'Ace Capone' Cop Charged With Informing Drug Lord Of Raid

Alton "Ace Capone" Coles, the rap music impresario who used his hip-hop Philadelphia record label as a front for a multimillion-dollar cocaine distribution network, was sentenced yesterday to life plus 55 years in federal prison. U.S. District Court Judge R. Barclay Surrick imposed the sentence during a brief hearing in which Coles, his voice cracking, said he did not believe he deserved to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

"I never thought it would come to this," said Coles, 35. "I don't think life is deserved for selling drugs.

 

 Former police officer Rickie Durham is being accused of tipping off a friend about a raid that was to occur on Coles property, according to this report the officer knew that the message would be relayed back to the drug ring leader, who had a criminal enterprise which put out $25 million dollars worth of drugs into the Philadelphia streets.

Durham for informing Coles of the raid has been charged with obstruction of justice along with one count of giving a false statement on the 24th of september.

The officer of 12 years will be sentenced later this month.

Based on what he called "conservative" calculations, Lloret said, authorities believe that between 1998 and his arrest in August 2005, Coles headed a drug network that brought more than two tons of cocaine and nearly a half-ton of crack into the Philadelphia drug underworld.

Coles, who has been held without bail since his arrest, enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, according to testimony at his trial last year. He lived in a $480,000 home just outside Mullica Hill, drove a Bentley, and owned several other high-priced cars and properties.
Authorities confiscated more than $1 million in cash during the investigation. The money and the properties are now subject to federal forfeiture actions.
In a series of raids executed in August 2005, authorities seized cash, drugs, and guns while arresting Coles, Baukman, and most of their top associates.
Coles was living in a home he had moved into only two weeks earlier when he was arrested Aug. 10. Authorities alleged the $100,000 down payment on the home, which Coles shared with co-defendant Asya Richardson, came from his drug operation. His Bentley was parked in the garage.
Investigators found $114,780 in the home of another girlfriend near Woodstown and discovered $559,000 in a home shared by co-defendants James Morris and Thais Thompson just outside Salem.
Also, $200,000 in cash was found in a bank safety deposit box belonging to Coles after he was convicted, Lloret said yesterday.
Ten weapons and nearly 400 rounds of ammunition were found in an apartment in Lansdowne maintained by Baukman.
Authorities attributed seven murders and nearly two dozen shootings to the Coles drug ring, although none of the murder charges was listed in the federal drug case. Two of the murder cases were tried in Common Pleas Court and resulted in convictions for two Coles associates.
At its height, the U.S. Attorney's Office estimated, the Coles drug operation was putting 100,000 doses of crack on the streets of the city each week.

"My father was a crack dealer," he said, his voice breaking. "My mother kicked me out when I was 12. . . . I became a man on my own."