 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:32.719 tons of marijuana. Chicken Men's business was booming, but it 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:37.480 wasn't without some close calls. Here's Gordon Williams Jr. With 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:42.720 his car up with marijuana, and we're in Florida, because 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:45.280 that's what most of our business all came from. And 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:49.560 my dad had bought a condo in Inverary, which is 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:53.240 owned by Jackie Gleasa back at the time, really exclusive neighborhood, 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:56.079 really exclusive, and we were getting ready to leave to 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:58.880 come to Atlanta. In Florida, you know what they're saying everywhere. 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:02.200 He got stuck in the sand with the marijuana and 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:04.240 we were trying to figure out how we're gonna get 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:07.960 out of this, and a cop came along and helped 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:12.960 us get out of the hole without accident, not a question, 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:17.080 and and my dad was like, oh God, man, I 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:19.560 can't believe this. And the cop pulled us out of 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:22.839 the sand and said, y'all have a great day. This 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:25.360 wasn't the only example of chicken me and leading a 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:29.600 charmed life. Well, we had got so much marijuana that 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:32.840 there was marijuana still left in Atlanta, but we were 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:36.520 in Miami picking up another thousand pounds of marijuana. So 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:39.400 we're taking the back rolls coming through Cluiston, Florida, because 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:41.960 we didn't want to go to Turnpike. So the van 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:45.920 smelt like marijuana because the van was full full, I 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:47.800 mean from the back all the way to the front. 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:52.000 So we're taking twenty nine coming through Okachobee, coming up 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:54.360 the back rows and there's a cow in the middle 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:57.400 of the highway and we damn smash it. And we 0:13:57.440 --> 0:14:00.240 smashed the cow. My dad said, oh, ship, what are 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:01.640 we gonna do? He said, well, let's go to the 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:04.640 gas station. The water was coming out, was running hot 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:07.640 and everything, and we parked there and we asked the 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:10.079 guy there, could he fix the van? He said, yeah, 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:12.400 we actually did have a car we could use. You know, sure, 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:14.720 I got a car you can use. We transferred the 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:17.800 marijuana right there in the back of the gas station 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:19.960 from the van to the car, put it in the 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:22.760 trunk and in the back seat and drove to Atlanta 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:26.720 with bales of marijuana in the back seat. Chicken Man's 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:30.200 luck also seemed to extend to those closest to him. 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:33.160 My dad had friends who got robbed, and he had 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:36.800 friends who got killed as a result of the drug business, 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:40.280 but not an own circle. Never an own circle. My 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:44.320 dad never carried a gun, never carried a gun, and 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:47.640 whenever he wanted to do business, he never had a pistol, 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:51.200 and the people who he did business with never had 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.120 guns because if there was a gun, president that deal 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:57.200 was off. Never used the scale, trusted that it was 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:00.360 a thousand pounds or whatever it was. Give them money, 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:03.520 they would never count it. That's it was that type 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:06.840 of trust between the drug dealers and my dad. It 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:09.840 was always trust. It was you know, I knew your family, 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:12.160 you knew my family. I knew your kids, you knew 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:14.000 my kids. I knew your wife, you know my wife. 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:16.920 I was starting to get an idea of who Chicken 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:19.880 Man was and the life he led as a hustler. 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:23.200 But I was curious how did he get his nickname. 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:26.000 The way my dad got the name Chicken Man was 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:29.840 that was Pascal Brothers. Of course it's no longer there anymore. 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:33.240 But my dad would buy the young girls chicken sandwiches. 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:36.040 So when the girls would come by and he saw 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:38.400 a girl that he fancy or he was trying to 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:40.800 get with, he is that baby he wanted chicken sandwich, 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:42.840 and yeah, baby, give me a chicken sandwich. So he 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:45.760 will buy him a chicken sandwich. So in turn, the 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.240 girls who would come by and say, I don't know 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:50.520 his name, but I think they called him chicken Man. 