As hip hop and the war on drugs hit the mid 1980s, it can be argued that both commercial endeavors hit their strides in inner cities across the United States. As crack cocaine exploded, members of the United States government enacted one of the first steps in the revolution of our criminal justice system in soaring incarceration rates. The comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 was the first revision of the US Criminal Code since the early 1900s. It was sponsored by a racist Strom...

If any story defines what New York was like at that time, it's the story of New York City subway vigilante Bernard Goetz's shooting of unarmed black teens. On December 22, 1984, Barry Allen, Troy Canty, Darrell Cabey, and James Ramseur were shot and wounded by Bernard Goetz after they accosted him on a New York City subway train in Manhattan. In America, you would think that we would learn from our mistakes as it relates to race, class, and the divisions that have been created. One...

In the dynamic early years of hip hop, you could still see the influences of the disco era in the fashion the samples, and the party music played via car stereos in different neighborhoods in New York City. The hip-hop releases for 1982 and 1983, included Wildstyle the first feature film to reveal the nuances of hip-hop culture written by Fab Five Freddy and directed by Charlie Ahern. The film explores the work of artists such as Lady Pink, Daze, Grandmaster Flash, and the Rock Steady...

In America in 2024, we have all watched major American cities burn the result of a powder keg that exploded around incidents of police killings. We should all know the names by now: George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Breanna Taylor, Stephon Clark, Philando Castille, and more. As the list goes on, the debate surrounding race, policing, mass incarceration, and the war on drugs, it seems, has reached the tipping point. Fault lines have been drawn as our divided country simmers in a cauldron of...

Join hosts Nicole Luciano and Johnny ‘The Greek’ Anagnopoulos, two of the producers of The Dossier, as they break down all things crime and hip-hop, gleaned from their years of investigative work on the topic. From the Biggie and Tupac murders, to the twenty plus killings that are tangentially related to Death Row Records, Suge Knight, the Bloods, the East vs. West rivalry, the gangster cops inside the LAPD and much more. This week, Johnny and Niki begin the episode with some current events...

Join hosts Nicole Luciano and Johnny ‘The Greek’ Anagnopoulos, two of the producers of The Dossier, as they break down all things crime and hip-hop, gleaned from their years of investigative work on the topic. From the Biggie and Tupac murders, to the twenty plus killings that are tangentially related to Death Row Records, Suge Knight, the Bloods, the East vs. West rivalry, the gangster cops inside the LAPD and much more. This week, we bring you part two of The Timeline, aptly titled 'Goin...

Join hosts Nicole Luciano and Johnny ‘The Greek’ Anagnopoulos, two of the producers of The Dossier, as they break down all things crime and hip-hop, gleaned from their years of investigative work on the topic. From the Biggie and Tupac murders, to the twenty plus killings that are tangentially related to Death Row Records, Suge Knight, the Bloods, the East vs. West rivalry, the gangster cops inside the LAPD and much more. This is Part one of ‘The Timeline.’ Niki and Johnny have been...

Join hosts Nicole Luciano and Johnny ‘The Greek’ Anagnopoulos, two of the producers of The Dossier, as they break down all things crime and hip-hop, gleaned from their years of investigative work on the topic. From the Biggie and Tupac murders, to the twenty plus killings that are tangentially related to Death Row Records, Suge Knight, the Bloods, the East vs. West rivalry, the gangster cops inside the LAPD and much more. This episode, Niki and Johnny start off by tying up some loose ends...

Join hosts Nicole Luciano and Johnny ‘The Greek’ Anagnopoulos, two of the producers of The Dossier, as they break down all things crime and hip-hop, gleaned from their years of investigative work on the topic. From the Biggie and Tupac murders, to the twenty plus killings that are tangentially related to Death Row Records, Suge Knight, the Bloods, the East vs. West rivalry, the gangster cops inside the LAPD and much more. This week Niki and Johnny begin the episode with a conversation about...

Join hosts Nicole Luciano and Johnny ‘The Greek’ Anagnopoulos, two of the producers of The Dossier, as they break down all things crime and hip-hop, gleaned from their years of investigative work on the topic. From the Biggie and Tupac murders, to the twenty plus killings that are tangentially related to Death Row Records, Suge Knight, the Bloods, the East vs. West rivalry, the gangster cops inside the LAPD and much more. This week, our co-hosts begin the episode with a look at New York...

Join hosts Nicole Luciano and Johnny ‘The Greek’ Anagnopoulos, two of the producers of The Dossier, as they break down all things crime and hip-hop, gleaned from their years of investigative work on the topic. From the Biggie and Tupac murders, to the twenty plus killings that are tangentially related to Death Row Records, Suge Knight, the Bloods, the East vs. West rivalry, the gangster cops inside the LAPD and much more. This week, Niki and Johnny begin the conversation with the latest in...

Join hosts Nicole Luciano and Johnny ‘The Greek’ Anagnopoulos, two of the producers of The Dossier, as they break down all things crime and hip-hop, gleaned from their years of investigative work on the topic. From the Biggie and Tupac murders, to the twenty plus killings that are tangentially related to Death Row Records, Suge Knight, the Bloods, the East vs. West rivalry, the gangster cops inside the LAPD and much more. This week, Niki and Johnny start off with a discussion on King Combs'...

