Aggressive rollerblading has had a tough time getting mainstream media attention since the inline street, and later inline vert, events were dropped from the X Games. However, blading has managed to sneak into the national press in America on various occasions over the past few years but it has not been the positive exposure we all hoped for. Instead, newspaper articles have documented the unfortunate instances when various well-known skaters have been involved in some extremely serious criminal activity. What is it about aggressive inline skating that makes people turn to crime? Are the two related? No, of course they aren’t. Let’s not be ridiculous. The following individuals have no-one to blame but themselves for their actions and not only have they brought shame upon themselves and their families, they have brought shame upon our small community.

Since no-one else seems willing to discuss this openly, apart from the message board trolls that like to make cheap jokes and fuel the rumours by adding their own stories that may or may not be based in truth, we decided to do a little research and this is what we discovered about some of the most high profile cases.

Pope Operates Crack Cocaine ‘Supermarket’

No, not that Pope, although considering the current state of the Catholic church and the shocking amount of disgrace it has brought upon itself in recent years, it would hardly take many people by surprise. In February, 2009, respected New York blader Boschi Pope was charged, along with many members of his gang, for taking over a seven-floor apartment building in Harlem and dealing crack cocaine 24 hours-a-day.

Boschi ‘Bloody’ Pope, as he is known among his friends, is believed to be in charge of Stack Money Family, a gang linked to various drug-related murders in New York. At the time of the police sweep that resulted in 17 arrests, Pope was already incarcerated in Rikers Island, New York’s main jail complex, for violating parole with distribution of a controlled substance and weapons charges. However, he still managed to instruct the outfit via various phone calls to his wife Tiffany Dubois. Unfortunately for them, neither realised that every phone call was recorded and it was this evidence that eventually brought about Pope’s downfall. Still, he managed to run a drug enterprise that is almost identical to the plot of the 1991 Wesley Snipes film New Jack City for three years before local authorities became wise to it. On a side note, check that film out because it is fucking awesome!

Back at the start of the millennium, Razors was rapidly taking over the aggressive industry thanks to endorsements by iconic skaters such as Brian Shima and Jon Elliot, but their amateur team was just as prolific and Pope was at the forefront. Along with fellow east coast skaters Mike ‘Murda’ Johnson, Billy O’Neill and Dustin Halleran, Pope appeared in a joint section in 2003 Razors team video Closer and in New York City One he can be seen bribing Johnson with cash to skate a drop rail. Pope is now 27 years old and it looks like he will spend his 30th birthday gambling for cigarettes in the prison yard.

Former USD Pro Swaps Handrails for Prison Bars

Once upon a time, Jeff Frederick was considered one of the most exciting new talents in aggressive blading. He was doing 270 topsouls back in the days of Roces Majectics, the first time they came out, and his short amateur section in the 2000 USD team video Coup de Tat proved that he was way ahead of the curve when it came to truespin variations. Frederick was lacing full cab truespin top porn on ledges and looked rock solid on truespin fishbrain, top acid and topsoul on handrails. Let’s face it, by today’s standards, that is still bloody impressive. It wasn’t long before he was added to the pro team for USD and Senate, with subsequent pro models for both companies.

Fast forward a decade and Frederick appeared to be a successful gallery owner with a beautiful wife and the world at his feet. However, on May 23 he was arrested alongside his older brother Dennis and six other individuals for distributing high grade marijuana throughout Philadelphia and various other parts of south-eastern Pennsylvania. According to police reports, the pair managed to make over $14m between January, 2012 and April, 2013. It seems fair to say that they weren’t just dealing the odd quarter to their friends on the weekend. This was distribution on a scale that would impress Howard Marks.

It appears that district attorney Risa Vetri Ferman is intending on making an example of the group as she refers to the illegal operation as “a major drug-trafficking network.” In addition to the thousands of pounds of high grade marijuana and a considerable amount of money found, several firearms were also discovered. The trial is ongoing but it seems fairly safe to assume that the former Kill Team member will be behind bars for about a decade – and that’s if he’s lucky.

Razors Stranger Than Ever Rider in Paedo Ring Scandal

Former Razors team rider David Jones was arrested this summer as part of Operation iGuardian for trading and producing indecent images of children. He is accused of uploading child pornography using various email accounts, which resulted in more than 60 cyber tips being forwarded to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The trial is ongoing but, if proven guilty, Jones faces a considerable custodial sentence.

The scariest part about this whole story is the fact that Jones is a well-known figure in the California blading scene and no doubt spent a lot of time with young, impressionable children at skateparks and blading events. Plus, according to his interview with ONE Magazine in 2010, he spent two days a week working alongside OG blader Tracy White at the Santa Monica Boys and Girls club, teaching young children how to skate. He also worked for the Gale Webb Extreme Sports and Air Show, doing demos for 500-1,000 kids at a time. Feel free to shudder now.

You may have recognised Jones in the recent music video for Caligula and Wiz Khalifa’s ‘Fighter Jet’, appearing alongside Dre Powell and Franky Morales. I bet both skaters wish they could go back in time and prevent that from happening. The California native has previously skated for Ripstyle and Razors. He even had a couple of videos on the official Razors YouTube channel but, miraculously, they have recently been deleted. His Facebook account has also been deleted, but that is probably due to the tidal wave of abuse he has received from the rollerblading community. Dub Caesar and Denial owner Adam Killgore was particularly vocal, taking it upon himself to bombard Jones with abusive messages and leave menacing comments under many of his photos. And people say vigilante justice is dead!

Comments

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments