Azie Faison started selling drugs to get out of poverty, but the lifestyle nearly led to his death after he was shot nine times during a robbery gone awry.
X ( Formerly Twitter)Azie Faison , the former kingpin who now try out to steer youth away from drug .
Harlem in the previous 1980s and early 1990s was plagued by a sudden increase in the amount of cheap cracking cocain . The effect were devastating on the local community — but dealing also made a select chemical group of the great unwashed incredibly wealthy . In finicky , three of Harlem ’s most infamous cocaine dealer : Alpo Martinez , Richard Porter , and Azie Faison .
In an ill-famed betrayal , Martinez shoot and kill Porter in 1990 , only to wind up being shoot and killed himself in Harlem in 2021 . Faison , on the other bridge player , eventually went down a different path .
X (Formerly Twitter)Azie Faison, the former kingpin who now tries to steer youth away from drugs.
After his years in the drug trade wind , Faison decided to twist over a fresh foliage .
He became an author and screenwriter , turning his animation story — and the life stories of Martinez and Porter — into the highly successful filmPaid in Full , as well as his own published book , Game Over . In doing so , he help reveal the grim realism behind the so - call glamorous lifestyle his crew populate .
Growing Up Impoverished In New York City
Azie Faison was born on Nov. 10 , 1964 . He had seven brother and Sister : Wanda , Kevin , Robin , Rosalyn , Julie , Ingrid , and Wayne . Growing up in a pathetic neighbourhood in the Bronx , Faison ’s crime syndicate , like many others on the block , essentially inhabit on public help or upbeat .
“ thing were so tight back then that nine of us lived in a one - chamber apartment , ” Faison writes in his memoirGame Over . “ My parents occupied the bedroom , and we slept in the living room on a fallback sofa or the floor … It was n’t comfortable , but we did n’t have a choice so we made the best of it . Poverty robs you of option . ”
Faison ’s parent tried their difficult to provide for their children . His mother test to instill values of responsibility in them , and learn them the importance of score money . His father worked severely and service as a part model — he did n’t smoke , tope , gamble , or chase after other adult female .
X (Formerly Twitter)Azie Faison and Rich Porter.
Despite his parents ’ positive influence , though , Faison finally fall in with the wrong crowd . As he write , “ Poverty also shape your decisions . ”
ScarfaceInspires Him To Get Into The Drug Business
In an interview withVladTV , Azie Faison discover that he first fulfil Rich Porter when they were each around 13 age old and living in Harlem . Porter had , by that breaker point , already begin selling diacetylmorphine .
Faison eventually dropped out of high school day to “ make end meet . ” He had been working part - time for a cleaning service of process while attending school day , and figured he ’d make more money if he influence full - time . His income did n’t vary , however . He was still making just $ 75 a week .
By 1981,Rich Porterwas already drown in cash . He purchase his first car , a brand new fateful BMW , when he was just 15 or 16 yr old .
X (Formerly Twitter)Azie Faison in 1986.
Then , Faison sawScarfacefor the first sentence in 1983 , and abruptly he thought that maybe he had found his ticket out of poverty . Around the same time , he met a man key out Lulu , another drug bargainer , who gave him some employment .
“ I took it to the streets , and next thing you fuck , I ’m in the game , ” Faison enounce . “ I ’m in the plot . Overnight success . ”
How Azie Faison Became One Of Harlem’s Biggest Dealers
X ( Formerly Twitter)Azie Faison and Rich Porter .
Azie Faison began dealing coke for himself around 1983 — and all of a sudden found himself with more wealth than he could have ever imagined .
“ Cocaine sales made me the master breadwinner in the theater , ” Faison wrote . “ I pay the rip , bought food and items for the flat , and gave my mother rolls of money whenever she require it . I picture that since I took care of the home , nobody could tell me shit . ”
VladTV/YouTubeAzie Faison opened up about his life in an interview with DJ Vlad.
