Maserati Rick
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| Maserati Rick | |
|---|---|
| Born | Richard Earl Carter July 31, 1959 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| 💀Died | September 12, 1988 (aged 29) Mount Carmel Mercy HospitalSeptember 12, 1988 (aged 29) |
| Cause of death | Gunshots to head and face |
| Resting place | Elmwood Cemetery 42°21'01.6"N 83°01'05.7"W |
| 🏳️ Nationality | American |
| Other names | Maserati Rick, Pretty Ricky |
| 💼 Occupation | Car Thief, Drug Trafficker, Businessman |
| 📆 Years active | 1982-1988 |
| Opponent(s) | Big Ed Hanserd |
| 👶 Children | 4 |
| 👴 👵 Parent(s) | Betty Carter |
Richard "Maserati Rick" Carter Sr. (born Richard Earl Carter; July 31, 1959 – September 12, 1988) is an American racketeer who was once associated with the "Best Friends" an African-American crime organization that had a stronghold on the cocaine and heroin trade in Detroit from 1982 to 1991..[1]
Biography[edit]
During the height of Detroit's crack era, Carter became a player in the city's drug trade. Maserati Rick stood out as the most recognized of all of the flashy dealers in the Motor City. None could match Rick's Shakespearean-like flair for the dramatic, an attribute he would display even in death.
Originally a small time hustler with big dreams, Carter started off as a car thief but slowly begin to ascend with the fall of Sylvester "Sil" Murray in 1982. Murray had been the chief supplier for Detroit's first big time drug gang "Young Boys Inc." and was the main source of cocaine, heroin and marihuana for scores of other dealers for more than a decade. The conviction of Murray along with top leadership in Y.B.I provided the opportunity for ambitious young men such as Carter, his childhood friend Demetris Holloway II, and Big Ed Hanserd to swoop in and become the next generation of drug connections.
After three short years in the drug game Maserati Rick supplied many of the drug houses operating on Detroit's eastside. After Holloway's release from federal prison in 1985[2], Carter and Holloway worked in concert peacefully along with other organizations run by Johnny "Little Man" Curry (whose wife Cathy was the niece of Detroit's first Black mayor Coleman Young), the splinter factions of the crippled Y.B.I., like the "Dexter Ave Gucci Boys" gang and the Chambers brothers. Following the arrest and conviction of Johnny and Leo and many of their top lieutenants in 1987, Maserati Rick and his partner Holloway began endeavoring to lockdown Detroit as their personal empire. One of the first steps in consolidating their power was financing a murder-for-hire organization known as "Best Friends" lead by "Rockin' Reg" Brown[3]
With Brown and his brothers providing much needed muscle and "Columbian Mike" providing a source of product, Holloway and Carter began expanding their operation. Federal agents took note of both Carter and Holloway's frequent and lavish trips across the country to party, gamble and secure more drug supply sources.
Holloway and Carter's operation took off allowing them to live and spend lavishly. Carter listed his home address as a bungalow on Birwood Avenue on the westside of Detroit but he was known to keep up residence in at least two other locations that were more in line with the image Carter was building for himself as a motor city kingpin. The first was a fortified flat near East Jefferson Avenue, while the other a plush condominium on the Detroit International Riverfront. To hide the proceeds of his drug operation, Carter invested millions of dollars into carwashes and barbershops which served as pickup and drop-off locations for his underlings.
Federal investigators listed the Holloway/Carter organization as a "kilo men" in its reports on Detroit's many trafficker. This method of dealing denoted their wealth and importance demonstrated by the fact that only the important traffickers and wealthy could afford to inventory such large quantities without much financial difficulty.
Death and legacy[edit]
At the heigh of his criminal career, Carter and his crew, as one local law enforcement official put it, "made enough enemies to fill Tiger Stadium,"[4] but no one seemed more determined to annihilate Maserati Rick than his former friend Edward "Big Ed" Hanserd. Following a heated argument, possibly over a debt owed to Carter, in Hanserd's Unisex Hair Salon in 1987, the two became bitter adversaries. Carter and Hanserd had public disputes on multiple occasions, which usually resulted in a hail of automatic gunfire between the two and their underlings. Both Rick and Edward's lava hot tempers, proclivities for violence, coupled with their fondness for automatic weaponry posed a grave threat to the citizens of Detroit at large.
