Khairi Kalasho was the youngest of four Iraqi born brothers who arrived in the US before young Harry was old enough to enroll in school. Settling amoung the small but close knit Chaldean community. The Kalasho clan learned the hardships that life in this country could bring when Harry's father Sakir was killed in a car crash in 1974. Young Harry was taken in by his uncle Louis Akrawi a onetime autoworker who had opened his own restaurant and party store.
While Akrawi held the appearance of a respectable businessman on the surface, the residents of the Chaldean community recognized him as their version of the local mafia boss. During the hours that young Harry spent following his uncle around he witnessed some of the acts that made his uncle a local legend. Amoung these acts were the time in a fit of rage Akrawi put a whole in a tavern wall with a powerful headbutt. In time, Harry became his uncles right hand man running errands for the older more experienced gangster.
Inspite of the close bond shared between uncle and nephew, there was a marked difference in the two. Where Akrawi was loud and rough, his nephew was quiet and reserved. While Akrawi's looks were hardened by his frequent brawls, Harry was considered roughly handsome with blond hair and large eyes which made him look several years younger than he really was.
Connections to The Street
While gaining invaluable experience dealing with his uncle Louis, Harry was also exposed to a rougher side by his brother Bahaa described by the local police as the leader of a strong-arm gang of thugs. Bahaa would be shipped off to prison in 1984 after he and his gang of flunkys murdered an elderly woman during a home invasion robbery. Sentenced to life without parole, the Akrawi family insist the case was a frame up. Another brother Dhia introduced Harry to drug dealing an activity which led to an 8 1/2 to 20 year jail term being dropped in his lap in 1985.
Following the conviction of two of his brothers, Harry began dealing small quantities of cocaine and weed. Within two years with the help of his cousin Ray Akrawi, young Harry was dealing cocaine in mass quantities and had secured a steady supply from a contact with direct ties to the Medellin cartel. With one phone call, Harry Kalasho replaced Best Friends and the Jones Organization as the major players in the Detroit cocaine market. Along the way Harry took on a personna which was much like that of the fictional movie character scarface who ruthlessly clawed his way to the top.
To The Top
After instructing his one of his top men Ead Ballo to contact Anthony Montello and Joseph Frontiera two agents of the Medellin cartel operating out of Tampa Florida. After several failed attempts a deal was finally struck and the Kalasho organization became the first operation since the dismantled Davis Family Gang to deal with a cartel on a major scale. Within a years time business was so good that federal investigators learned of the Kalasho desire to launder more than $8,000,000 in cash. This led to a sting which would expose the hiearchy of the group and their method of operation.
Federal agents reported several trips involving key members of the Kalasho group to Miami and Tampa looking to increase their alotment of cocaine which varied from 50 to 100 kilos per month. Presiding over an area which included a section of Woodward and 7 mile rd, Harry bought several new cars including a Mercedes as well as a home for his mother in Bloomfield Township. Nothing could go wrong it seemed until federal agents seized a shipment of cocaine bound for Detroit in the back of a semi. The loss of the 100 kilo shipment sent members of the Kalasho group scurrying to meet the demands of their customers.
In the ensuing investigation, Kalasho lost his Tampa contact in Montello and Frontiera who pled guilty to drug trafficking and two of his top guys in Basil Mezy and Nick Konja who escaped the drug charges by pleading guilty to money laundering. It would take another 3 months to get things up and running again but thanks to the exhausted efforts of Kalasho the motor city connection was receiving an average of 32 kilos per month from south Florida. Harry struck gold in New York when he was able to secure the shipment of a 500 kilos of cocaine. With his business booming like never before, Harry began to greedily fear competition from two locals dealers one of which was along time friend and comrade.
Inspite of his success in obtaining the 500 kilo shipment, Harry complained to an underling that Sam Gaggo was blocking another contact which would ensure that his organizatino would never again face the shortage they did with the loss of Montello and Frontiera. To solve this delima Harry contracted with two Detroit killers to eliminate his competition for the price of $10,000. At a subsequent meeting Harry relayed that he was anxious to have the killing go down because he had learned that Gaggo had put a contract out on his life upping the price to one kilo for Kalasho's head. According to the testimony of one of the killers Harry took the two on a tour of the area's Gaggo was known to frequent before the two set out to fulfill the contract on November 17, 1988.
After spotting Gaggo walking toward his Honda the pair sped up to the unsuspecting dealer and pumped him full of led. Gaggo died cowering behind his cars steering wheel. Never satisfied and increasingly paranoid about rival dealers encroaching on his territory, Harry met with his personnel a month after the Gaggo killing and announced that Munthir Salem a friend who was also dealing cocaine had to die as he was starting to get into Harry's area. Harry detailed that he found out that Saleem was getting his dope from Los Angeles and wanted him out of the way.
Pleased with the work of the two men hired to kill Gaggo, Kalasho offered up $10,000 dollars with a bonus clause of an extra $10,000 if the pair would kill Saleem and decapitate him throwing his head in the middle of 7 mile rd as a message to any future competition. 4 days later Saleem was gunned down by the same two hitmen who passed on the bonus. Emboldened by the success of the first murder, the two hitmen were sloppy and did the shooting from their own personal vehicle leading to their arrests. The two fearing life behind bars began telling all they knew to investigators who eagerly jotted down each word.
The Premature End
Inspite of sitting atop the most successful drug gang in the city, Harry Kalasho's greed and insecurity led directly to his downfall as the contracted murders of Sam Gaggo and Munthir Saleem were about to drag him down. As the two hired killers sat out of reach telling all they knew about the two Kalasho ordered killings, Raed Jihad emerged as the Saleem family spokesman meeting with police agreeing that inorder to get Kalasho they would have to work with one of the killers. Oakland county prosecuter Jeff Butler met on several occassions with Jihad including the night of February 3, 1989. Later that night, Jihad would gun Harry Kalasho down in retribution for the murder of Munthir Saleem. Gravely injured, Kalasho hung on for 17 days before dying as a result of the wounds inflicted by Jihad.
The Appeal Of Harry Kalasho
Inspite of his ruthless desire to be the only source of cocaine in Detroit, Harry Kalasho held a strange appeal recognized by those who worked for him and those who worked to put him away. One federal DEA agent remarked "he had charisma," while yet another law enforcement official remarked "we get hoods in here and they get tears in their eyes talking about him, he had that kind of power and attraction." In a world where ambition and desire can make you king for a while. Harry Kalsho spent two years atop the heap before some things he valued a great deal top him down. Loyalty, tradition and revenge.
