The Black Mafia in Microcosm: The Fall of Nicky Barnes
Barnes had already been on law enforcement’s radar, and his operations were under investigation before the New York Times Magazine profile piece ran. The brazenness of bragging on national media about his criminal activities acted upon the authorities like waving a red cape before a bull. It ensured that Barnes became the focus of special attention from all levels of law enforcement, city, state, and federal. Indeed, Barnes’ smug look on the cover of the NYT Magazine even ticked off President Jimmy Carter, who then ordered the DOJ to pursue him to the fullest extent of the law.
The fall was swift. He had set up front operations all over the country to launder his drug money and protect his assets, such as car dealerships. Goaded by Barnes’ flamboyance, the DEA redoubled its efforts, and traced ownership back to him. Authorities then began seizing his assets, including numerous luxury cars such as Maseratis, Cadillacs, Continentals, and Bentleys. Within six months of the NYT Magazine article, Barnes had been arrested, tried, and convicted. On January 19th, 1978, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Barnes had set up The Council in imitation of the Italian mafia’s Commission, but once in prison, he figured that imitating the Italian mob in all things might be unwise. Particularly the omerta part. Angered by The Council’s failure to maintain his assets and pay his lawyers, and by the discovery that one of his Council colleagues was sleeping with his wife, Nicky Barnes turned snitch.
He became a federal informant, and turned in a list of 109 people involved in his heroin operations, including his wife. His testimony helped secure indictments against 44 of his former colleagues and associates, and got 16 of them convicted. As a reward for Barnes’ cooperation, Rudolph Giuliani, then US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, helped get him resentenced from life without parole to 35 years.
Barnes was housed in a special witness protection unit, and while in prison, he earned a college degree, became a model prisoner, and was released in 1998 into the Federal Witness Protection Program. In 2007, he sat for another interview with The New York Times Magazine, this one alongside his former competitor, Frank Lucas. That year, he also published his memoir, Mr. Untouchable: My Crimes and Punishment, and appeared in a documentary about his criminal career, also titled Mr. Untouchable. He was played by Cuba Gooding Junior in American Gangster.