Just as superstar rapper Rick Ross is celebrating the release of his new album Deeper Than Rap, the real Rick Ross will be celebrating his release from prison next week. 
“Freeway” Ricky Ross, the drug king pin who was at the center of a CIA cocaine-dealing scandal, will officially be released from prison on Monday (May 4).
Ross oversaw an Los Angeles based multi-state drug operation in the early 1980’s, which earned upwards of $2 million dollars per day at its height. In 1996, he was sentenced to life in prison, after he attempted to purchase over 100 kilos of cocaine from an undercover federal agent.
Ross’ sentence was later reduced through appeals and after a series of explosive articles by the late Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Gary Webb. Webb wrote a series titled “Dark Alliance” for the San Jose Mercury News, which exposed the C.I.A.’s role in importing cocaine into black communities to fund Sandinistas in El Salvador, as part of the Iran-Contra scandal. Ross is currently working on a book and film.
Ross will officially enter the music business, via a new record label with industry veteran Wendy Day.