As Hanserd purposely built his organization to compete with and undercut Maserati Rick and Demetris Holloway, Ed was marked for death. An unplanned shootout between the three dealers and their soldiers resulted in a hospital stay by Hanserd with a nasty stomach wound inflicted by Carter and Holloway. Maserati Rick would try at least two more times to kill his former friend without much success. The failure of Carter to eliminate Hanserd proved to be a deadly mistake after yet another scrimmage between the two rivals on September 10, 1989, outside one of Carter's car washes on Seven Mile and Mansfield[5]. Carter would be hospitalized with bullets in his stomach and one of Hanserd's soldiers, Lodrick Parker, wounded from a bullet shot by Carter to the arm. Two days after the carwash shooting, someone entered room 307 at Mt. Carmel Hospital and fired shots into the head and face of Maserati Rick. Carter was pronounced dead at 6:01 p.m.[6]
The next day police announced their prime suspect was Lodrick Parker[7], an associate of Hanserds who was fast establishing himself as one of the most dangerous men in Detroit. However, in an interview with Al Profit, former Best Friends henchman turned informant, Nate "Boon" Craft alleges that Terrence "Boogaloo" Brown, the youngest of the Brown Brothers, had fired the fatal shot that killed Carter and blamed the entire thing on the Hanserd organization.
Following his murder, on September 16, 1988, at Peace Chapel[8] the flamboyant legend of Maserati Rick received it's finishing touches during a grand funeral in which he laid in a $16,000[9] casket designed to resemble a Mercedes Benz complete with spinning tires and BBS rims. Following the emotional services Maserati Rick Carter was laid to rest in Elmwood Cemetery the final resting place of many of Detroit's prominent politicians and entertainers.
Popular Culture[edit]
Music[edit]
Carter has been mentioned in numerous hip hop songs:
- Master P - "I Miss My Homies"
- Boldy James - "Maserati Rick"
- eLZhi - "Detroit State of Mind"
- Random Axe - "The Hex"
- Babyface Ray - "Snow Globe"
- Maserati Rick Jr. - "88' Money"
- G. Twilight - "The Maserati Rick Song"
- G. Twilight - "The Maserati Rick Song [Part II]"
- G. Twilight - "The Maserati Rick Song [Part III]"
- G. Twilight - "The Maserati Rick Song [Part IV]" featuring Maserati Rick Jr.
- Lil B - "D.O.R. (Death of Rap)"
- Baby Grizzley - "Add It Up"
Television and film[edit]
- In season two of BMF, Southwest T (Da'Vinchi) references Carter with the line: "This ain't 'bout to be no Maserati Rick repeat," in the scene that he's getting Meech out of the hospital.
- Carter was featured in the seventh episode of season four of Gangland titled "Kill 'Em All"
- Carter was featured in the seventh episode of season four of Gangsters: America's Most Evil titled "Best Friends Gang"..
- Carter was the subject of a 2009 documentary title "Maserati Rick" by ASIS Magazine.[10]
- Carter and Holloway's meteoric rise to the top of Detroit drug trade is chronicled in the 2010 documentary "Demetrius Holloway: Last Man Standing".
See Also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Burnstein, Scott (2013). The Detroit True Crime Chronicles: Tales of Murder and Mayhem in the Motor City. Camino Books Inc; First Edition. ISBN 1933822279. Search this book on
- ↑ "Demetrius Holloway: Last Man Standing". (2010). [DVD]. Tapeman.
- ↑ ASIS: Maserati Rick. (2009, February 10). [DVD]. ASIS Magazine.
- ↑ Boyd, Robert (2015). The Streets Don't Love You Back (2nd ed.). Boyd Publishing. p. 37. ISBN 978-1513603803. Search this book on
- ↑ Burnstein, Scott (2018-09-13). ""Maserati Rick" Met Brutal End To His Reign As Detroit Drug Boss, Bold Underworld Assassination Occurred 30 Yrs. Ago". The Gangster Report. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
- ↑ Schaefer, Jim (2007-02-25). "Master embalmer eases Detroit's grief". Chron. Retrieved 2023-05-16.
- ↑ "LODRICK PARKER/MASERATI RICK PG2". Detroit Free Press. 1990-07-22. p. 70. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
- ↑ Davison, Kahn Santori. "The best Detroit moments from 'BMF' season 2 [PHOTOS]". Detroit Metro Times. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
- ↑ Trimer, Margaret (September 17, 1988). "A fast Lane, big-bill trip to the grave". Detroit Free Press. Detroit, MI. p. 3.CS1 maint: Date and year (link)
- ↑ "Maserati Rick". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
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