In Stranger things, The Upside-Down is an alternate dimension existing in parallel to the human world. It contains the same locations and infrastructure as the human world, but it is much darker, colder and obscured by an omnipresent fog. The Upside Down is devoid of human life, instead being overgrown with ropy, root-like tendrils and biological membranes covering practically every surface. At least one recognizable animal, a humanoid predator, was native to this dimension, while ash-like...

As the media scrum has gone quiet and the news cycle has moved on from the Homeland Security raids into Diddy’s homes, I am sure many media operations, and gossip hounds are really curious about what is next in this story? What is going to be the next puzzle piece in all of this?  I propose a quick game of looking into the uknown future for just a second, and to advocate an exercise in caution on a number of fronts before we ALL assume Diddy’s guilt or innocence.  Not many people truly...

Join hosts Nicole Luciano and Johnny ‘The Greek’ Anagnopoulos, two of the producers of The Dossier, as they break down all things crime and hip-hop, gleaned from their years of investigative work on the topic. From the Biggie and Tupac murders, to the twenty plus killings that are tangentially related to Death Row Records, Suge Knight, the Bloods, the East vs. West rivalry, the gangster cops inside the LAPD and much more. This week Niki and Johnny welcome special guest RJ Bond to Collateral...

In this final episode of this audio series, I needed to come full circle with an idea that I started twenty years ago as a young man, my instincts to uncover a battleground between Hip-Hop music and law enforcement was way ahead of the curve, and at that time with the completion of my documentary film Rap Sheet, I thought I had some answers, and clarity on what I set out to accomplish.   In hindsight, when I look at the landscape between our criminal justice system today, and the many cases...

Join hosts Nicole Luciano and Johnny ‘The Greek’ Anagnopoulos, two of the producers of The Dossier, as they break down all things crime and hip-hop, gleaned from their years of investigative work on the topic. From the Biggie and Tupac murders, to the twenty plus killings that are tangentially related to Death Row Records, Suge Knight, the Bloods, the East vs. West rivalry, the gangster cops inside the LAPD and much more. This week, Niki and Johnny begin the episode discussing a certain...

As the news cycle churns, and people search for more answers around the HSI investigation of Puff, this last week an excellent article dropped in New York Magazine by acclaimed journalist Craig Jenkins, someone I admire, and a damn good writer.  The New York Magazine article stood out for various reasons, because as of now with no breaking news, Jenkins as the author took a more , “think piece” approach to it, and was immensely analytical and thoughtful in a way that I have not read anywhere...

91 MURDERS in Hip-Hop, that is the current number of Hip-Hop artists who have been killed since 1987 when Scott La Rock was killed in the Bronx, and TakeOff was tragically taken from the world in 2022. 91 Murders, wherein close to 50 of those murders remained unsolved by the police. Some are long running investigations and some of these cases have taken on mythical status where the narrative of who murdered who is now lost down a rabbit hole of Internet conspiracy theories, YouTube...

Join hosts Nicole Luciano and Johnny ‘The Greek’ Anagnopoulos, two of the producers of The Dossier, as they break down all things crime and hip-hop, gleaned from their years of investigative work on the topic. From the Biggie and Tupac murders, to the twenty plus killings that are tangentially related to Death Row Records, Suge Knight, the Bloods, the East vs. West rivalry, the gangster cops inside the LAPD and much more. In this week’s episode, Niki and Johnny touch on Suge Knight’s recent...

When the ticker came across the screen on CNN on March 26th, 20024 there was news footage of a HSI or Homeland Security tactical team raiding Diddy’s home, and it was at that moment people started to wonder what HSI is and why do they look like a paramilitary operation in the United States…. So, I wanted to be clear and really understand where did Homeland Security come from? AND WHY would they be involved in investigating arguably Hip-Hop’s biggest mogul? Well, 11 days after the September...

The story of the Hip-Hop Cops when I started the documentary back in 2004, was that it was a secret unit, and it was shrouded in mystery, for many reasons. The journey of going inside Hip-Hop and law enforcement for two years, left me with a few takeaways, but more importantly it left me with a question inside my head that played over and over. Why was the Hip-Hop music industry at War with the Cops, and more importantly why did Hip-Hop have such a distinct connection to the War on...

Join hosts Nicole Luciano and Johnny ‘The Greek’ Anagnopoulos, two of the producers of The Dossier, as they break down all things crime and hip-hop, gleaned from their years of investigative work on the topic. From the Biggie and Tupac murders, to the twenty plus killings that are tangentially related to Death Row Records, Suge Knight, the Bloods, the East vs. West rivalry, the gangster cops inside the LAPD and much more. In this inaugural episode of Collateral Damage, Niki and Johnny give...

Where to begin, with the news of Homeland Security Investigations raiding the homes of Diddy in Los Angeles, New York, and Miami, it is very clear to me that something is afoot, combine that with rumors being reported that the Southern District is interviewing 3 what they are identifying as Jane Doe victims, and one John Doe, and Diddy has really hit a trifecta.  But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, and let's make some early analysis.  Personally, I have some experience covering HSI...