Rocky & Melvin

Rocky & Melvin.. almost sounds like a cartoon... But they were partners and part of the Florida to New York scene... Rocky was a semi-serious workout freak (I mean how serious could he have been with all that 'stuff' around)... Melvin was... well... he was a Melvin... not a Mel. Anyway, at the time, we were renting a really sweet, totally secluded stash house that sat at the top of a hill and had a long winding driveway. And these guys had a few cars coming up... and no place to land them. A mutual connection suggested that we get together and provide the spot. At the time, we weren't doing big numbers yet so this was a pretty nice opportunity. We met and the deal was that we'd land the cars, and they'd give us the first shot at moving the load. So the cars arrive (well, not directly but they get dropped off nearby and we take them up to the place without the original drivers for the sake of security), and the product is a full range from really really good to really really seedy and shaky. This was something of a turning point in the business model since up to that point we had been doing relatively small amounts... generally not more than a hundred... and usually 25-50... but these cars came and had 800 in the trunks... which was a major upward move for us. We handled the logistics without much difficulty, meaning we got everything weighed in, logged, categorized, priced and stored. But then the next step was to move the product out...

I do remember one afternoon, Rocky showed up with some girl that nobody knew... He apparently had just met her the night before at some club... Which really pissed me off since we went to serious extremes to keep new faces out of our scene. But this was a major shot and, after telling him he was fucking up, we let it slide. And that was cool until the afternoon... when Rocky comes back with her and a while later the phone rings, I go to answer it but there's nobody there. A minute later, she comes rushing into the room, all breathless, and says someone just hung up after saying "Porky Pig is doing the jig".... It took us all of about 10 seconds to decide that the cops were on their way and the next thing you know, everybody is bailing... myself included... leaving the entire load unattended... A half hour later, we're driving slowly around the area and nothing is happening... My partner and I look at each other, decide that the whole thing might be a scam to get us away from the stuff and we quickly go back to find everything intact and safe. It was something of an adrenaline rush in many respects... Anyway, the next day, Melvin shows up with a giant Carvel shake in his hand... while we're doing some homogenization (making sure no bag had too much shake or too many seeds)... He walks in and is looking at the open bags when his face turns red, he gasps and then pukes a giant strawberry Carvel shake all over the room... I mean he was like a fountain... or a shaken bottle of beer... It was an absolute nightmare... Fucking Melvin!!

So... I'm looking around for places to move a much larger volume than I normally could or had actually ever done before. One of my friends, Jack, tells me he's got a guy who does this kind of thing and pays cash on the spot... I mean this wasn't the norm in my circle... Generally, we relied on honesty in that we'd front the product and get paid when it was sold. In fact, most of the time, we were fronted it as well. So at around 7 pm, I give Jack about 50 units to go show his guy... and he's supposed to be back in two hours... He leaves and the clock begins ticking away... one hour gone... two hours gone... I start beeping him (pre-cellphone times)... nothing... 10 pm nothing... we start to get real nervous... 11... 12... 1... we're trying to decide where else we can put this stuff until we find out what happened to Jack... 2 in the morning... still nothing... we start loading up a car to get it out of there... Just as we're ready to move, Jack shows up... he's got a case with 70 Gs in it and says, 'He liked it and he wants it all. Here's a downstroke for the entire thing. He'll pay for it on the spot when you bring it."

I'll save Marvin for his own story but bottom line, Jack's guy was real... He bought the entire thing in one shot... And suddenly, through Rocky and Melvin, I was playing in a different league entirely.

Last I heard, Melvin was retired in Florida and Rocky was getting out of jail in the Carolinas somewhere...