Philly rapper and record label chief Alton Coles aka Ace Capone, received a life sentence Thursday (April 16) for running a multi-million dollar drug empire.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, 35-year-old Capone broke into tears when US District Court Judge R. Barclay Surrick ordered Capone serve a life sentence, plus 55 years, for charges such as heading a continuing criminal enterprise that engaged in drug trafficking, conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and weapons offenses – DAMN.
Surrick said in his sentencing “the amount of drugs was staggering and the money involved was even more staggering… this crime was just horrendous.”
By the way, Surrick is the same judge who dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Sen. Barack Obama was ineligible to run for president. The suit claimed questions about Obama’s citizenship prevented him from running for US president. Justice Surrick concluded that ordinary citizens can’t sue to ensure that a presidential candidate actually meets the constitutional requirements of the office.
Capone, with his voice cracking, told the judge prior to sentencing, “I never thought it would come to this. I don’t think life is deserved for selling drugs.”
“You never respect life, or the value of it, until it’s taken away,” said Coles, a father of five who earned a high school degree at a juvenile detention center. “I never thought it would come to this.”
He further explained that he was a “product of his environment,” and that he was “raised by the streets.”
In early 2007 prosecutors handed down a 194-count indictment against the head of Take Down Records, claiming that he moved $25 million in cocaine through the Delaware Valley and used the record label as a front for his illegal activity, he was convicted in March 2008 of heading a criminal enterprise that reportedly distributed cocaine and a half-ton of crack to the streets of Philadelphia between the years of 1998 to 2005.
During his seven-week trial, prosecutors painted Capone as more than just a street-level dealer. Feds showed jurors a 31-minute DVD called New Jack City: The Next Generation showing Coles as a ruthless crack kingpin named Ace Capone. Coles’ attorney, Christopher Warren, denies that the role his client portrays in the film has any basis in reality and says that prosecutors are misinterpreting phone conversations that were recorded during the investigation.
“It was an art film and it was imitating life—just not his life,” Warren told jurors. “Some of these conversations that the government says are so damning … is actually him discussing props. These are movies about the drug culture.”
When investigators raided his New Jersey home in August 2005, they found more than $500,000 in cash, 10 guns and 450 grams of cocaine. Five co-defendants, including his alleged top associate Timothy “Tim Gotti” Baukman, were also convicted and are awaiting sentencing.
Levette Todd-Johnson, the mother of his oldest son, now 14, said Capone needed rehabilitation, not life without parole. She told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he helped raise three younger brothers in Upper Darby after his family dissolved.
“He is not the monster they’re making him out to be,” she said. “He’s not a killer. He was about the money.”
Tags: ace capone, Alton Coles, take down records
Isn’t that ironic. Well, Bush pardoned John Forte from the Fugees – maybe Obama will look into this case?
I feel bad for this dude but you got alot of cats frontin like its all good in these DVDS hope they wake up
how u feelin sorry for that man?! he knew what he was doin.
500 thousand!!!!! a half a ton of sniff!!!!!! how many dudes got popped???bodied???? its just like the homie said, thats the other side to the game,
stupid ass ni&&@$ better wake up!!! sellin drugs been played out anyway!!! ball for 10 years, then spend the most and spend the rest of ya life as a herb!!! ni&&@$ aint hustlas !!!they followers..trying to imitate somebody else life………….cant believe niggas is still DUMB!!!!!!!
if u a bumb on da corner…hustlin?! get a job or another husle….no?
well dont cry like a girl, cuz u knew the flipside, it may seem like im hatin. but nah !! im mad that niggas still gettin bagged for the same shit, THE SAME BULLSHIT!!!!!……FUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!
ITS A CKRAZY WORLD JUS LIKE JEEZY SAID… NIGGAS GETTIN MORE TIME FA SELLIN DRUGS THAN MURDER… IN THIS CKRAZY WORLD
i hate 2 see another brother get bagged 4 life i got homeboys doing 25yrs stretched out 4 the same shit but life WOW thas real!!! take notice homie..its real out here i used to bag em up with the best of em…but now i wouldnt buy a key if it was only 4 stacks…the Game is ova..dem fed boys aint lettin it rid no mo…wake up homies…stay strong capone
He was all gangsta till that sentence..smacked him bac into reality..
I no this nigga and it’s a messed up situation but when you make the choices in life he did he exepted the life that he let chose him and that he opened his arms to. When he bought that Bentley he was riding high and living the good life but when it’s taken everybody want to sing a song of sorrow and say he isn’t who he really is but he is. If you sell drugs and take part in that type of life where people are killed and lives are ruined then you got to take it like a man. But on the real, at age 35, i don’t no 1 person who wouldn’t shead some tears or get choked up. Must would say atleast he still got visits and can die of old age and possibly get pardoned or a lighter sentence but leathel injection or the electric chair might be a better sentence because having to sit in a cell and remember how good life once was is torcher. All a nigga can do is take it like a man and cement a legacy!
woW.. I know the game is rough and dirty, but life for selling drugs seems a bit out of Wack!
The man did try to help others stay out of the game, was at alot of anti Drug Campaigns and Really made an effort to do something other than sell drugs. Shouldn’t that count?
Unless it can be proved that this man was directly involved in somebody’s murder I absolutely don’t see why the prison system should be occupied for life by this man who seems like a smart business savvy individual because he got involved in the wrong product. I really think this man is capable of coming out of prison and doing something productive if provided with other choices and a chance.
Instead of spending all this money filling the correctional system with guards and inmates, we should fill the streets with guidance Counselors who are there to intercept these individuals early in their lives and advice them on alternative ways to make money and live a productive life.
that was my cousin dad, i kno they goin thru it now cause he used to get them watever they want.
Low Key……..If your hustling nobody should know.Mansion,Bently,Record label, Yo you told on your self…..Most dudes that get all that want to be seen anyway.They want attention they never got……Time to use your head in them streets.
I am sorry to have read about this story. One thing i suggest Ace Capone, turn your mind around, and write lyrics about your life and what you would do different. Reach out to our younger black men and women who does not have that moms or father figure in their life to direct. Please remember no matter where we as people we can still reach out to some one. Capone has a open mind now use it were the goverment sees you know how to apply it in the right way in jail and pray for hope. The Creator is able to do all things but fail. No matter who says what, go by your first thoughts!
its crazy because aces partner desmond was ma celly in the feds and he didnt want to tell on him but it is what it is fuckk it ,,,, i bet ma life ace is tryn to tell rite now !!!!!