It seemed everyone in the household was willing to swallow Faison ’s money — everyone except his Padre , that is . Faison ’s father actively refused to live with any money from him , and demanded that his wife do the same . One day , he came home to find his boy with a “ huge pitcher of coke , baggies , a scale , and hundreds of little vials . ”
Faison ’s father admonish him that nothing but worry would arrive of administer with narcotics , but Faison shrugged him off . He would subsequently say that this moment marked a turn point in his relationship with his father , and that his father essentially cut him off until years later when Faison got film .
The Day He Was Almost Shot To Death
ANew York Timesarticle from August 22 , 1987 , detail the events surrounding a shooting that would change Azie Faison ’s outlook .
According to the clause , around 2:30 a.m. , police react to a call reporting the sound of gunshots from a third - level apartment near East 169th street in South Bronx . Upon reaching , the constabulary notice six people , all of whom had been shot in the nous and body at close chain of mountains . Three of them — 50 - year - old Myra Enoch , 44 - yr - old Joane Blue , and 23 - twelvemonth - old Charles Parker — were already dead .
The other three were still active . They were 34 - year - old Michael Lamar , 13 - year - sure-enough Lynette Bell , and , of course , 23 - class - old Azie Faison . Bell had been stabbed in the stomach before being shot . There was also a good amount of drug gear in the flat .
X ( Formerly Twitter)Azie Faison in 1986 .
As it plow out , the apartment belonged to Faison ’s aunt , and he was using it as one of his stash houses . Faison was shot nine times that dark , after a group of robber discontinue into the stash house . He was sent to the hospital , where he put in decisive condition .
Faison ’s line took a major hit while he was recovering . By this item , he was working closely with Porter and Martinez to expand their drug empire , but with Faison temporarily out of commission , the human relationship between the three start to be strained .
Then , on Jan. 3 , 1990 , Alpo Martinez killed Rich Porter and buried his eubstance in the Grant Wood , allegedly because he believe Porter was skip him out of deals . He would afterwards express regret over having to kill someone he weigh a chum , but also mark that it was just how he conducted business organisation .
For Faison , though , Porter ’s expiry was the terminal nail in the casket .
After Rich Porter’s Death, Azie Faison Retires From The Drug Trade
some a twelvemonth after Porter ’s death , Alpo Martinezwas arrested on a litany of federal drug charge — charges for which he would ultimately cultivate out a plea deal , which imply him selling out a number of his former Quaker . This would also lead Martinez to enter informant protection and alter his name .
Faison , meanwhile , was trying to get out of the game . In 1989 , he had start a pelvic arch - hop group called MobStyle , and eventually released an record album of his own .
But Porter ’s murder also made Faison see how tearing and screwed up his world had become . He could n’t wrap his drumhead around the wildness , and he came to realise that the drugs he had been push were actively ruining multitude ’s lives .
VladTV / YouTubeAzie Faison opened up about his life in an interview with DJ Vlad .
Shortly after , he gave up deal and started putting in work to plough kids away from drugs . He lead off work on the script forPaid in Full , which came out in 2002 and told Faison ’s narration of get up in the Harlem drug scene alongside Porter and Martinez .
He also worked with documentarian Troy Reed to create the documentaryGame Over , and writer Agyei Tyehimba to write the autobiographical version of his floor in Koran form , Game Over : The Rise and Transformation of a Harlem Hustler . Both were released in 2007 .
By that point , Faison was almost a completely different human beings , one who execrate the idea that he and his former supporter would be debate “ legends . ”
“ Too many people admire the drug life-style , ” he wrote , “ but that life-style and that macrocosm are based on falsehood and semblance . Despite popular music television that romanticize street biography , I can candidly say that almost everybody who was somebody in the drug world is dead , imprison , or work in coaction with law enforcement . ”
“ I wish I never play this game . ”
After learning about Azie Faison ’s life , read the story ofFrank Lucas , the Harlem bigwig who built a heroin empire . Or , move back in sentence with these36 colorized photos of former organise criminal offence in America .
