Pubdate: Sun, 23 Oct 2005
Source: News Journal (DE)
Copyright: 2005 The News Journal
Contact: http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/opinion/index.html
Website: http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/822
Author: Adam Taylor, Terri Sanginiti And Sean O'Sullivan

RIVERSIDE MOURNS SLAIN 'GHETTO ICON'

J.R. Perkins Was A Violent Drug Dealer Who Bought Food And Shoes For 
Poor Families

Hours after J.R. Perkins was shot and killed Tuesday, cars lined 
blocks upon blocks of the main drag of the Riverside Housing project 
until the wee hours of the morning. Hundreds of somber young men and 
women and boys and girls stood on Bowers Street, from Kingswood 
Community Center to 27th Street.

"It looked like a head of state had been killed," said the Rev. 
Derrick Johnson, pastor of Joshua Harvest Church. "He was a ghetto icon."

The 26-year-old had been shot once in the chest while driving near 
the project. Police have no suspects. Perkins' popularity among so 
many young, black city residents was threefold, say those who knew 
him. He successfully rose to be a high-level dealer in Wilmington's 
drug world; he was never convicted of drug trafficking; and he spread 
his wealth by paying for sneakers for young boys, hair stylist 
appointments for young moms and food for barbecues for the poor 
families in Riverside.

For more than a year, Perkins had attended Johnson's church when he 
wasn't in jail. The pastor said to understand why so many mourned a 
known drug dealer with a reputation for violence, one has to 
understand the abject poverty of Riverside. Johnson himself grew up 
there. He went on to kill a man during an argument about a woman. He 
was jailed for manslaughter before he became a pastor.

"The young people don't look up to him because of his negativity or 
his deviant lifestyle," Johnson said of Perkins. "They view him as a 
guy who ran things and was still standing, not incarcerated."

Shawn Allen, an outreach worker who counsels adjudicated teens, agreed.

"It was common knowledge that he got caught up in the [drug-dealing] 
lifestyle at a very young age," he said. "The kids in Riverside have 
nothing. Their choices are minimal. Sometimes their mom, their only 
parent at home, is smoking crack. Under those circumstances, it's 
hard to turn away when someone tells you you can get a pair of 
sneakers or become the popular guy that you weren't last week if you 
stand lookout on a corner or go sell a bag."

A Long Rap Sheet

A testament to Perkins' reputation as a major drug player in the city 
lies in the fact that bail of $1.1 million was set for him for 
allegedly participating in a kidnapping and assault in December 2003. 
The victim reportedly was a narcotics dealer and enforcer working for 
Perkins who had taken money and drugs from the mother of one of 
Perkins' seven children, police said.

As detailed in court records, the "associate" suffered facial 
fractures and implicated Perkins and others in the incident. The 
victim was bound with an electrical cord and a belt, and said Perkins 
put a gun to his head, threatening to kill him if he didn't return the money.

Prosecutors said the man was tossed in the back seat of a van with a 
hood over his head and driven around the city as Perkins held the 
gun. At one point, Perkins asked the driver to stop the van, and he 
got out after seeing a police car drive by. The driver then parked 
the van and got out. The injured victim jumped into the front seat 
and commandeered the vehicle. He drove north on 35th Street in 
Riverside, where he slammed into another vehicle at 35th and Bowers 
streets, got out and flagged down an ambulance.

Warrants were issued for the arrests of Perkins and four others on 
charges of kidnapping, carjacking, aggravated menacing, attempted 
murder, possession of a deadly weapon during a felony, possession of 
a deadly weapon by a person prohibited, conspiracy and violation of 
probation. Perkins was arrested Feb. 4, 2004, and faced a minimum 
life sentence if convicted of all charges. That, coupled with the 
fact that Perkins had a record of not showing up for his court 
hearings -- a pretrial report stated he'd failed to appear 25 times 
- -- contributed to the extraordinarily high bail.

Former Deputy Attorney General Natalie S. Woloshin argued at Perkins' 
Feb. 24, 2004, bail hearing that he moved frequently, despite defense 
attorney Andrew Ahern's contention Perkins lived with his mother and 
two sisters, co-owned N&J Variety at 17 W. 27th St., and was the 
father of seven, all of whom lived in Wilmington.

"The defendant has made some proclamations that he owns the 'hood, 
and he's the king of his castle and his domain, and whatever happens, 
he controls," Woloshin said in court records.

Bail Commissioner Michael P. Reynolds refused to reduce the $1.1 
million bail, saying Perkins "has more places to sleep than Saddam."

In later court proceedings, Perkins' attorney, Joe Hurley, argued a 
bail of that magnitude typically was reserved for people like Michael 
Jackson. The court refused to yield.

Respected And Feared

In court records, the state paints a picture of Perkins as a bad man 
- -- a violent street criminal and narcotics dealer who employed 
associates to sell his wares and henchmen to carry out his bidding to 
injure or kill.

But Hurley said his client was not the gangster they portrayed.

"He was a very popular, cordial guy," Hurley said Thursday. "He was 
like a big teddy bear, so he didn't come across as the persona 
depicted by police."

