(Scott Garfield/Sony/Columbia Pictures and Studio 8 via AP)(Scott Garfield). They were seen stepping out together but Wershe says that the relationship was tumultuous. The film starring Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey tells the fact-based story of Richard Wershe Jr., a Detroit teenager who became an undercover informant for the FBI during the 1980s and was ultimately arrested for drug-trafficking and sentenced to life in prison. This picture of him is a still from his role in the movie. According to one anonymous FBI agent, the agency was ordered to let the mayor go. Rick dressed in tracksuits and wore pricey Fila sneakers. Steve Garagiola, ClickOnDetroit Copyright 2020 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Rick Wershe had already taken a bullet to the stomach from another Curry Gang member. He notices that the gun has details consistent with Egyptian-made AK-47s, unlike the Russian-made ones the dealer claims he's selling. "Everything went as planned. Young, as well as the allegation about Young's political ally Hill. In April 1985, Johnny went to Las Vegas, Nevada, to watch the Marvin Hagler vs Tommy Hearns boxing match. 'Rick refused so my dad took the money and threw my ex-husband and Rick out of the house,' Scott said. Every drug dealer was impressed. He took up with the Curry Gang, the foremost drug slingers in Detroit at the time, and made friends with dangerous criminals so that he could get better information. In addition to driving a Jeep that blatantly referenced his life as an up-and-coming cocaine dealer, Richard Wershe Jr. wore chains and tracksuits, a belt made of gold, a mink coat (given to him by Johnny Curry), and a Rolex with diamonds encircling it. He was just aware of what went on around him in his community, a streetwise kid, and the FBI was willing to pay to find out just how much he was aware of. And what happened? This was near the peak of the War on Drugs. Richard 'White Boy Rick' Wershe Jr. (Michigan Department of Corrections) After spending nearly three decades in prison, infamous former drug kingpin Richard Wershe Jr . White Boy Rick is also a grandfather of six grandchildren. The police took White Boy Rick right to the media. White Boy Ricks new fame changed his life. We have no more information about his spouse. In addition, Richard is the grandfather of six grandchildren. She shared with 7 Action News by phone what that moment meant to them. Wershe in fact helped with the largest public corruption case in Detroit's history at the time. He added that Wershe's dad, Richard Wershe Sr., who was played by Matthew McConaughey, was portrayed too positively, almost heroic at times. Cover photos. Despite the Michigan Parole Board voting unanimously to grant Richard Wershe Jr. his freedom in 2017 after spending 29 years in prison, the then 47-year-old still had time to serve in Florida for a separate offense. When the FBI carried out Operation Backbone, an elaborate sting operation targeting public corruption in Detroit, Richard Wershe Jr. assisted them. To put a 14-year-old boys life at risk wasnt exactly FBI protocol but White Boy Rick as Wershe then began to call himself was too useful to let go. Richard Wershe Jr has filed a $100m (73m) lawsuit against former FBI agents and prosecutors, alleging child abuse in connection with his time as an informant. Home. About a year later, he moved back in with his father. His Girlfriend/boyfriends name is Not Available. Source: Detroit. But they worried that if they took action on their findings, the agency would get wind of their all-too-young informant. Police had found the drugs stashed near Wershe's house after a traffic stop. He was very thrilled," McDonald said. He believes that the Detroit Police Department and city officials were against his release because he had helped the FBI expose dirty cops. When he was 15, Wershe told the FBI that a major drug dealer had spoken of paying a bribe to Detroit detective inspector and subsequent city council president and mayoral candidate Gil Hill in order to quash the investigation into a 13-year-old boy's murder. "But that's what we're all assuming,that's the drug of choice just by the way she acts, and I have never done heroin in my life.". Hed roll up in a white jeep he was too young to legally drive, with The Snowman emblazoned on the back. In 2014, freelance writer Evan Hughes read Wershes outlandish claims about a conspiracy that had put him behind bars and started to look into whether they were true. They even gave him money specifically to buy cocaine so that the FBI could use it as evidence. Rick's daughter and oldest grandson. Their chief of homicide, Inspector Gilbert Hill, deliberately diverted the investigation away from the gang leader, Johnny Curry. Additionally, he has a white-collar job. Absolutely. Hes energetic.". Ever since he was released, Richard Jr has been an advocate for prison reform and works with Team Wellness to help ex-convicts. Jul 18, 2017. During the screening of "White Boy Rick," the Hollywood adaptation of his father's life, back in 2018, he told the outlet that his dad was smarter and more caring than what the movie had portrayed. An ambulance arrived and blocked them from leaving. Wershe Jr. was a weight man, not a full-fledged kingpin. Keisha Wershe is known to be the daughter of the famous drug dealer Richard Wershe Jr. Richard Wershe Jr. is an American drug dealer and former informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It makes you wonder how many other people might be incarcerated wrongly or unfairly, but because they don't have a light shone on them, they're [not] readdressing their incarceration. About. September 14, 2018, 1:43 AM by Allan Lengel. Having just turned 51 years old, Wershe began a new chapter in life together with his fiance Michelle McDonald, whom he began dating in middle school. Young man, Richard Wershe, Jr., 14, begins dealing on the streets. Ill never commit another crime.. Timeline photos. Johnny Curry, the so-called "cocaine king of the East Side," was freed 18 years before Wershe (Curry had been sentenced in Federal Court