If you don’t remember or know who Rayful Edmond was, you need to watch this full-length movie. He was the king of the crack-fueled, drug-dealing days of the 1980s. (UPDATE: The movie was pulled from YouTube, so here’s another clip to watch).
If you don’t have time for the whole thing (you probably don’t, because it’s long), here’s a brief bio. He was a notorious drug dealer during the days when D.C. was the murder capital. In his heyday, it was reported that his drug organization was raking in $300 million in revenue, while employing 150 people (they were also responsible for at least 30 murders annually). So, pretty much, this was not a guy you would want to piss off.
Interestingly, he was a huge Georgetown Hoyas basketball fan, frequently attending games and befriending the players like Alonzo Mourning and John Turner. Coach John Thompson was not pleased with his players associating with known drug dealers and murderers. Thompson went as far as to have a meeting with Rayful and tell him he was not to hang out with his players, or he’d face “serious consequences.”
It’s unclear what consequences John Thompson could bring down on Rayful, but it worked. Not only that, Thompson lived to tell the story, and he was reputedly the only person to speak to Edmond in that manner. On another note, Rayful is also the reason Georgetown jersey and caps were popular in the gangster culture of the late 80s and early 90s.
