PLAYING 'HORSE'
Hoops great in ‘heroin ring’
A local basketball legend from the 1970s was busted along with a dozen others in a massive Brooklyn heroin ring, authorities said Thursday.
James “Fly” Williams (inset) — who played varsity hoops at James Madison HS in Sheepshead Bay and was a standout college player at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee before a brief stint in the old American Basketball Association — and his cohorts allegedly flooded Brooklyn with some 2 million glassines of heroin over the past three months alone, Acting Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said.
Glassines typically sell for around $6 to $10 apiece, according to authorities.
The drugs were bought in The Bronx and sold across Brownsville, Bushwick, Flatbush, and Fort Greene, the top prosecutor said.
Williams, 65, who has been a community advocate and was public about his own battle with addiction, was described by Gonzalez as “a local legend.”
“That someone with his stature in the community, with his influence with young people, would run such a narcotics operation is truly sad and reprehensible,” the district attorney said.
“These are the worst kind of drug deal- ers because they were selling to neighbors and other communities.”
Williams played with some of the city’s legendary street-ballers in the ’70s, such as World B. Free and Earl “The Goat” Manigault.
While at Austin Peay (pronounced “pee”), where he had multiple 50-point games, he inspired one of the all-time great chants: “The Fly is Open, Let’s Go Peay!” He was selected by the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 1974 ABA draft and his rights were eventually sold to the Spirits of St. Louis. He later played in the Continental Basketball Association and in Israel.
Also charged Thursday were Williams’ 36-year-old namesake son, his stepson, Jeffrey “Doobie” Britt, and the ring’s alleged administrative assistant, Leezet “Baby Girl” Kelley, among others.
Six firearms were also recovered during the course of the investigation.
The 13 defendants were variously charged with operating as a major trafficker, in violation of the state’s drug kingpin statute, in addition to first- and third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and related counts.
Those considered major traffickers, including Williams, face up to 25 years to life in prison.
Authorities say more arrests are expected.