Brooklyn’s Most Dangerous Man: The Rise & Fall of Damion Hardy

Damion Hardy was born on November 3, 1974 in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York. He attended Queen of All Saints Elementary School in Brooklyn's Fort Greene neighborhood. Hardy reportedly acquired the nickname "World" from peers who compared him to professional basketball player Lloyd Bernard Free, who legally changed his name to World B. Free in 1981. His older brother, Myron, garnered the nickname "Wise". Both Damion and Myron attended Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, a Roman Catholic university-preparatory school in Brooklyn. Other alumni of the school include: former NBA All-Star and Rookie of the Year Mark Jackson; comedic actor Douglas "Doug E. Doug" Bourne; former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani; comedian Sherrod Small and rapper Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace, both of whom attended Bishop Loughlin at the same time as Damion. On June 12, 1999, Myron was shot to death in Lafayette Gardens over drug territory by Rumel "Nino" Davis, the nephew of Ivery "Peanut" Davis, who led the rival Davis drug-trafficking organization. The shooting prompted Damion, who was in prison at the time of Myron's murder, to initiate a killing spree in retaliation for his brother's death. On June 15, CMB member Dwayne "Thor" Myers murdered Jerrod "Kojak" Mackens in the vestibule of the same building in which Myron Hardy was killed, at 456 Lafayette Street. Mackens, a member of the Davis organization, was suspected of having supplied Rumel Davis with the gun used to kill Hardy. Rumel fled New York and wasn't apprehended until 2001 when he was arrested in North Carolina. Following his extradition back to New York, he was convicted and sentenced to 28 years in prison. In 2001, CMB enforcer Eric "E-bay" Moore (Granton)was allegedly hired by convicted crack kingpin Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff's reconstituted drug organization to murder Troy "Big Nose" Singleton. Singleton was shot several times in the head and back as he exited a Queens nightclub. On July 12, 2002, Hardy and CMB members James "Popsie" Sessoms, Isheen Campbell and Kewayne Jones were charged with the attempted robbery and kidnapping of Ashabudeen Shakoor. Police found Shakoor blindfolded and bound in a Brooklyn apartment controlled by CMB and seized a loaded AK-47 assault rifle. An 18-month joint investigation by the NYPD (New York Police Department), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigations), ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and the U.S. Attorney's office culminated in Hardy's arrest by FBI and ICE agents upon his arrival at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on August 15, 2004. He was returning from a four-month religious pilgrimage in the Middle East, during which he was arrested twice on unrelated charges. Hardy was reportedly arrested in Morocco and again later in Jordan after speaking against the country's monarch. Initially, an indictment charging Hardy and 12 other CMB members with federal racketeering and narcotics trafficking was filed on July 19, 2005. Besides Hardy, the indictment also named CMB members: Eric "E-Bay" Moore (Granton), Dwayne "Thor" Myers, James "Popsie" Sessoms, Kenwayne "Stro" Jones, Robert "Troub" Footman, Carl "Big Jim" Davis, James "Jimbo" Farrior, Lamont "Sambo" Johnson, Zareh "Puff" Sarkissian, Isheen "Sha" Campbell, DJebara "DJ" McMillian and Abubakr Raheem. Moore, who was also implicated in the racketeering and money-laundering trial of convicted drug kingpin Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff by cooperating witness and former McGriff-associate Emmanuel "Manny Dog" Mosely, was aressted on July 18, one day before the original indictments were filed. Initially, Hardy was indicted on one count of conspiring to traffic narcotics but a superseding indictment, filed in 2008, charged him with 26 counts, including narcotics trafficking conspiracy, racketeering conspiracy, six murders in aid of racketeering and illegal use of firearms. Hardy solicited funds both from his ex, Jones, and her longtime rival, Brooklyn rapper Inga "Foxy Brown" Marchand. Hardy's intention was to secure the litigating talents of high-profile criminal defense attorney Benjamin Brafman, who'd previously defended music tycoon Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Michael Jackson, NFL star Plaxico Burress, mobster Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano and Jacob "Jacob the Jeweler" Arabo. Brafman had previously won an acquittal for business mogul Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs in his 2001 gun and bribery trial. On April 29, 2015, both Hardy and Moore (Granton) were found guilty on all charges, which included convicted of racketeering, kidnapping, narcotics trafficking, and all six counts of murder.