According to the couple's petition Baker was targeted because he had refused to pay Watts a protection payoff of $1,000. In retaliation, Watts and his crew tried to pin a drug case on Baker by tying him to heroin found in a mailbox, but he beat the charges in court, court records show. Months later, Baker was again arrested by Watts' crew after the officers claimed he was found inside a building at Ida B. Wells with heroin in his pocket packaged for sale.