The Diamond Syndicate

Deep down Tyquan was jealous of Pop, who came on the scene and stole his clientele. But there was nothing Tyquan could do about it, because of the amount of people Pop had behind him. So Tyquan had slowly moved his dealings to another part of the neighborhood.

“We ain’t got no problems, right?” Pop asked again as he walked up on Tyquan, looking in his face while Diamond held the gun steady, ice-grilling him. He looked back and forth between Diamond and Tyquan, waiting for an answer.

“Naw, B, we ain’t got no problems,” Tyquan said, as if trying to catch his breath.

“Come on, ma, put the gun down.” Pop grabbed Diamond around the waist, trying to calm her.

Diamond pulled back a little, but she never took her eyes off Tyquan.

Pop slowly pulled her away, but Diamond still had her gun pointed at Tyquan. She then hit Tyquan hard in the face, sending his head snapping back.

A sarcastic smirk came acr

oss Tyquan’s face. “So it’s like that, right, ma?” He started to back away.

“Yeah, it most certainly is.” Diamond rolled her eyes, acting like a high school girl.

“I got you, ma. No problem.” Tyquan kept backing up until he got to his car. Then he got inside and quickly drove away.

Pop looked over at Diamond. “You a’ight?”

“No doubt.” She smiled at him, remembering how he’d just slayed the hell out of her.

“A’ight, put that thing away,” he told her and simply walked back up the street with his crew in tow.

Diamond had the young boy open already, and she planned to keep him in check. Everything was unfolding just as she’d planned it. She would have all the young boys balling out on her and providing protection for her, and she wouldn’t even have to pull out her gun. She would line them up to be her muscle, providers, and lovers.

SIX

Struggling

September 1998

A little over a year had passed since Trey was shot. Dante and Al-Malik managed to get promoted from bagging groceries to stocking shelves. The pay was much better, and they were able to finally see some money in their pockets. The best part about the job was that they got paid under the table, which appeased Diamond. She didn’t mind that Dante worked, but she didn’t want him to mess up her welfare benefits by them finding out he was working. As long as Dante was in school, she was gonna milk the system for all she could.

Dante, Trey, and Al-Malik had all gone back to school. Dante was focused and still had his goal in mind, but the same couldn’t be said for the other two. Trey was getting deeper and deeper into the game and had even developed a reputation for bullying other dealers out of their turf. He always carried a 9 mm gun, and people feared him.

Dante didn’t agree with the way Trey was acting, but he left him alone, as long as he showed up for classes every day.

Al-Malik, on the other hand, was having a hard time keeping up with his schedule. Between work, school, and trying to maintain life at home, he was a bundle of nerves because of the constant drama his older siblings caused. Several days a week he would crash at Dante’s house after work because he wouldn’t be able to get any sleep if he went home. His mother found a new man to take care of her, and she spent most of her time at her boyfriend’s house. So that left Al-Malik there with his two addicted older brothers, his unemployed sister, and her kids.

There were always get-high parties, loud music, fights, or some stranger in the house when he came home. His siblings had no regard for him when he was trying to study or sleep so he could get up for school the next morning.

Al-Malik wanted to quit work, but he needed the money to eat. His mother no longer bought food for the house, and his sister used her food stamps to supply food for her own kids. He had to take care of himself.

Trey offered on many occasions for Al-Malik to come on board with him and make more money, and Al-Malik was leaning heavy toward selling drugs. But whenever he was completely fed up and ready to take to the streets, Dante helped to steer him back to being focused.

Trey had finally gotten his wish and made enough paper to get his own studio apartment in the same complex where Dante lived. He was happy now that he was finally living the life he’d always dreamed of. He’d also lost a considerable amount of the baby fat he used to carry around. Already a handsome man, he was now turning heads more than ever.

***

One night around ten pm as Dante was walking home after work, he walked past the crew that hung out two buildings down from where he lived. They were blasting the new “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem” by rapper DMX. Niggas were going crazy as they sang the lyrics.

As Dante walked by, he gave everybody pounds and handshakes. Trey called out to him. Dante turned around and saw him jogging toward him and waited for him to catch up.

“What up?” Trey asked, giving Dante a handshake and looking over his shoulder at the teens jumping up and down.

“What’s good?”