Clair, known as Queenie, ran the Harlem numbers business and an extortion gang known as The Forty Thieves. She was so tough that the white mobsters left her and her turf alone. The logo for Death Row Records is a blindfolded black man strapped into an electric chair at the moment of execution.
Death Row is the label that made rappers such as Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre, and Tupac Shakur famous, and its logo is emblematic of the violent posturing adopted by many gangsta rap artistsnot just Death Row artistsin their quest to sell their music. A rapper's public face is frequently a gangbanger's scar face, whether he has a genuine gang affiliation or not.
But as rap's popularity grew in the 1990s, the violent posturing turned real. Tales of beatings and public humiliations surfaced. Rappers slandered one another with increasing viciousness and frequency.
An East Coast-West Coast feud developed, pitting Death Row Records, which is based in southern California, against New York's Bad Boy Entertainment. The feud eventually escalated from a battle of words to a bloody war. Its two most prominent casualties were the rival rappers Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.
I.G. Who killed Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.
I.G and were they really the intended victims? Get the scoop on the suspects, motive and theories.
The twisted tale of how a group of middle-class friends in Southern California fell under the spell of a charismatic and disturbed leader with the improbable name of a wild west outlaw. The young men's actions would lead to the murder of a child, Nick Markowitz, leave a community reeling from grief and shock, and spawn a four-year international manhunt. Known as the "Iceman," this Mafia hit man and unusual serial killer perfected new techniques in cyanide poisoning and disposal of his victims.
Includes an interview with the Iceman by Anthony Bruno. Renegade Mormon fundamentalist wooed child brides and used them as the instruments of his murderous designs. The real story behind the infamous 1978 robbery featured in the movie and the recent A E film Clair, known as Queenie, ran the Harlem numbers business and an extortion gang known as The Forty Thieves.
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