Cocaine Cowboy Could Go Free
Richard “White Boy Rick” Wershe Jr., a notorious Detroit cocaine dealer from the 1980’s sentenced to life in prison as a juvenile, may see the light again after close to 30 years in prison. He is being given this privilege because he was convicted under now-abolished “60 Lifer Law” which imposed a mandatory “life sentence without parole for anyone convicted of possessing, delivering, or intending to deliver over 650 grams of cocaine or heroin.” Not even children, like White Boy Rick, were immune.
Though only a kid at the time, White Boy Rick was up there with Detroit dope game heavyweights like the Chambers Brothers, Maserati Rick and the Best Friends. White Boy Rick credits the success he had to the Detroit Police Department, the FBI and the DEA who he says pushed him into the drug game as a double agent. He described, “I was just a kid when the agents pulled me out of high school in the ninth grade and had me out to three in the morning every night. They gave me a fake ID when I was 15 that said I was 21 so I could travel to Vegas and to Miami to do drug deals.” He did it so big that he even started dating mayor of Detroit Coleman Young’s niece, who was five years older than him and was married to kingpin Johnny Curry.
He served as a informant for two years before splitting ways with the feds. In 1988, he was busted in a Ford Thunderbird, that was registered to his girlfriend. He had $25,000 cash on him and eight kilos. He was sentenced to life in prison and he hadn’t even reached 18-years-old.
A judge has scheduled White Boy Rick’s resentencing for September 18th. According to the Huffington Post, “Defense attorney Ralph Musilli said his client could even be released immediately after the September hearing, given the years he has served.”
“He has done his time,” said his mother, Darlene McCormick. “He’s been very good and he needs to get out, spend time with his family.”
