Freeway Rick Ross built an empire of drug dealing and real estate in the mid-’80s. His reputation was stout, but he knew what he was doing and evaded legal trouble for years. His ability to stay one step ahead of law enforcement put him in a position to amass an estimated $900 million, all while hiding his nefarious activities from his mother. Unfortunately for Ross, one misstep cost him everything. This is the story of Freeway Rick Ross, and no, he’s not the rapper.
Photo By Patrick Bastien Photography
Young Freeway Rick Ross
Rick Ross attended a private school in high school with hopes of earning a tennis scholarship. Unfortunately, he was brought up in much lower-quality schools in Los Angeles, where he never learned to read. His illiteracy barred him from being able to attend college no matter how good he was at tennis. When he learned that college would never be an option, he abandoned school and tennis altogether. Instead, Ross chose to associate with local gang members and eventually began selling street drugs.
Cocaine Sales
It didn’t take long for Rick to stumble upon cocaine. He had met an upholstery teacher at Los Angeles Community College who revealed that he also sells cocaine. After some coercion, the teacher agreed to sell small amounts of cocaine to Rick to resell. Unfortunately, young Rick Ross was so skilled at selling the drug that he began asking for higher and higher quantities until the upholstery teacher could no longer supply him.
Rick Ross’s drug empire quickly outgrew him forcing him to hire thousands of employees. At the height of his empire, he had a whole network of salespeople, distributors, drug runners, and manufacturers. He even expanded outside of LA and into major cities across the US, including St Louis, New Orleans, Seatle, and Cinncinatti, among many others.
Why Do They Call Him Freeway?
Freeway Rick Ross’s profits reached levels that would land him on a Forbes list if it weren’t an illegal market. In 1980 he had amassed $300 million in profits, the equivalent of $940 million today. However, Ross had one major problem; he didn’t want his mom to know what he did for a living. So instead of spending all of his money on a lavish lifestyle, he chose to live modestly and instead invested his earning back into his empire or real estate. Most of the property he purchased was along the 101 freeway, hence the name freeway.
The End of an Era
Freeway began to realize that he owned enough property to make an honest living outside of the black market. Then, just when he was about to throw in the towel, an old friend reached out to him to ask him to make a connection. There was no plan for a sale or any moving of drugs, just a connection. The meeting was all a setup, and it led to the arrest of Rick Ross. He was sentenced to life in prison, but his sentence was reduced when he won an appeal and was released in 2009.
Conclusion
Freeway Rick Ross built what was arguably the largest individually run drug empire the world has ever seen. He avoided legal problems because his wealth afforded him equipment that the LAPD couldn’t even acquire. In addition, his intelligence allowed him to stay one step ahead of the police and scale his operation to incredible proportions. Ironically, he got into the drug trade because he couldn’t get into college, and he earned his own exoneration from prison by studying legal textbooks while behind bars. Find out more about the wildlife of Freeway Rick Ross, including his lawsuit with rapper Rick Ross, in this episode of Things I Learned Last Night.
Things I Learned Last Night is an educational comedy podcast where best friends Jaron Myers and Tim Stone talk about random topics and have fun all along the way. If you like learning, and laughing a whole lot while you do, then you’ll love TILLN. Watch or listen to this episode right now!
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