Street Legends, Vol. 1 [Perfect Paperback]

Seth Ferranti (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 29, 2008

In Street Legends Vol. 1, Seth brings forth powerful biographies of six of the most notorious gangster of the crack era who influenced hip-hop and street culture. This book profiles six of the biggest street legends from the crack era- Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, Wayne Perry, Anthony Jones, Aaron Jones, Peter “Pistol Pete” Rollack and George “Boy George” Rivera. Kilo’s of cocaine and heroin, millions of dollars of drug money, luxury customized cars, dime pieces galore, bling-bling to shine, multitudes of violence and vicious murder- these dudes were street stars and their lifestyles are what gangsta rap represents. Read their stories and ride shotgun with a hood legend.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Any gangsta rap fan knows that the genre largely glamorizes the violent, fast-lane lifestyles of street hustlers and bange.” -Smooth Magazine

“A few years ago, Alice K. Turner wrote a book entitled The History of Hell. The book traces the idea of hell throughout history. In like manner, Jeffrey Burton Russell wrote The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity. His book traces the idea of the Devil in a period of history. Turner and Burton are highly educated, erudite, and talented. They write about abstract ideas.

There's another writer, who wrote a book combining the subjects of Turner’s book and Burton’s book. His name is Seth Ferranti aka Soul Man. He, too, is erudite and talented only in a different kind of way. Seth has been incarcerated in the feds, which is the federal prison system since 1993. If everything goes smoothly, he will be released in 2015.

In his book, Street Legends, Seth writes about the same subjects as Turner and Burton, hell and the Devil. Only Seth doesn’t write about ideas, he writes about reality. There is a hell on earth. It's called a supermax prison. And it’s where they keep the Devil. Only in this case, there’s more than one Devil there’s six. The names of the Devils are: Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, Wayne “Silk” Perry, Anthony Jones, Aaron Jones, Peter “Pistol Pete” Rollack, and George “Boy George” Rivera. And they make the Biblical Devil look like a three-year-old toddler at a Sunday school picnic.

Seth Soul Man Ferranti tells the actual story of each man. The stories twirl around cocaine and heroin, oodles and oodles of money, plump cars, and bling bling. Unfortunately, in each case, the merry-go-round of fun turns into a Tilt-a-Whirl of violence and murder as the street hustlers ride the streets. In the end, each of the six Devils is imprisoned in hell on earth for life.

Ferranti's style is raw and edgy, full of street slang and prison jargon, which is fascinating to read. What really keeps the book moving and the reader engaged is Ferranti's talent for storytelling. As he relates the story, Ferranti seems to be idolizing the lifestyles and actions of these street stars. And in a sense, he is, but only because he's showing the reader how members of certain socio-economic groups look at these men. To these people, these men are legends. They are street stars, because they re living the life.

Then, though, as each man's life spirals into a black hole from which there is no return, Ferranti politely acknowledges the utter folly of such a lifestyle. He shows each man for the fraud and charlatan he was. Oh, Ferranti respects their code of omerta (silence), and the fact that they were willing to go to prison for it. Yet Ferranti implies that only totally immoral individuals operate on a pseudo-moral system founded on omerta or silence. Only corrupt people worry about someone snitching on them. And anyone who knows enough to snitch about such people has, at the very least, been dabbling in corruption.

At the same time, Ferranti does not pretend that the agents of justice the authorities are impeccable angelic beings, who always play by the rules. In Street Legends, carrying a badge does not guarantee a squeaky-clean character. Ferranti points out that the authorities sometimes stack the deck when it serves their purposes. In other words, this is not a story about good guys and bad guys. It’s a story about waste. This does not, however, dilute the moral of Ferranti's book.

The moral of the story is that living the life, if that life is based on drugs and murder, is nothing more than a fleeting mirage. When the mirage disappears, all that's left is a sign that reads Welcome to Hell.

Street Legends is the story of the cry of utter desolation coming from those now residing in that hell.” -Alvah's Books

About the Author

Seth Ferranti is a former LSD kingpin turned journalist and writer. He has been writing since 1999 for magazines such as Don Diva and F.E.D.S. He has been incarcerated since 1993. His blog at gorillaconvict.com is widely read as are his books. Check out Seth at facebook.com/seth.ferranti.

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 349 pages
• Publisher: Gorilla Convict Publications; 1st edition (April 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0980068703
• ISBN-13: 978-0980068702
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #277,184 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #88 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Crime & Criminals  > Gangs

More About the Author

Seth Ferranti, federal prison register 18205-083, is the Gorilla Convict Writer. In 1993, after spending two years as a top-15 fugitive on the US Marshal's most wanted list, he was captured and sentenced to 304 months under the federal sentencing guidelines for an LSD Kingpin conviction and committed to the custody of the Attorney General. A first-time, non-violent offender, Ferranti has served 17 years of his 25-year mandatory minimum sentence. His case was widely covered by The Washington Post and Washington Times, and his story was profiled in the pages of Rolling Stone and Don Diva magazine. His current release date is October, 2015. During his incarceration Ferranti has worked to better himself by making preparations for his eventual release back into society. Ferranti earned an AA degree from Penn State, his BA degree from the University of Iowa through correspondence courses, and Masters from California State University, Dominguez Hills. Along with his studies, Ferranti writes about the prison experience. Numerous magazines including "Don Diva, Slam", "Vice", "FHM". "King", "Feds", "The Ave" have shown love, publishing Seth's articles. His work as a prison basketball journalist has led to international recognition in Spanish, French, Italian and Mexican magazines and his articles on prison ballers appear on www.hoopshype.com and www.prisonerlife.com. Click on the MEDIA KIT link and the PUBLICATIONS link to follow Seth Ferranti's publication history and to read his articles and the stories behind them.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If yergey don't rergery another bergy, this one is the sergy! (have to read the book to get the gist), July 6, 2008

