Guilty: Verdict in rap mogul drug trial, Ace Capone

[dunkykong]

Guilty: Verdict in rap mogul drug trial
By George Anastasia

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

In a resounding victory for the prosecution, Alton "Ace Capone" Coles was convicted this afternoon of using a Southwest Philadelphia-based record company he founded as a front for a multi-million crack and cocaine distribution network.
Coles, 34, was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and with heading a continuing criminal enterprise that engaged in drug trafficking, conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and weapons offenses.

He faces a possible life sentence.

Co-defendant Timothy "Tim Gotti" Baukman, 32, who was described as Coles' chief lieutenant in the drug network, was found guilty of the same charges and also faces a life sentence.

James Morris, 33, described as one of the main drug suppliers for the Coles' network, was convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Three other defendants, Monique Pullins, 24, Aysa Richardson, 27, and Thais Thompson, 32, were also found guilty of various related charges in the case.

Of the 137 counts filed against the six defendants, jurors returned guilty verdicts on 123 charges.

The jury, which deliberated over seven days after a six-week trial, began reading its verdict shortly after 2 p.m.

The case was based on a two-year investigation by a task force set up under the federally funded Philadelphia-Camden High Intensity Trafficking Area program. The probe was spearheaded by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and included narcotics investigators with the Philadelphia Police Department.

Evidence included more than 300 secretly recorded wiretapped conversations and drugs, guns and cash seized during a series of raids in August 2005. In all, the raids netted more than $800,000 in cash and 30 weapons, including an assault rifle and a machine gun.

Coles, who founded Take Down Records with Baukman in 2002, testified in his own defense, denying allegations that he was involved in the drug trade.

He freely admitted that he neither reported nor paid taxes on the hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash that investigators tracked through bank accounts he controlled. But he said the money came from concerts and weekly parties that he promoted and from record and video sales, not cocaine trafficking.

[SonsofLiberty]

They gave him life right? Fucked up, drug laws are ridiculous in this country. Niggas is trying to provide for their family with the only opportunities open to them.