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:54.600 And that's how the name started. That chicken stand would 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:59.080 grow into Pascal's Restaurants, famous for their fried chicken. Pascals 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:03.680 became a main on Hunter Street. Here's Dr Hobson. Paschal 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:06.760 started between two brothers whose mother taught them to cook. 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:08.840 Both of the brothers began to cook, but one of 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:13.240 them married and basically would cook food for the youth 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:18.280 at the Atlantic University Center out of his kitchen at home. Well, 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:21.640 it got to be overwhelming, particularly with this student movement 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.600 and all kind of different things. The Pascal brothers realized 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:27.840 that they can that they can really make this into 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:31.040 a restaurant. Their location on West Hunter Street, which is 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:34.120 not Martin Luther King Drive was on the edge of 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.240 the Atlantic University Center. So of course it's going to 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:39.760 be overwhelming black and said the historically black part of town. 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:44.160 So the thing about it is Paschals would allow for 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:48.200 political folk to kind of come in and have discussions. 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:52.920 The one caveat was that you had to order the 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:56.040 fried chicken and you had to tell everyone that the 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.200 fried chicken was the best fried chicken in the land. 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:04.080 Pascal's was the meeting place for black people. Anybody who 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:08.840 was somebody would pass through Pascals. This is Bunny Jackson Ransom, 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:11.840 the former wife of Maynard Jackson, who was the first 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:17.560 black mayor of Atlanta. There was a kind of bar restaurant. 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:20.679 Then you could go sit down and have breakfast, and 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:23.800 if you sit there long enough, anybody who was anybody 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:27.680 who was black, we're going to pass through Pascals. Then 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:30.879 there was a room further down the hall where you 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:33.840 could go and have a private party. And of course 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:38.159 there was a hotel that came later, Pastor's Hotel. I 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:40.520 think I might have had a couple of parties there, 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:42.960 like the ladies would have their Bridge Club parties there. 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:46.760 Pascal's had a wide variety of clientele that would come there. 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:51.359 It was hustlers, it was politicians, it was businessman, it 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:54.560 was family. It was people like Chicken Man that would 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:57.560 come for the great fried chicken and the great conversation 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:02.119 and sometimes business deal is in the back room. The 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:04.440 first time that I heard the word hustler was when 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:07.520 my dad took me to see the Hustler with Paul Newman. 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:10.520 I'm gonna beat him, Mr. I beat him all night 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:14.560 and I'm gonna beat him all day. But this was 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:17.879 something completely different. These hustlers were from a world I 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:20.320 knew nothing about, and I was about to get a 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:31.040 first hand education. Everything I heard about Chicken Man told 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:36.040 me he was highly intelligent and extremely resourceful. Here's his son, 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:40.520 Gordon Williams Jr. Whatever it was he set out to do, 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:44.040 he did it. We were hollyday marijuana who wanted to 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:48.040 be just like a trucking business, so we bought cars 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:51.879 with CBS and I mean with false bottom gas tanks. 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:55.960 He did stuff that was way before people was thinking 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:59.119 about it, and I was like, this guy is really smart, 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:03.919 really really smart. When we were transporting drugs from Miami 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:06.760 to Atlanta, he would have one car empty, which would 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:09.080 be the league car and the next car would be full. 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:13.280 And we had CB radios and so that way we 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:16.160 could notify the person behind us if there's a state 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:19.320 trooper up or anything like that. Most of the time, 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:21.399 the people that were driving the cars with the drugs 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:23.760 never had a truck key. They never could open it, 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:25.639 and a lot of times they never knew what they 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:28.680 were they were transporting. So my dad would just say, listen, 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:30.880 you know, you want to make five three hundred dollars 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:33.359 to drive this car from Miami. There's such and such, 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:35.760 you know, don't worry about the trunk. Open the trunk. 