Nearly two years after being released from prison, notorious ’80s cocaine dealer Freeway Ricky, aka The Real Rick Ross, has found peace with the choices he made on the streets of Los Angeles as a 19-year-old teen. Still, when he found himself trying to make a dollar out of fifteen cent after completing his 20 year sentence, the kingpin realized leaving the drug game would be a lot harder than he anticipated.

Freeway, born Ricky Donnell Ross, was considered an infamous drug lord by the time he hit the age of 25. And, at the end of his illegal career — when he was convicted to a later-reduced life sentence in 1995 after allegedly being set up by his business partner, Oscar Blandon, and charged with trying to purchase more than 100 kilograms of cocaine from a federal agent — Ricky was worth an estimated $600 million.

Now a free man, the dealer that once ran the streets is running to the courts with a lawsuit against Rick Ross, the rapper, for using and benefiting from his name without his permission. “I knew he wasn’t a real drug dealer because no real drug dealer would take another drug dealers name,” says Ricky matter-of-factly.

Here, Freeway Ricky talks about his suit against the bawse and plans to get his life together, the law-abiding way.—Amber McKynzie

It’s been almost two years since your release. What are you up to these days?

Freeway Ricky: Right now I’m doing a movie. I should be signing my producer later on today. I’m signing a guy by the name of David Zander. He’s the owner of MJZ Productions, the biggest TV commercial company in the world. I already have Nick Cassavetes signed on. He’s the guy that did Blow. He did Alpha Dog, he did The Notebook [and] he wrote and directed John Q. He wrote the script and he’s gonna direct it. [And] I’ve got about five people that we’re negotiating [with] about giving me [a] 40 million dollar budget.

What’s the movie about?

The movie’s gonna be about my life story. It’s gonna be a docu-drama – real, but dramatized.

How long has this film been in the works?

I’ve really been working on it since ’92 or ’93. But it’s really picked up speed over the past couple years. We’re thinking we’ll have it ready in 18 months.

Do you have a title already?

Right now it’s titled The Untitled Rick Ross Story, [but] that’s just a working title. Once we get finished, I’ll let the people who give movies names name it. That’s not my expertise.

What else do you have in the works?

We're also doing a documentary right now. [It] is gonna be on me, too. We should have that ready in six months. I’m doing it with a guy named Marc Levin. He’s a world-renowned documentary [maker]. I got all good people on my team. I’m messing with the best!

Sounds like it. Let's go back to what got you to this point. How did you get into the drug game?

One of my friends had came to me and he said he had this great idea. He was like a big brother to me, someone I looked up to, somebody I trusted. He introduced me to it. When I got into it, I had the intention of making $5,000 [and quitting right after]. It came so easy that I couldn’t quit.

How old were you when you first started selling cocaine?

I was probably like 19, ’bout to turn 20.

And how did you meet Oscar Blandon?

We were pretty tight. I stayed at his house when I would go to Miami to visit. I thought we were tighter than we were, [but] we weren’t as tight as I thought. But we were pretty tight, I felt.

It’s no secret that Blandon set you up. When and how did you learn that it was him?

I knew pretty much the day I got arrested that he was the one that set me up, but I didn’t wanna believe that. It became apparent after Gary Webb had gotten in contact with me. You know, it was hard for me to believe that he set me up, even after I knew he had. You don’t wanna believe that a friend betrayed you.

So you found out before you got arrested?

I wasn’t tipped off until after I got arrested.

You said you were in it to make $5,000, but you clearly made a lot more. Almost three million a day was reported at one point. What were you doing with the money?

I started investing it. I gave a lot of people jobs. I gave back to the community a lot. It was many a time that I was going places and say, 'you know what? They just repo’d my car, so and so’s in jail [and] they need bail.' I took care of it.

During an interview with Dateline you said it (the business) wasn’t about you then. Did the detrimental effects of your business on the community ever cross your mind?

I was planning on using cocaine to give me a jumpstart in life because I couldn’t get a jumpstart. It seemed that every store I went to nobody would give me a job, nobody believed in me - so I was just gon’ use cocaine as a jumpstart. I never planned on staying in the drug game. I wasn’t really fond of the drug game from the beginning. I always planned on getting out, but it came a time that after I was in it I started to see the effects that it was having on different people. I started to see myself as a hypocrite. I would say, 'I don’t want you selling to my people.' But I was selling to everybody’s people. So when that time came, I started to rethink my path. That’s what eventually got me to quit.

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How many years were you in the game before you decided to get out?

Eight years.

And even though you already decided to get out, Blandon helped you get to that point. Have you ever spoken to him since that day?

No, we never spoke again.

When did you officially go to jail?

1995. But I only stayed out six months from a previous arrest. I first went to jail in ’89.

While you were in jail it was said that you developed a relationship with the now deceased journalist Gary Webb. How did that happen?

My lawyer called me one day and said that this reporter wanted to talk to me. The guy knew Blandon. I was looking at a life sentence so I had nothing to lose. My lawyer was a little more skeptical about talking to reporters, but I told him, you know, 'Hey, I ain’t got nothing to lose. Tell him come holla at me.' So we started talking. From then I I talked to Gary almost every day. Sometimes two and three times a day. And he wanted me to because he was investigating Blandon and the whole case. He wanted my attention as much as he could get it.

During Webb’s investigation of your case, a lot of the media claimed his research was inaccurate. What caused that?

They was trying to say stuff that he targeted… that he sent the CIA car into the Black community, which I don’t think that Gary necessarily did that. [And] they were trying to say that the number… how much drugs they sold wasn’t accurate. Basically that he had a smoking gun.

With everything that went on, what would happen if you ran into Oscar Blandon on the street today?

I’m not mad at him no more. He didn’t really set me up. I set myself up. He never put a gun to my head or made me sell drugs. He just offered me an opportunity, and I took it.

How long did it take you to stop being angry with him?

It took a while. I wanted to kill him. I was mad when I had that life sentence, and I was in prison those first few months. I was so mad at him, mad at myself, the judge, the prosecutor, the police, everybody. I was just pissed. [But] I was a drug dealer. I was selling drugs, and I went to jail for something I did. Basically, I decided that I put myself in jail [and] I could get myself out.

You were originally sentenced to life, but got your time reduced to 20 years. Then went to the court of appeals and got more time shaven off. How did that happen?

I became a lawyer. I started studying law everyday. Then I found a loophole [in my case]. They was three striking me and I had only been to jail one other time in my life. So there was no way I could be a career criminal with only one prior arrest. I pointed that out to the district court they [didn’t] understand it. When I pointed that out at the appeals level [court], they got it and told the people I was right.

Through all of this, did your family stand by you or did they cut ties with you?

My family didn’t really know how to support somebody who was in prison. Pretty much, I had to maneuver my way through it.

So are you close to your family now that you’re out?

Absolutely. My family is very, very close knit. I’m trying to teach them what I learned about business and life. While I was in prison, I read 300 books. I educated my self I turned my cell into a university.

How many kids do you have now, and are you close with them?

Seven, [and] we’re pretty tight.

It’s been almost two years to date since you’ve been out of jail, what was the first thing you did once released?

I started a trucking company, Ross Express, and I have three trucks. [And] I also have a record label that I started. I haven’t put anybody out yet, but right now I’m in real close talks with Universal [and] Atlantic Records about a label deal.

So how can people contact you and see what you’re up to?

I got the website, freewayrick.com.

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