There was a second in time when Whitney Houston would do something for her love, Bobby Brown — even when that meant paying a $400,000 ransom to save lots of the R&B unhealthy boy‘s life.
David “Popcorn” Collins, a former gangster in Harlem, New York, stated there was no actual beef with Bobby Brown when his gang, the Preacher Crew, run by Clarence Heatley, aka “Preacher,” kidnapped him within the ’90s. Collins was an eyewitness to the complete plot and has shared his account of what occurred on varied platforms, particularly in his books, “Preacher of the Streets” and “No Extra Harlem: The David Collins Story.”
“It was April 1993. Whitney’s film ‘The Bodyguard’ and the film’s album had been huge hits,” he stated in a 2009 interview with The Nationwide Enquirer earlier than breaking down what occurred on the night time his gang determined to grab up considered one of music’s greatest stars.
Preacher, the gang’s chief, and his crew determined to make a journey to Atlantic Metropolis, New Jersey, to take pleasure in some bottle-popping. Spur-of-the-moment journeys to go get together had been a lifestyle for The Preacher Crew, who had been huge spenders recognized for making quite a lot of cash promoting cocaine, crack, heroin, PCP, and different medication in Harlem and the Bronx.
The night time was filled with revelry. Nonetheless, issues took a flip once they met up with a supplier named “Luke” from New Jersey, who claimed he and his crew had a beef with Bobby Brown. Allegedly, the “Don’t Be Merciless” singer owed them $25,000 for a kilo of cocaine he copped from them on consignment.
“After we see this motherf—r Bobby Brown, we gonna kill him,” Collins says Luke informed Preacher. “He borrowed a ki of coke from us about three months in the past, and he’s ducking us.”
Brown was a titan of a star in 1993. His sophomore solo album bought over 7 million copies, and he had 5 songs from the venture that landed within the Prime 10 slots of Billboard Scorching 100 hits.
He had additionally simply married Whitney Houston in 1992. The couple shared a lavish mansion in Mendham, New Jersey, and since Mendham was proper over the George Washington Bridge, Bobby usually made journeys to NYC to frequent The New Yorker — the identical membership the place Sean “Puffy” Combs, Jennifer Lopez, and Dangerous Boy rapper Shyne could be concerned in an notorious shootout years later.
Understanding Bobby’s nightly hangout spot, Preacher and his crew provided to settle Bobby’s debt.
“Preacher got here up with a plan to make himself much more than $25,000,” Collins informed the Nationwide Enquirer.
“I inform you what, let me purchase that beef from you. I’m gonna offer you $10,000 proper now, and it’s now not your downside. It’s my downside. You ain’t obtained nothing to do with that,” Preacher stated, based on Collins.
The Preacher Crew, who terrorized the Bronx and Harlem, had been chargeable for 47 murders by the early Nineties. The infamous gang was recognized for its torture techniques. They might chop off physique elements and even kill to get what they needed.
After paying Luke and his crew $10,000 to resolve the problem, Preacher devised a plan, and in a calculated transfer, the crew enlisted a horny Harlem vixen to entice Bobby Brown at The New Yorker nightclub.
Dressed to impress, she sat close by, aiming to have interaction him in dialog. The primary night time, Bobby didn’t converse to the horny decoy; nevertheless, the following night time, she efficiently lured the R&B star outdoors, main Brown on to The Preacher Crew’s van, which was ready to grab him and make a swift but discreet abduction.
Kidnapping was a part of the Preacher Crew’s M.O. In 1987, they kidnapped Joann Nichols, the spouse of Lorenzo “Fats Cat” Nichols, holding her for $77,000 ransom. She was ultimately freed. On December 5, 1989, Donnell Porter, the 12-year-old brother of Harlem legend Wealthy Porter, whom Mitch within the movie “Paid In Full” was primarily based on, was kidnapped and held on $500,000 ransom. The household was unable to collect the funds to save lots of the 12-year-old. After Wealthy Porter was killed on January 3, 1990, and now unable to gather the ransom, The Preacher Crew killed Donnell, wrapped him in 14 black plastic baggage, and dumped his physique on a bicycle path in Manhattan. His physique was later discovered badly decomposed on January 30.
Wealthy Porter & Donnell Porter. 1984. pic.twitter.com/XVClcTK4dJ
— Boss (@_ValTown_) March 24, 2024
After kidnapping Brown, The Preacher Crew transported him to a Bronx house illegally occupied by Preacher inside one of many borough’s many deserted buildings.
Inside, a person named Malik took cost, stripping Brown bare, hog-tying him, and stuffing a rag in his mouth.
“He was a bizarre dude from Virginia,” Collins says, describing Malik. “He was a navy brat. He had a navy background, you already know.”
Upon studying that the person he had hogtied was the multiple-platinum New Version singer, Malik bizarrely tried to coerce a efficiency from him.
“Sing the f—n track,” Collins remembers Malik demanding.
When Brown refused to sing, Malik took a lighter, grabbed a unadorned Brown by his penis, after which allegedly burned the hairs off of his scrotum.
All through this ordeal, Brown remained restrained and uncovered.
“The Preacher then confirmed up and took the rag out of Bobby’s mouth. ‘It’s a disgrace now we have to kill you,’” Collins reveals in his guide. The R&B star begged for his life, pleading that his spouse would pay the debt.
“Preacher left the room, and his males then terrorized Bobby for 2 hours. They kicked him. They informed him they might kill Whitney. One among them put a gun to his head. Bobby was weeping when the Preacher got here again within the room, begging the Preacher to let him name Whitney,” an excerpt from Collins’ guide reads.
Ultimately, Preacher allowed Brown one cellphone name to his celeb spouse. As soon as on the cellphone, Preacher and his guys leveraged her husband’s pitiful plight to barter a $400,000 payout.
Upon studying the phrases to safe his freedom, Whitney Houston was informed by the gangsters to not contain authorities.
Houston, disguised in outsized glasses and a wig, arrived solo in a cab at a Bronx location with a bag containing the cash to safe her husband’s launch. Unshaken by the dingy house and the harmful and armed hustlers within the room, she entered the house, boldly tossed the cash onto the ground, and demanded that somebody inform her Brown’s whereabouts.
The lads informed her that he was within the different room, and after studying the place he was, she wasted no time to get to him, untied him, and demanded that the individuals who kidnapped her man get his clothes.
“They got here to an settlement. She was personally going to convey $400,000 to get her man again. The subsequent day, she did simply that. She was carrying a wig. She paid the cash. Bobby was free to go,” recounts Collins.
Collins says that whereas the “I Will At all times Love You” singer was bossed up and powerful in the course of the ordeal, her husband was a crying wreck.
“You recognize, you bought you bought gangsters sitting there with weapons of their fingers,” he stated, “She was gangsta. … She got here to get that motherf—ker.”
After witnessing her assertiveness, Collins stated he and his crew had newfound respect among the many males for Houston’s energy, loyalty, and dedication to her beloved one.
Houston and Brown had been married from 1992 to 2007. Their marriage was beset by drug dependancy and bodily abuse. On the identical time, Houston recorded her biggest-selling album, “The Bodyguard,” which bought over 45 million models worldwide.
Clarence “The Preacher” Heatley was indicted on July 15, 1996, on three counts of homicide and conspiracy to homicide in help of racketeering exercise at age 43. In February 1999, he took a plea deal, pleading responsible to racketeering and homicide conspiracy in reference to 13 drug-related homicides to keep away from the demise penalty. He’s now serving a life sentence.
