A month or two later, Bill received a call from a hit man-turned-informant back east. The hit man had been approached to kill rap artist 50 Cent. He gave the hit over to an associate named Ta Ta. Bill brokered a deal through Jimmy Iovine at Interscope Records to get access to 50′s camp and prevent the murder. Mark got a posse of deputies together and off they went for two night’s of rap at the House of Blues. At the end of the second night, Bill and Mark went to speak with 50 and his manger, Chris Lighty. As they were escorted to his table, they saw Jack sitting with 50 Cent, pointing his finger at the rap artist. Jack, 50, and his manager all seemed to have heart attacks as Bill and Mark approached. Jack excused himself and a serious conversation ensued.
Chris and 50 wanted nothing to do with solving the last attempt on his life. His album was number one and they knew they were on their way to untold riches. When asked about the light-skinned gentleman who had just left the table, the duo shrugged and said he was an A&R guy from the label. Bill and Mark pulled Jack in later on. Jack went on to tell them that 50 had promised him a young R&B singer named Governor. When asked why, Jack just smiled. Jack needed some more discipline; it was hard to keep Jack in check. Bill and Mark texted Jack on his Blackberry later on that night: it was the weather report in Haiti. Jack texted back, ‘Very funny, I’ll be good.’
In a few months, Bill and Mark were running strong. Mark was pulling in some great cases: hits on music industry executives, pump-and-dump scams, extortion of a variety of artists, and other mayhem. Bill stayed around to help whenever he could. One day, Mark received a call from a solid informant, who reported that a mobster named Ori Spado had a big marijuana connection through a guy named Haitian Jack. Ori was Mark’s initial reason for looking into Haitian Jack. The two were orchestrating the transportation of marijuana from Canada to Syracuse, New York. Once the pot hit the private airport, Pagan MC Members from Long Island would transport the contraband down to New York City. A meet was scheduled the next day in a midtown hotel.
Bill got his crew together and established surveillance at the hotel. Mark had limited contact with the informant. Mark called to tell Bill the meeting was ending; the crew was leaving the hotel with the buyers. Bill saw Ori and his crew leave with two Palestinian males. Bill’s team followed the Palestinians. A license plate check revealed that the occupants were the famous Ayesh brothers from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The Ayesh brothers were known to the F.B.I as marijuana and methamphetamine dealers.
They laundered their money home through funds established for Palestinian relief that were nothing more than fronts for Hamas and the P.L.O. Bill called the Joint Terrorism Task Force and flipped them the case. They were quite happy to finally have the Ayesh clan. They established surveillance and months later took down the Pagans and Palestinian connection. Jack was becoming a serious liability.
Bill received a call from investigators at ~he Bureau of Prisons. Members of their Intelligence Division intercepted prison calls from Five-Percent Nation leader Kenneth ‘Supreme’ McGriff. Supreme had instructed his top lieutenant to ‘check out’ Detective Courtney. A week later when Bill was exiting a plane in Richmond, Virginia, he checked his voicemail and received a chilling message: the sound of a semi-automatic pistol being racked back and fired. Bill’s home in New York was placed under surveillance, complete with Kevlar curtains and panic buttons throughout the house.
Bill decided to get Jack on it. When Jack took the call, he became enraged. He told Bill that he knew who the guys were and would take care of them. Bill told Jack the connection was bad and instructed him to call back from a payphone. Jack called back an hour later. Bill ripped into him. Bill told Jack that his phone could be tapped at any moment and really wasn’t particularly happy about getting involved in a murder conspiracy with him. Jack apologized and told him that he would make inquiries just like the police, only with faster results. Bill called Mark and talked. Haitian was great for getting bad guys numbers, locating fugitives, and having the inside info on all the scams in the music industry, but he was becoming a nuisance. Mark decided to follow him around.
Jack called Bill often to complain. He became Jack’s father confessor. Jack complained that Lyor Cohen and Dr. Dre had produced Governor’s album and were demanding a million dollars for the production. They wouldn’t wait for album sales to pay the tab. Jack wanted to know how to make them comply without, you know, hurting them. Lyor and Dre had off-duty law enforcement as security; getting to them was impossible. Jack also complained about suing Tupac’s estate for damages. Tupac alleges that Jack was a rat in the song ‘Against All Odds’. It wasn’t true. The case was thrown out of federal court. Bill told Jack if he won, Bill would give him up. He wasn’t the least bit amused.
For a month, Mark followed Jack all over the Hills and documented every step. He knew Jack would mess up sooner or later, but wanted to show he and Bill had tried to keep him in check. Mark pulled Jack over one day and told him Bill wanted to jam up some guys from 50′s Posse. Jack threw a party at a restaurant in the Hills called Crustacean. He invited 50′s crew and a lot of famous artists. Mark wired Bill up and sent him in the restaurant. The goal was to get 50′s guys on tape, talking about a feud they had back east. Jack introduced him to Aretha Franklin and placed him at her table. Stevie Wonder later joined the fray. It was bizarre. Bill decided to have smoke.
