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StumbleuponDonta 'DBoy' Edwards linked to groups in U.S. drug cases
Member of local Dope Boy Mafia group claimed Dayton man was a member of Black Mafia Family.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
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DAYTON — Donta Cordell Edwards, the local rap music producer whose killing remains unsolved, was identified in the Dayton Daily News' two-day series on criminal street gangs as the person who recorded the beats and music of Dope Boy Mafia.
In the series, published Feb. 17-18, DBM's featured artist Reginald "Reddy Baby" Battle told the newspaper in a letter from jail that his group began in 2005 after a trip to Atlanta, where he linked with Edwards.
Battle described Edwards, 31, as a "formal member" of the BMF, a group that would come under fire two years later from federal prosecutors for nationwide drug dealing.
DBM has recorded songs alluding to their legal issues and loyalty to Edwards. The group's MySpace Web page recounts the history this way:
"D.B.M. was signed to the independent Midwest label, Grownman Records, in 2005 by owner and CEO Donta Edwards who saw talent and wanted to create an outlet for these young men..."
On the same page, Edwards, also known as DBoy, wrote, "Some may say that if the streets is all you know then the streets is all you'll ever be, but I'm trying to create a way for young black men to be successful."
By January of this year, Battle and six associates had been indicted in U.S. District Court in Dayton on various charges related to gun possession and drug trafficking (selling crack cocaine) in Dayton at apartments on Ryburn Avenue.
In July 2007, U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias for the Northern District of Georgia announced charges against 16 BMF members of what he called "a violent cocaine distribution organization that has been the focus of federal prosecution here in Atlanta, in Detroit, and in Orlando.
"The Black Mafia Family once had billboards towering over Atlanta boldly proclaiming that the world was theirs. This indictment is a rejection of that claim," he said.
"First in Detroit and Orlando, and now here, the government is shutting down the BMF's once flourishing drug empire. A combined effort by federal, state, and local law enforcement has brought to an end an infamous chapter of drug dealing and gang violence that affected this country literally coast to coast," Nahmias said.
BMF leaders pleaded guilty in federal court in Detroit in 2007 to running a drug enterprise that operated out of that city as well as Atlanta and Los Angeles. Earlier this year, Fred Alverson, spokesman for the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, characterized the BMF as an enterprise that raked in nearly $300 million trafficking cocaine, heroin and PCP.
Authorities have said the organization set up a hip-hop record label as a front. Other rap artists who claimed an alliance include Yung Jeezy and Fabolous, both of whom have been honored for their musical work by cable station BET.
Battle, who agreed to plead guilty to two counts related to the charges he faces, is to be sentenced July 31 in Dayton before Judge Walter H. Rice.
He faces a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence on the drug charge, and an additional five-year mandatory minimum on the firearm charge. Some related cases are pending, and others have been sentenced to federal prison.
Vipal Patel, deputy criminal chief and assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio in Dayton, said he couldn't comment on Edwards.
But, he said: "Obviously, on first glance, it appears to be narcotics related. Law enforcement will seek to bring the perpetrators to justice. I can't discuss pending investigations."
'So many...questions'
Edwards' mother, Carmen Jackson, called Dayton police on April 24, 2007, to file a missing persons report on her son. She then hired a private detective to try and find him.
Last week, she recalled the last telephone conversation she had with her son on April 14, 2007.
She had called to tell him that one of his cousins had intentionally harmed himself.
"Will God forgive him?" she recalled Donta wanting to know.
"I said, 'Donta, God will forgive you for anything you do. You have to ask him.' We told each other we loved each other and hung up the phone."
Jackson said she was unaware of any warrant for his arrest.
Police, Jackson said, told her "my chances for getting this case solved now is slim to none because of the time that has passed and all of that."
According to Detroit police, an anonymous 911 call placed on April 15, 2007, led to the discovery of a black man's remains beside a service drive for the John C. Lodge Freeway in Detroit.
It was not until a few weeks ago that DNA analysis identified the body as Edwards. Until that confirmation, the remains had been in the Wayne County Morgue, tagged as an unidentified homicide victim. DNA was available from the body at the crime scene in 2007, Jackson said, but according to Detroit police who spoke to Donta's wife, Nicole, funding problems prevented DNA analysis until 2008. Jackson said it should have been done sooner. Once Edwards' remains were released, he was returned to Dayton.
After a funeral July 8 that drew a large crowd of mourners, Edwards was buried at historic Woodland Cemetery.
There, he received a reception of some distinction. He was taken from the hearse to his grave by two white horses pulling a glassed-in carriage. Ten doves were released. His mother said she wanted to show that her son was special.
Edwards loved rap music, and rapped as a boy, she said, noting that she was addicted to crack when he was born.
Donta, the eldest of three children, was the most affected by that addiction, she said. The former Colonel White High student spent some of his growing years in foster homes and there were periods when he was incarcerated.
But Jackson said she will be 20 years sober in August and their relationship was good. She cherishes a photo of Donta as a youth, in his baseball uniform.
She said she will cling to hope her son's slaying will ultimately be solved.
"My son was a very nice young man, in spite of his lifestyle," Jackson said. "It's just so many unanswered questions.
"My son and I had a beautiful relationship. I'm proud to have been his mother. He was a person with a name and a face and family who loved him."
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7407 or sbennish@DaytonDailyNews.com.
