Buffalo crime lord Donald (Sly) Green built his drug empire in the late 1980s from a foundation laid by his family’s gambling and muscle-for-hire businesses on the city’s East Side. Green went to Los Angeles in 1988, secured a valuable cocaine connection and convinced L.A. gangbanger Darryl (Reese) Johnson to return with him to Western New York to start a narcotics gang. Johnson brought with him a crew of L.A. lieutenants and they became Green’s enforcement unit and hit squad. Even though Sly Green got locked up in February 1989 for murdering a member of a policy lottery operation he blamed for his brother “El Dorado Sam’s murder three years before, the L.A, Boys grew in size and stature on the streets of Buffalo, killing anyone that stood in their way. Sly Green and Reese Johnson eventually fell out and feuded before they both were convicted in massive racketeering and murder prosecutions and sentenced to life prison sentences.
The L.A. Boys Hit List (1986-1992)
March 29, 1986 — Low-level Buffalo underworld figure Devotie Pompey is murdered for stealing $20,000 from an East Side Buffalo numbers boss affiliated with the Green family. The numbers boss reportedly placed the contract on Pompey’s head.
October 9, 1986 — Buffalo gangster Sammy (El Dorado Sam) Green is slain in a hail of bullets behind wheel of his brand-new chocolate-brown Cadillac. Green had been charged with Pompey’s slaying weeks earlier and allegedly tried shaking down the numbers boss for more money after taking a $5,000 initial payment.
October 11, 1986 — Green family associate Reuben Coble is found shot gunned to death in a field less than 48 hours after Green was killed. The Green family believed Coble, present in the car in the moments before they attack, set El Dorado Sam up to be murdered. Coble was last seen leaving the Etcetera Club
October 25, 1988 — Buffalo numbers business figure Larnell Cottrell is shot to death walking on Krettner Street by Sly Green as payback for the murder of his brother El Dorado Sam. Cottrell had alleged ties to the East Side policy lottery believed to have ordered El Dorado Sam’s homicide.
September 17, 1989 — Buffalo drug world figure Darryl Hilliard is murdered by Reese Johnson.
December 24, 1989 — L.A. Boys gang member James (Jimmy B) Bolden is murdered in a drive-by shooting by Reese Johnson in front of the Continental Lounge. Bolden was sitting in the driver’s side of an associate’s Mercedes.
September 29, 1990 — LA Boys gang member Jason (J-Blue) Ivey killed in a drug deal gone bad in Niagra Falls. Ivey was with Jimmy B Bolden when he was slain inside Ivey’s sparkling new powdered-blue Mercedes.
December 16, 1990 –– Buffalo woman Angela Biles is killed by Reese Johnson.
August 10, 1991 — L.A. Boys gang member Frank Love is killed by Reese Johnson.
September 10, 1991 — L.A. Boys gang member Marcus Carmichael is shot death in a back alley behind a car-detailing business he owned. Carmichael came to Buffalo from Memphis to join the L.A. Boys.
Feb 5, 1992 — Buffalo underworld figure Nick Brooks is tortured and killed by Reese Johnson.
Feb 21, 1992 — Low-level Buffalo drug world figure Deleon Alford is shot to death by Reese Johnson two years after Alford witnessed Johnson kill a man.
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