By 

OOSA Online Book Club "O.O.S.A. Gets It Read!" (World Wide Web, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Street Legends, Vol. 1 (Perfect Paperback)

Even if that dude on the corner won't admit it, he wants to be known. Wants people in the hood to uphold him, feel him and carry his legacy on when his time has come to either serve time, or lay down, `cause the next up and coming hood star has taken his place. But before the baby hoodlums were even conceived, homage has to be paid to those who've not only paved the way, but left their unique marks not only on Queens, Baltimore, D.C. Philly and the Bronx, but the headlines, nightly news and gave voice to many rap artists and pages in books.

I could make it simple and say something like Seth "Soul Man" Ferranti raised the bar, or throw a classic spin and say that `Street Legends' is pure genius. Yet, that still doesn't feel like those words do it justice! `Soul Man' utilizes testimonials, interviews, and court transcripts to lay out precisely how each and every STREET LEGEND, the most feared and ruthless gangsters of our time, came into culmination, their reigns in the streets and subsequently their life sentences. Kenneth `Supreme' McGriff, Wayne `Silk' Perry, Anthony Jones, Aaron Jones, Peter `Pistol Pete' Rollack, and George `Boy George' Rivera understood that in order to be bold enough to play in the game, then they also had to be bold enough to carry the weight that comes with it.

While I've never read a book written by Seth "Soul Man" Ferranti, I've read a few articles published by him at The Urban Book Source and Don Diva, and had no doubt that Seth would provide readers with a perceptive yet discerning voyages into the lives of `Street Legends!'

I definitely recommend `Street Legends' to all, I'm going to also stress nothing in life is guaranteed. Regardless of why they went to the streets, how much money they made, people they bed or love they receive, in this game you'll either succumb to death or prison. So choose wisely!

Reviewed by: Crystal

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Legends of the Streets, July 22, 2008

By 

Tangerine (IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Street Legends, Vol. 1 (Perfect Paperback)

Seth "Soul Man" Ferranti goes in depth of the rise and fall of six gangsters, Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, Wayne "Silk" Perry, Anthony Jones, Aaron Jones, Peter "Pistol Pete" Rollack, George "Boy George" Rivera. Getting the almighty dollar by any means necessary was there way of life. Nothing is guaranteed in this game but death or prison. Was it worth it? If they could have a chance to do it all over again, would they?

Take a ride with Soul Man as he gathers knowledge from interviews, testimonials of how and why did these young men became the epitome of their city. This book profiles each legend during the crack epidemic and how each one is on one accord with the "no snitching" movement during there reign in the streets.

This is my first novel by Mr. Ferranti, and I commend him for doing such a wonderful job with book. He uses accurate points of view on each street legend. This is a must read, especially for our young generation out there in the streets. Simply thought provoking.

Tangerine
Reader's Paradise Book Club

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Urban Book Source, June 8, 2008

By 

The Urban Book Source "www.urbanbooksource.com" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Street Legends, Vol. 1 (Perfect Paperback)

Reviewed by Cherri Millard
UrbanBookSource.com

In Street Legends, Author/Journalist Seth Ferranti chronicles the criminal careers of six gangsters: Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, Wayne "Silk" Perry, Anthony Jones, Aaron Jones, Peter "Pistol Pete" Rollack, and George "Boy George" Rivera. Cocaine, heroin, customized luxury cars, jewelry and murder filled their way of life. Street Legends paints an exhaustive portrait of the criminal lives these legends lived and guides readers through their childhood activities, attraction to the life of crime and ultimately, their demise.

Ferranti eloquently pulls readers into the trenches from which these men surfaced and through testimonials and interviews, brings each reader to the underworld in which these street lords thrived.

Ferranti explores the lives of men like, Peter "Pistol Pete" Rollack, a product of the Soundview section of The Bronx, who was known for his ruthless killings. Before his fall, Pistol Pete made millions of dollars in the drug game and became the founding member of the Sex, Money, Murder east coast blood set, after being recruited while on Riker's Island (directly by "O.G. Mack" the founder of the first east coast blood set: Nine Trey Gangsta) for the murder of Karlton Hines.

Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, the pale, green-eyed, intellectual was characterized as a gentlemen and gangster. Word on the street says he kept his watch 55 minutes fast so he would always be on time. Ethan Brown, author of Queens Reigns Supreme and Snitch, had this to say about him, "He's incredibly intelligent and aware of what's going on in the world." McGriff eventually developed ties with Irv Gotti, the man behind Hip Hop artists JaRule and Ashanti, and the co-founder of Murder Inc. But exactly what would drive a person back to the streets after establishing chief relationships with movers and shakers of key industries?

George Rivera, better known as "Boy George," has been idolized for his infiltration into the drug world with his potent "obsession" brand; a trap start before the term was even invented. Boy George took over the streets of New York and eventually became the youngest male sentenced to natural life. Wiretaps, informants and surveillance photos led the way for authorities to put Mr. Rivera away forever. Boy George had already made millions of dollars by the time he was 23 years of age.

Although each of the six men documented in Mr. Ferranti's Street Legends amassed their glory and street fame via different routes one thing ties them together: A sentence of life in prison. So, does crime really pay? Find out in Seth Ferranti's Street Legends.