Fat Cat 50 Cent, And The Rise Of The Hip-Hop Hustler (pages 1-43

Summary:Ethan Brown begins by introducing the history how the mafia lead to petty gangs and eventually to big time bosses who would stop at nothing to prove they shouldn't be messed with. Taking place in New York the many different neighborhoods where thought to be a reference of your class and your occupation would determine where you live. Like every other state New York had addicts. These addicts where particularly a treat to the mafia because " the Mafia had the best of both worlds: Dealers and middlemen were forced to come to them for products..." (Brown 4). According to Brown the drug addicts where so bad that the thought of a person dying from to strong a substance made them want to try it. Consequently like any epidemic the Heroin one expanded and soon began to collapse. New gangs where formed and bosses such as "Fat Cat" and "Preme" began to leave a mark on the streets. Upsetting authorities both Preme and Fat Cat had a wanted sign hanging over their heads. With the help of informants and rivals the police were able to capture Fat Cat and subsequently Preme. Although both men where behind bars, that wasn't enough to put a halt to their business. This was proven by the successful orders of the killing of Fat Cat's parole officer.

Quote:"And the guys from the projects didn't like the guys from Hollis because they lived in Hollis. It was just animosity" (Brown 7)

Reaction:This quote is stated by Brown when indication how the drama between neighborhoods emerged. I particularly like this quote because it reminds me of how gang members are now. Most gangs build up as a family and end up disliking each other because of silly things such as where you come from. That then leads to killing and fighting, imagine what where to happen if the gangs had problems over important issues!