Out on the smoking deck, several local gangsters had spied Bill talking to Jack. They took him for a gangster. An Armenian male approached Bill and asked him what he did. Bill told him he ran a warehouse back in Brooklyn. The male smiled and told him he could put some ladies in the warehouse. Bills’ wire was transmitting to a surveillance truck a few blocks away. Bills’ phone started to ring off the hook. Bill saw Mark trying to ring in, but tried to ignore it; he was in the middle of a drug deal after all. Finally, Bill gave in and excused himself to call Mark. Before Bill could speak, Mark told him that the male talking to him was one of his operatives. Get away and we’ll set him straight later on. 50′s guys never showed. Bill decided to hang with Stevie and Aretha for the rest of the evening.
Bill and Mark had run nonstop for a year, grabbing fugitives, handling mob cases, and terrorizing the local Mafia community. Jack went missing and didn’t answer his phone. Bill received a call from a trusted informant: Calls to Miami P.D. revealed numerous shootings, but no deaths or reports to confirm the tip. Things were getting out of control. Tracy Dayton’s husband had cancer and was dying; Bill didn’t have the heart or nerve to give her an update.
One Sunday afternoon, Bill was back east sitting in his office, a secret offsite location in the old Nabisco Cookie Factory in Chelsea. Mark told Bill to sit down. It seemed that Jack and female rap artist M.C. Lyte were in a West Hollywood club when some Black Mafia Family members disrespected Jack. Jack calmly left the club with the rapper and returned a few minutes later. Jack was laughing hysterically, yelling ‘where you guys at?’ He found his target and chased him under some tables in the club, calmly shooting the male in the legs and smiling quite proudly. He calmly exited the club. One of Mark’s informants was in the club and decided to make the call.
Bill hung up the phone and called the airlines. Bill left a message for Jack: ‘I finally have your S Visa and you’re officially a U.S. citizen.’ Jack called Bill back hours later. With a lump in his throat, he told Bill how much he loved him and what a straight up guy he was. He told Bill that he had some problems, but ”we’ll talk when you get here”. Bill arranged for Jack to meet him at the Hyatt House on the Sunset Strip. Jack came inside and ventured up to the upstairs lobby and gave Bill a hug. Bill introduced Jack to U.S. Marshal Tony Burke and had a chat. Bill told Jack to stand up and the West Hollywood detective squad rushed out of a nearby conference room and jumped him. He looked up from the ground and calmly said, ‘You lied to me, Bill.’
Bill took Jack’s keys and sent a West Hollywood detective to get a search warrant for Jack’s apartment. Hours later they were inside. It was the most tastefully decorated apartment Bill had ever seen and Bill knew some well-to-do people. The gun was found rather quickly. There was also a large safe in the apartment. Bill called a locksmith. The locksmith called the safe company with his credentials. They received the original safe code; Jack had never changed it and the safe popped right open. Inside, they found a large amount of crisp, new U.S. currency and a cache of photos. Amongst the pictures were racy photos of Madonna with another woman, a photo of Jack and Tupac giving the finger, and a photo of Jack and President Clinton.
Bill fought his way out of the apartment with the photos, promising the search team copies. Bill visited Jack in the lockup. Jack told Bill he was foolish to recover the gun; after all, his victim had been paid off and Bill really could have used him. Jack explained the photos recovered from his apartment. Haitian used to sleep with a Beverly Hills socialite. She raised money for the Foster Care program. Jack delivered top name artists to her fundraising galas. Jack raised more money than anyone in the history of Foster Care fundraising. They made Jack Man of the Year, a title he shared with President Clinton. The two shared a photo at an event honoring their efforts. If the Secret Service only knew…..
Jack talked about the old days and how lucky he was. He told Bill that he would come through, but Bill knew that Jack had played everyone all along. Jack took a plea and was deported to Haiti a year later. Mark and Bill still get calls about Jack… he returns once in a while to visit, but knows staying is a mandatory five-year sentence if caught. Last Bill and Mark heard, Jack was managing Shaquille O’Neal. Apparently Shaq had some problems in Miami that Jack took care of.
Jack now resides legally in the Dominican Republic. He is supported by Wyc1ef Jean, and whatever riches he has stashed over the years. He was truly the greatest gangster ever to manipulate the music industry. He was charming, funny, and charismatic. He was also a killer. If his mother had filled out his Visa application properly, he would still be driving around in his little piece of Los Angeles.
The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.
William Courtney Thursday May 21, 2009
"The Unauthorized Story of Haitian Jack" by Detective William Courtney