Hurley said the police had a particular interest in "JR" because they 
viewed him as a leader in the drug trade. Despite his past, Perkins 
never was convicted of a drug offense.

As the kidnapping case was about to go to trial, the victim-- 
Perkins' childhood friend -- recanted and disappeared.

"Everybody was terrified to testify against him," the prosecutor said.

Perkins was convicted of conspiracy and violation of probation 
following the incident. He served one year in jail and was released 
in February. In June, he violated his probation again and spent an 
additional two months in jail. He was released Aug. 31 from the 
supervision of the Department of Correction, spokeswoman Beth Welch said.

13-Year Record

Perkins' criminal record begins April 23, 1992, when, at age 13, he 
was charged with robbery. During his juvenile years, he was in and 
out of trouble with the law, facing charges such as shoplifting, 
disorderly conduct, rioting, burglary and, at age 15, possession of a 
deadly weapon. By 1999, the bulk of his charges were traffic offenses 
and a string of probation violations.

Sometimes, crime didn't pay. Perkins was wounded at least twice -- in 
one month -- when he was 17. He was shot once in the left thigh in 
July 1996 as he and a 16-year-old boy were leaving the William Hicks 
Anderson Community Center in the 500 block of N. Madison St. The next 
month, he was shot in the stomach while standing on the corner at 
27th and Bowers streets in Riverside. A second man also was wounded 
in what police called a "turf dispute" over drug sales.

When he was 20, Perkins and a 19-year-old man were arrested on 
robbery charges after police said they approached a car near 24th and 
North Thatcher streets, pulled a woman from the car, attacked her 
husband and looted the vehicle.

Vacuum In City's Drug Hierarchy

Wilmington Police Chief Michael Szczerba said he could not comment on 
Perkins' death except to say that his department is focused on 
finding the killer.

Perkins' "record and reputation speaks for itself," he said.

The Rev. Johnson said he did not think Perkins' slaying was a drug 
hit. He thinks police eventually will discover it was a simple 
argument over a woman, a car or some money.

"He was controversial, and I'm sure he made a lot of enemies," said 
Hurley, adding he was not surprised at the violent end his former client met.

While he would not discuss Perkins specifically, Szczerba said police 
heighten their alert whenever a reputed high-level dealer leaves the scene.

Law enforcement sources seem to think Perkins recently was less 
involved in Riverside's drug trade than he had been a few years ago, 
but they were watching to see if he was making a comeback. That 
information jibed with what Johnson saw since Perkins began attending 
his church.

"I don't know if I ever believed he was removed from the game," he 
said. "I do know that his name was mentioned less in those kinds of 
stories since he started attending church."

'Teddy Bear'

Perkins' friends and family paint a different picture than his rap 
sheet does. While they don't deny his criminal endeavors, they say 
there was much more to him. In separate interviews, Hurley and 
Johnson each called Perkins a "teddy bear."

Leslie Fitzgerald, who considered Perkins a brother, remembers him as 
the guy who bought fireworks displays to set off in the project on 
holidays. She said he didn't want to be a drug dealer his whole life 
and was impulsive, changing his mind about his future all the time.

"He recently had decided to be a boxer, but changed his mind after he 
couldn't run around the track one time," she said.

His aunt Rhonda Bleen said Perkins also dreamed of becoming a 
computer technician and owning a record label. His sister, Meisha 
Perkins, said he loved playing flag football and PlayStation, and baking cakes.

Perkins had seven children from more than one mother. Two kids were 
named Jerome.

Latisa Alls, Perkins' companion, said that when he was about 10, he 
would steal Wonder Bread from a store and give it to poor families in 
Riverside.

Product Of Riverside Life

Allen, the outreach worker, said Perkins was the "essence" of Riverside.

"He controlled the [drug] market there for a while, so he controlled 
the neighborhood," he said.

Perkins had a reputation as a ruthless businessman and a kind 
neighbor. Allen said both were true.

"When you're in the drug game and you came from nothing like he did, 
your persona has to be one who will keep what he has by any means 
necessary," he said. "If somebody else would just slap you upside 
your head, he would kick you all the way down the block."

Johnson said young men from across the city would ask him to resolve 
conflicts, similar to the role of a mafia don.

"He was always squashing beefs from the West Side," he said. "He's 
gotten so many people to not shoot someone."

Johnson said lyrics from the late rapper Tupac Shakur's "Dear Mama" 
offer insight into the mind-set of Riverside's young men. The song 
talks about a 17-year-old boy whose mom is addicted to crack cocaine. 
The boy provides for her by selling drugs.

Johnson and Allen said they hope Perkins' death is looked back on as 
more than simply a predictable end to a thug's life.

"I think that most people will take his death as a lesson in a way 
not to live," Allen said.

Perkins will be laid to rest Monday. Johnson said he would spend the 
weekend searching for words that might help others learn from Perkins' life.

"The issue is whether we can prevent the young boys who looked up to 
him from being the next JRs," he said.

Staff reporter Andre Taylor contributed to this article.
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