By Nolan Strong
Just as superstar rapper Rick Ross is celebrating the release of his new album Deeper Than Rap, the real Rick Ross will be celebrating his release from prison next week.
AllHipHop.com has confirmed that “Freeway” Ricky Ross, the drug king pin who was at the center of a CIA cocaine-dealing scandal, will officially be released from prison on Monday (May 4).
Ross oversaw a Los Angeles based, multi-state drug operation in the early 1980’s, which earned upwards of $2 million dollars per day at its height.
In 1996, Ross was sentenced to life in prison, after he attempted to purchase over 100 kilos of cocaine from an undercover federal agent.
Ross’ sentence was later reduced through appeals and after a series of explosive articles by the late Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Gary Webb.
Webb wrote a series titled “Dark Alliance” for the San Jose Mercury News, which exposed the C.I.A.’s role in importing cocaine into black communities to fund Contra fighters in Nicaragua, as part of the Iran-Contra scandal.
Ross is currently working on a book and film and is seeking deals for both projects.
Additionally, AllHipHop.com has learned that Ross will officially enter the music business, via a new record label with industry veteran Wendy Day.
Ross filming a reality show that will track his release from his prison in Texarkana, Texas to a halfway house in California.
Along the way, Ross will talk with incarcerated youth in detention centers.
Ross’ colorful, yet tragic life has been the subject of numerous rappers’ rhymes throughout the years, from Brooklyn rapper Mos Def, to Los Angeles rapper The Game.
The #1 rapper in the country is Carol City, Florida native Rick Ross, born William Roberts, whose album Deeper Than Rap is topped the Billboard Top 200 this week.
"After seeing all the stuff that has been going on with the Correctional Officer (William Roberts) that stole my name, [it] makes me think back to a year and a half ago when we spoke,” Freeway Ricky Ross explained to AllHipHop.com in a previous interview. “I tried to talk to him like a big brother and let him know to be you, and that he couldn’t be me.”
Roberts has repeatedly denied that he has based his entire rap persona off of the real Rick Ross, to the latter’s chagrin.
For more information visit Ross’ new site, www.FreewayEnterprsie.com.