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:38.480 I mean that he did that for many, many years. 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:43.960 J D believed that hustlers were often underestimated. But that 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:48.800 is a mistake he would never make. You see, please 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:52.320 let them think the hustles are done. But there's some 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:54.800 response people you want to need in your life. I 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:58.160 always recognize that that's about to catch him. I never 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:02.680 thought they were done. When it was announced that Muhammad 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:05.800 Ali would fight Jerry Korey in Atlanta in October of 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:09.240 nineteen seventy, the big time hustlers in New York thought 0:20:09.240 --> 0:20:11.160 it would be a perfect time to throw an after 0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:15.320 hours party and Chicken Man's friend Fireball, asked him to 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:20.679 help organize and host the party. Five artists of guys 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:24.200 lived in Atlanta in the Northeast area that and so 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:27.920 called Terment Bottom area, and left Atlanta and went to 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:33.480 New York and the game hustler, drug dealer um lot 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:36.160 remains and the five all want to throw a thick 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:41.359 party and Atlanta after the fright. So he uh present 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:46.040 invitations and passed them out to all. It may have 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:52.040 been Fab five has written up or printed these engraved 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:56.720 invitation had passed them out after the Ali fight had ended. No, 0:20:57.040 --> 0:21:00.960 they were past about trip to the fight. Prior to 0:21:01.080 --> 0:21:04.840 the fight. Yeah, mat fact, we were able to uh 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:07.840 not on to find out who had been, but they 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:13.920 made we learned where they were. Frank. When I spoke 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:17.040 with Gordon Williams Jr. I asked him about some of 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:21.240 the names involved in the party and the robbery, including 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:25.000 his dad's friends Fireball. Fireball was, I mean, he was 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:27.040 a hustler, and he was a friend of my dad's, 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:29.920 and he was somebody and my dad looked up to. 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:33.360 He got his name through I think trying to cook 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:35.760 cocaine or something like that. He got his name Fireball. 0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:39.800 Another name that came up in my investigation was Buddy Gloss. 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:43.840 Buddy Gloss now I knew him well. I knew Buddy 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:45.880 Gloss well. He was a good friend of my dad 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:50.240 and our family. So Buddy was he was always competing 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:53.040 with my dad. It was it was like a competition. 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:55.600 If my dad didn't numbers, but he did numbers. If 0:21:55.680 --> 0:21:59.240 my dad did marijuana, Buddy did. My dad did cocaine Buddy, 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:02.440 So they were always in competition with each other. And 0:22:02.640 --> 0:22:06.600 also Frank Moten, a top guy in an organization often 0:22:06.680 --> 0:22:09.399 referred to as the Black Mafia and one of the 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:12.720 higher level gangsters of the party. All of these names 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:16.280 are going to be important, but especially Frank Moten, who 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:19.600 was known as the Black Godfather. He was reportedly the 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:22.520 leader of the Council of Twelve, a group of top 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:29.680 level decision makers for black organized crime. Back at j 0:22:29.840 --> 0:22:32.359 D's house, we had barely gotten into the story of 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:35.119 the robbery itself. He had told me about some of 0:22:35.160 --> 0:22:38.600 the key players, how the party came together, and I 0:22:38.720 --> 0:22:42.159 knew where all this was heading Chicken Man's murder at 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:45.800 the hands of the Black Mafia. So I pulled out 0:22:45.840 --> 0:22:50.800 the article again. This is from the New York Times Wednesday, October. 0:22:53.280 --> 0:22:57.840 Informed sources associated with the police department suggested today that 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:01.000 Williams is dead as there was sold of a contract 0:23:01.119 --> 0:23:05.840 released on him Gangland Terminology for an arrangement of his murder. 0:23:06.920 --> 0:23:12.720 But what j D told me next would change everything. Okay, 0:23:12.760 --> 0:23:14.760 so he see this article. I thinks we're going be 0:23:14.840 --> 0:23:18.560 done within two days of the robberts. Jay was right, 0:23:20.359 --> 0:23:28.120 that's wrong, Oh thin Man, Jesse May, It's a lot. 0:23:28.280 --> 0:23:36.240 Now Chicken Man was alive. I couldn't believe what I 0:23:36.359 --> 0:23:41.119 was hearing. The key to understanding what really happened the 0:23:41.240 --> 0:23:45.560 night of the Ali Quarry fight was alive. Now I 0:23:45.640 --> 0:23:48.800 had to track Chicken Man down and get his side 0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:58.919