Scott Shenk wrote a sweet article in the Daily Progress about how, in the 80s, Charlottesville was a booming town for the crack-cocaine business.  Drug dealers named the town “Sweet Town” because that implies that business was good.  Scott explains

By 1988, drug gangs had infiltrated the city. Open-air drug markets were running all hours — dealers and users crowded street corners and front yards alike, as crack was sold with impunity.

Was Charlottesville a banana republic of crack?  Sure sounds like it.  In the late 70s and early 80s, the police didn’t care about drugs.  When they witnessed an increasing amount of crime associated with drugs, that’s when their priorities changed.  The now-sheriff of Albemarle County, Chip Harding, led the charge to shut down the area drug rings.  The article mentions that even high profile UVA students were implicated (am not sure about this, but I believe Sigma Nu [another?] was once raided by the FBI for being one of the largest cocaine dealers on the East Coast).

Make sure you read the article.  It might change your views of Charlottesville.

Today, we’ve outsourced the cocaine production to Mexican cartels and still admit to powdering our nose.

[pic from hober]

We always talk about the downtown mall as this end-all be-all hotspot of Charlottesville.  At no point do I remember anyone saying it was the go-to place for drugs!  We touched briefly on our cocaine habit, but we couldn’t pinpoint a location for that.  We weren’t quite sure how Sexshuns owner, Reynold George Samuels, FBI raid this past February would turn out, but he recently pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute a controlled substance (marijuana and crack) and copyright infringement (fake DVDs, I swear I am not making this up). The Daily Progress reports:

Authorities have described Samuels as the head of the drug operation, organizing shipments of marijuana from New York that others distributed locally. According to a news release, Samuels admitted in Charlottesville’s federal court on Monday that the conspiracy distributed more than 3,000 kilograms of marijuana and more than 50 grams of crack in the region under his watch. He also said in court that he sold several pirated videos to undercover law enforcement officers last winter, the release noted.

Since Reynold is out of the picture, I think its very important we fill his previous position ASAP.  Check out the job description below:

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