Very rarely does a teenager attract the attention Richard Wershe Jr., garnered during his hey day in Detroit. Wershe's star rose like the sun lighting up the dark allys and backstreets on the eastside of Detroit where he plyed his trade. By all accounts Wershe's prominence lasted little more than four years before he was caught and sentenced to life in prison under Michigan's stringent drug laws.
Wershe Background
Richard Wershe Jr., was born April 15, 1969 to Richard and Darlene Wershe. The Wershe family included one other addition a daughter Dawn born three years earlier. The Wershe children were raised by their father after there parents divorced in 1975. Richard Sr., owned and a string of businesses including a Colorado based firm that manufactured weapons parts in addition to a second satellite installation business which would inadvertantly lead Richard Jr., into a life of crime and drugs.
The Curry Brothers
Richard Jr., met Johnny Curry the leader of a notorious crack ring when he accompanied his father to install a satellite television system in Curry's home. Shortly thereafter young Richard began running errands for the Curry organization quicly advancing from running errands to delivering narcotics. Wershe apparently impressed the leader of the Curry gang who took Richard under his wing and shared with the youngster the tricks of the drug trade. Wershe put the lessons he learned to good use when Johnny Curry and 6 of his workers were charged with operating a multi-million dollar cocaine operation on the eastside of Detroit. The breakup of the Curry ring was lauded in the Detroit press as a major blow against the flow of drugs decimating the inner city communities during the '80s. With the removal of his mentor, a 16 year old Wershe began an unlikely climb through the eastside drug trade branching out on his own.
Best Friends
By the time Johnny Curry stood in recorders court and received a twenty-year sentence for running what was alledged to be one of Detroit's most profitable drug rings, his former student was well on his way to surpassing the accomplishments of the professor. Inspite of his age, race and appearance, Richard Wershe won the respect of some of the most notorious figures to operate within the Detroit city limits at a time when the city was recognized as one of the most violent metro areas in the country. Identified by the moniker of white boy Rick, Wershe formed an alliance with Best Friends leaders Richard Carter, Demetrius Holloway and Reginald Brown which afforded him the protection of the most formidable protection crew in Detroit. Best Friends started out as a collaboration of Richard Carter and his best friend Demetrius Holloway in the drug business.
Best Friends gained influence and power following the demise of several larger gangs liike Young Boys Inc., the Curry organization and the DFG "The Davis Family Gang," in a highly publicized assault by local and federal law enforcement agencies resultng in a string of convictions starting in the early '80s. As Best Friends finances increased, Carter decided to finance the organization of an enforcement arm headed up by the Brown brothers. The enforcement arm gained notoriety under the name of the wrecking crew during the mid '80s as they fought off the efforts of rival groups to enfringe upon Carter and Holloway's territory. The association with Best Friends served to further the career and reputation of Wershe who then became an important supplier of the gangs cocaine and marijuana.
Wershe fortunes soared as his dealings with Best Friends afforded him the type of lifestyle dreamed about by those he had shared a classroom with just a few years before. While other kids his age made plans to save enough money to rent a limo for the prom, Wershe purchased a new Mercedes Benz. While other kids worked in malls for minimum wage, Wershe pulled in $100,000 a week from his drug operation. The slightly built young man with the chubby cheeks and mopish blond hair made his mark as an adolescent in a career field that claimed the lives of bigger, tougher and more experienced men everyday. Luck just seemed to be on this young man's side, that is untill a string of highly publicized arrests, brought the dream crashing down at his feet.
The Nightmare Begins
Wershe's rise in the drug trade conincided with the addiction of his sister Dawn who drifted in and out of treatment centers, clinic's and intervention programs. White Boy Rick's string of good luck came to an end in September of 1986 when a DEA agent was successful in making two small purchases of cocaine at the Wershe home. The buys were used to secure warrants for at least two subsequent raids on the Wershe home but resulted in no charges being filed against White Boy Rick. Wershe Jr., became a primary target of DEA surveillance teams in November 1986 when the 17 year old was picked up along with two friends at Metro Airport as the trio returned from a trip to Miami.
One of Wershe's companions drew a six year prison term for drug trafficking but the juvenile Wershe skipped free without any charges being logged against him. four months later authorities charged Rick with possession after an amount found to be less than fifty grams of cocaine was found in a Hayes street home in which he was visiting. Two months later members of the Detroit Police Department stopped him near his home on Hampshire. Rick was charged with intent to deliver cocaine.
This was a highly controversial charge as the officers had located a box containing 9 lbs of cocaine buried in a yard next door to the Wershe family home. The suddenly star crossed Wershe Jr., was arrested yet again on October 13, 1987 when he and Robert Poulack were arrested following a traffic stop on Manistique. The officers who searched the car the pair was driving found 11 lbs., of cocaine. Wershe spent 7 days in jail before winning his release by posting a bond of $100,000 on October 21.
Facing a life sentence for drug dealing, Wershe managed to anger his defense team when his January court appearance was over run by a mob of his young drug dealing associates who packed the hall ways of the courthouse. The crowd which consisted of young men and women around Wershe's age, made quite a scene. Defended by two of Detroit's finest criminal defense attorney's, Wershe showed up for his second bond hearing dressed in a double breasted Armani suite while the hallways of the court overflowed with youngsters carrying large wads of cash dressed in sweat suites adourned with beepers and thick gold chains. Freed after posting a cash bond of $200,000 White Boy Rick was released yet again to an elated crowd who avoided the glare of the lights and camera's of news crews and media shows like 60 minutes who showed up to film Detroit's latest criminal sensation.