and wasn't subjected to Michigan's harsh laws that were in place at the time). Despite this, he was relocated to Florida State Prison to serve another sentence for his involvement in a car theft ring. "Well, they never really say (what drug it is)," Dawn told WXYZ reporter Carolyn Cliffordwhen asked about the drugs. Almost all of those who were convicted under the original law have been released. In the 1980s, he gained notoriety in the streets of Detroit under the moniker White Boy Rick. This plays out a little differently in the movie, with them running out of a restaurant and shooting at the carjacker while standing the parking lot. According to both the real White Boy Rick and local drug czar Johnny Curry, homicide detective Gil Hill helped to cover up the murder of a 13-year-old boy named Damion Lucas, who was shot accidentally during a drive-by shooting that targeted the house of the boy's uncle, Leon Lucas. Richard Wershe Jr. (born July 18, 1969), [2] known as " White Boy Rick ", is an American former drug trafficker and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informant. But we are sure that it is not available and his spouses name is not available. He says that he was working with his sister from prison to secure a car for his mom. Johnny and other members of his organisation each served 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to several charges. Wershe Jr. has stated that although his father knew that he was still meeting with the FBI, he never realised how far the agency had gotten him involved with the Curry brothers. Spending 27 years in prison for a drug offence committed when he was 17. Both Wershe Jr. and Dawn chose to live with their father at their small brick house on Hampshire Street at Dickerson Avenue. In 2016, a notorious former Detroit hitman alleged Hill had once tried to commission the murder of Wershe. In Mayor Youngs city, to get Curry into trouble was dangerous for himself and bad for his business. Richard Wershe Jr. mugshot for Florida Department of Corrections, Detroit historian: White Boy Rick Wershe prison release way overdue. By the time he turned 15, he was skipping school by the day and spending the nights at the clubs, gathering Information for the FBI. 4 4y View 3 more replies Shonda Fisher Nisley But Richard Wershe Jr. is ready to try. So the FBI left Richard Wershe Jr. to fend for himself. Wershe was released from a Florida prison in July, ending his 32 years. It was at a time when the hysteria surrounding the War on Drugs in the U.S. was nearing its peak. Wershe's life story was turned into a true-crime documentary called "White Boy" that was picked up by Netflix. In addition to this, he was an amateur inventor. "We were very overwhelmed," she had toldWXYZat the time. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. In 1984, Rick Wershe is a struggling single father living in Detroit during the height of the crack epidemic and war on drugs. White Boy Rick was certainly involved in drugs, and he definitely moved cocaine. -Crime Watch Daily, No. Hed even taken his girlfriend, Cathy Volsan, the mayors niece. Agent Gregg Schwarz would later admit: We brought him into the drug world. "Rick refused, so my dad took the money and threw my ex-husband and Rick out." The Wershes could barely make the ends meet. View our online Press Pack. This picture of him is a still from his role in the movie Beverly Hills Cop. [7], The name "White Boy Rick" was not a street name that Wershe used himself, nor was it one he was ever called by those with whom he associated. Thats why her height, weight, eye color, hair color, etc are unavailable on the internet till today. Who Is White Boy Rick's Daughter Keisha Wershe? OK? "He's very frank about who he is and what he did," actor Matthew McConaughey said during a CinemaCon interview. Published: July 20, 2020, Deadline Detroit, September 07, 2016, Allan Lengel, Last edited on 15 February 2023, at 08:20, "Newcomer Richie Merritt Lands Title Role in 'White Boy Rick' Opposite Matthew McConaughey", After 32 years behind bars, White Boy Rick Wershe Jr. to be released Monday, ONE-TIME DETROIT SUPER COP GIL HILL DIES OF LUNG DISEASE, FAMED CRIME FIGHTER NEVER SHOOK MURDER COVER-UP CLAIMS, Past Detroit Hit Man Claims Gil Hill Wanted Him To Kill Richard Wershe Jr, "Who is White Boy Rick? Your source for Local information & breaking news across southeast Michigan plus 4Warn Weather providing you with accurate forecasts so you can plan your day. How White Boy Rick Uncovered The Largest Corruption Case In Detroit History And Got Life In Jail, Mark Oliver is a writer, teacher, and father whose work has appeared on The Onion's StarWipe, Yahoo, and Cracked, and can be found on his, The Death Of Grigori Rasputin, History's Most Unkillable Man, Croatian Village Plagued By 100 Gigantic Sinkholes Following Massive Earthquake, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Pretty soon he uncovered a conspiracy that ran through the whole city. "We were portrayed in the film aslow-class dirt poorscuzz bags," she said. It was Wayne County Circuit Judge Dana Hathaway who later found no reason to keep Wershe locked up in Michigan, and today emotions were running high after his release. Click here to take a moment and familiarize yourself with our Community Guidelines. He was arrested in 1987 at age 17 and sentenced to life in prison. "I never set out to make Rick look like a bigger drug dealer than he was," says investigative journalist Chris Hansen, who helped popularize the White Boy Rick persona. Instead of pulling him out, the FBI used his newfound cred to push him in deeper with the Curry gang. They put up pictures of a criminal hierarchy, and each one showed 17-year-old White Boy Rick at the top of the ladder with every dangerous, hardened criminal in the city listed as his underling. In doing so, the director saw potential in Gill and cast him as the tough-as-nails character. Matthew McConaughey starred as Richards father, Richard Wershe Sr. More: Former Detroit hitman wants White Boy Rick to be released from prison. 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