On New Year’s Eve 2002, Brian Hicks pulled his closest associates together and decided to take over the crack trade on the streets of Denver, according to federal court testimony.
They formed the Elite Eight, a subset of the Rolling 30’s Crips, with Hicks as their leader, Robert Fuller, an investigator for the Denver district attorney’s office, testified Wednesday in U.S. District Court.
“They made a pact to, quote, (expletive) everyone else,” said Fuller, who has spent more than two years investigating the group.
Prosecutors say the former Christian camper had risen to lead a group responsible for trafficking hundreds of kilograms of cocaine. The Elite Eight amassed millions of dollars in profits and, prosecutors have said, were involved in 11 unsolved homicides, perhaps including the death of Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams.
Hicks was born in Cincinnati on Dec. 14, 1978. His parents, both hotel workers, moved to Denver for reasons that aren’t known but then divorced. His father could not be reached, and his mother declined to comment.
Those who grew up with Hicks recall him in his early teens as aiming for the NBA.
“He was a good kid back then,” recalled one former friend, Kenny Young.
The two attended several “Jamming with Jesus” summer camps hosted by an inner-city church. They fished, camped, roller-skated and played pickup basketball. As church members, they sought to find alternatives to the street lifestyle.
But after the camp, the two went in different directions. Young moved back with his family to Fort Worth, Texas. By the time Young returned to Denver, Hicks was lost to the streets, Young said.
From there, Hicks’ rap sheet shows a pattern of escalation in both the frequency of his arrests and the violence that was involved.
In 1996, police picked him up for a curfew violation. Then, they arrested him for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. In 1997, there was a motor-vehicle theft charge. Because they are juvenile charges, their disposition is not public.
On May 30, 1997, the charges became more serious. Then 18, Hicks was arrested for felony menacing and convicted of pointing a gun at Denver police officers Robert Wycoff and Dennis Beden-Bender.
He tried to overturn the conviction, arguing he never pulled the gun. He said that one of the officers had beaten him up when he was a juvenile, according to court records. But his defense lawyer never found any corroboration of the beating and had urged him not to testify.
During the sentencing, former girlfriend LaToya Cook wrote to the judge pleading for leniency for Hicks, saying he was the father of her baby girl.
Cook, who now denies Hicks fathered the child, said the two met at a light-rail station. He swept her off her feet.
“He was a great guy back then, nothing like what I hear about him now,” Cook said.
She continued to visit Hicks after he was sent to a boot-camp program in Buena Vista, but she eventually lost contact with him after he was kicked out – Hicks was sent to prison after he fought with another boot-camp participant.
After his release from prison, he was arrested on several misdemeanor assaults before facing another felony.
By then, authorities allege, he was already plotting to take over the drug trade and gang leadership in Denver.
Hicks was “the smart guy, the complete package, the motivator,” an informant told police, according to Fuller.
When Hicks, nicknamed “Solo,” would whisper in the ear of another Elite Eight member, “bodies would appear,” an informant said, according to police. In 2003, Hicks was accused of punching Kalonniann Clark in the face and of holding a gun to her head.
The case was eventually dismissed.
Two years later, on June 12, 2005, Denver police arrested Hicks again. He was draped in a bulletproof vest, dressed in black, a loaded .40-caliber Glock magazine in his left pocket, blood dripping from a bullet wound in his left leg.
Kalonniann Clark claimed he had just fired shots at her and was trying to kill her again, court records show. She was slain Dec. 6, five days before she was to testify against Hicks.
He still faces attempted-murder charges in state court for that June 12 incident.
Hicks was arrested again on felony drug-trafficking charges in 2006, charges that are now part of a massive federal court gang prosecution.
Hicks’ lawyer, Walter Gerash, declined comment and declined to make his client available.
Hicks amassed wealth that allowed him to buy a condominium in Connecticut, and he laundered his drug profits by opening a clothing store and recording studio on East Colfax Avenue, according to police.
He was so brash that he would engage police, even asking a surprised detective, who stumbled upon his new store, to provide security for one of his anti-violence hip-hop events.
An informant told police that the Elite Eight kept their drugs and money in at least nine stash houses throughout the area.
At one stash house, one day’s take added up to $1.5 million. The money was left in two stacks in open sight, one stack left in the living room, the informant said.
Even as police closed in, picking up key members of the group on drug-trafficking charges, Hicks continued to issue directions, according to police testimony.
From behind bars, Hicks continued to control his lieutenants, but he seemed worried after Williams was killed, police say.
“This would not have happened if (I wasn’t) in jail,” Hicks said in a call secretly recorded by police after the Bronco player’s death.
Staff writer Christopher N. Osher can be reached at 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com.
THE ELITE EIGHT
Robert Fuller, an investigator for the Denver district attorney’s office, gave this testimony about the group:
Brian Hicks, also known as “Solo,” was known as “the smart guy and the complete package, the motivator” of the group. He owned a condominium in Connecticut and also laundered drug proceeds through a clothing store and recording studio known as the Hott Spott on East Colfax Avenue.
Michael Wade, known as “Gumby,” was a multi-kilogram dealer of crack cocaine.
Haven Brewer, who goes by the nickname “No Love,” was identified as a multi-kilogram dealer.
Malcolm Watson, known as “pretty Malcolm, “pm” and “Dirty One,” was a major kilogram dealer who carried a gun.
Benjamin Thomas, known as “E-Low,” was a poor businessman, who sold only 1-ounce quantities but was known as a shooter and was also the sneaky one.
Vernon Edwards, known as “Lil 30 ounce,” was known as the muscle of the group, a person who carried a Mac 10, a street-sweeper weapon. “Solo would whisper in Lil 30 ounce’s ear and then bodies would appear,” according to Fuller’s account of the details from the cooperating witness. He has been identified as a person who was in the Chevrolet Tahoe from which bullets were fired that killed Denver Broncos player Darrent Williams.
Kamau Marshall, known as “Corn,” was a guy with a gun who was financially taken care of for that role.
Ernest Daniels, known “Qubrt” and “Q Baby,” was a multi-kilogram, crazy dealer who robbed a gambling shack in Five Points and Park Hill, and went to the Roxy Theater and pulled a gun. He was an intimidator.
LATER MEMBERS TO JOIN THE ELITE EIGHT
Willie Clark, known as “Little Lett,” started as a runner who picked up money and cocaine for Hicks. He eventually progressed to cooking crack cocaine at a stash house at East Bruce Randolph Avenue and Cook Street and started establishing his own customer base. He carried a black-and-chrome semiautomatic weapon. He had a tattoo that stated “M.O.B.,” for “Money Over Bitches.” He has been identified by sources as a person who was in the Tahoe from which bullets were fired that killed Williams.
Quentin Jones became a confidant of Clark, who taught Jones some of the best ways to store cocaine and cook it.
NOT IN THE ELITE EIGHT, BUT ASSOCIATED WITH IT
Gerardo Toribio, also known as “Chato,” was a cocaine supplier of the group.
Daniel “P.T.” Harris worked at a used-car dealership and traded cars for cocaine there. He has been identified by sources as a person who was in the Tahoe from which bullets were fired that killed Williams.
Marvin Bragg, known as “Coffee,” drove a $70,000 chopper and moved multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine.
Clarification: Brian Hicks, who has been identified by federal investigators as the head of a Denver gang, has no connection to the current business housed in a retail space on East Colfax that was featured in a photograph which originally accompanied this story. Also, because of a reporter’s error, the story originally contained incorrect information about the amount of cocaine authorities say a Denver gang was dealing. The Elite Eight was selling hundreds of kilos of cocaine, according to an investigator from the Denver district attorney’s office.
