He was one of the top dogs here in the streets and his vacuum is going to create another war on the streets for the battle to take his spot and yes he was still running stuff from Mexico.

I posted one link and have another below that at the bottom as they have him on RICO charges now. Amazing how music and life are running side by side now.....


Drug boss went after witnesses

By Christopher Conley

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Fugitive Memphis drug kingpin Craig Petties tried to eliminate potential witnesses even as he eluded U.S. justice for five years in Mexico, according to renewed federal charges.

Petties, 31, who fled Memphis after a 2002 indictment on charges of running a massive drug operation here, was arrested in Mexico late last week, and is awaiting expulsion to the United States. He is also facing charges in Mexico.

Petties, who was on the U.S. Marshals Service 15 Most Wanted list, was arrested with a woman companion and several members of his organization, and is jailed in Mexico.

U.S. Atty. David Kustoff, in a news conference Tuesday, emphasized the cooperation shown by Mexican authorities in working with the DEA and U.S. Marshals Service in apprehending Petties.

Mexican authorities were also instrumental in arresting Petties' lieutenant, Michael Hamlet, in Mexico City in November.

Kustoff said he was not able to discuss the case beyond what was in the indictment because the ongoing case is "so sensitive in nature."

Petties, a Gangster Disciple known as "Lil Dude" or "Lil Craig," and several associates, are accused in an amended indictment from November 2007 of attempting to kill at least three associates to prevent them from giving information to federal authorities.

It is a pattern familiar to local law enforcement, who have on their books several unsolved murders of Petties associates from 2005, several of them known to be witnesses against him.

In new charges, Petties and two underlings are accused of trying to kill three other associates to keep them from talking.

Two men in the Petties indictment, Orlando Mays and Demetrious Fields, are charged under the federal murder-for-hire statute with attempting to kill a co-defendant, Vacha Vaughn, and two others.

Mays, a convicted felon, was arrested in Memphis in June with six handguns and an assault rifle. He has pleaded guilty to those charges in federal court and awaits sentencing, according to court records.

Petties, with his buddies from the Riverside neighborhood, began as small-time marijuana dealers and boxcar burglars in the 1990s, according to court records.

He came across as mild and low key, but was ruthless in his climb to the top of the Memphis drug world, police said.

The most recent indictment reiterates charges that Petties and others negotiated with cocaine traffickers in Mexico, Texas, Mississippi and Memphis for large shipments of cocaine.

He is believed to have sneaked thousands of kilograms of cocaine and marijuana into the country.

Since the initial indictment in 2002, federal authorities have seized about $3 million in cash and real estate and 40 luxury vehicles, including a British-made Bentley that cost $340,000.

Drug boss went after witnesses : Local News : Commercial Appeal

RICO charges for drug kingpin : Local News : Commercial Appeal