Young Boys Incorporated, also known as Y.B.I., was among the first African-American drug cartels that operated on street corners.[1]
The group began in the 1980s. The group's modus operandi was using minors to be couriers of crack cocaine. If police captured them, they were ineligible to receive criminal penalties for adults because their juvenile status required the law to only consider juvenile punishments. Meanwhile, the leaders, adults aged in their 20s and 30s, remained insulated from law enforcement action.In 1977, the group was formed by a small bunch of neighborhood friends all in their late teens at Birney Elementary School's playground. Dwayne Davis (a.k.a. Wonderful Wayne or WW) and Raymond Peoples were two of the founders who became bosses. A few years later Butch Jones (a.k.a. Big Boy) was paroled from prison and joined the organization. It was about this time that Y.B.I. split into three separate crews: WW, Raymond, and Big Boy. They controlled 80% of the heroin traffic[clarification needed] in Detroit, Michigan from the summer of 1978 through 1982.
From the start, Y.B.I.'s main place of operation was the Dexter/Linwood neighborhood on Detroit's Northwest side. About two years after its formation, Y.B.I. completely took over the heroin trade in and around Detroit with sales estimated at about $250,000 per day. After the split, WW sent one of his top lieutenants to Boston to expand his operation. After about a year, the crew, along with new members from Boston, took over most of that city's heroin trade. Sales peaked at about $50,000 per day. The organization in Detroit was seriously crippled in 1982, when, in September of that year, it was alleged that Butch Jones ordered the execution of WW over a turf dispute. WW was gunned down at the corner of Columbus and Lawton on Detroit's west side. A few months later, on December 7, Raymond Peoples, Butch Jones, and 41 of Y.B.I.'s top Lieutenants were indicted, convicted, and later sentenced, to long prison terms. Most people believed that because of WW's death, none of his crew were indicted. After Raymond Peoples was released from prison he was shot to death as he sat in a car on the city's west side.
several of the lieutenants that WW sent to Boston,Eric goin,s Houston mitchel, Donald norfleet, came back to Detroit after WW's death and took over what was left of Y.B.I. They operated for about another six years, taking the group to another level until,Federal indictments, murders and crack cocaine became the drug of choice over heroin. One of the soldiers who came back from Boston with them was Steven Sealy. Sealy is best known for being gunned down and killed as he sat in Whitney Houston's Bentley in front of a Boston club. In the car with him was his future brother-in-law, Bobby Brown. Butch Jones was released after serving 12 years in federal prison, but was eventually indicted again on drug and murder charges. Under U.S. Federal Law, anyone who is convicted of a drug related murder is eligible for the death penalty. Facing such punishment, Jones cooperated with federal authorities for a lesser sentence.
YBI's reputation and system of organization impacted and influenced drug gangs nationally during the 1980s and 1990s. Consequently, after their downfall, other African-American Detroit drug cartels copied their incredibly organized structure. Many gangs, such as "Best Friends", "Pony Down", "Black Mafia Family", and "The Chambers Brothers", rose to prominence that were featured in a Black Entertainment Television documentary series entitled "American Gangster".
