CRIMINAL MINDED MEDIA: SUPER FEED

The killing of Don Bolles would be followed with the mysterious death of another well respected Arizona journalist.

Bolles’ editor & confidant, Tom Sanford, would be found shot to death just 6 months after he was killed.

Sanford was deeply involved in Bolles’ investigations leading up to the bombing and was conducting his own investigation into his friend’s murder at the time of his death.

Quickly ruled a suicide, several troubling facts lead Don Devereux and others to believe Sanford was murdered.

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Criminal Minded Media's Don Sikorski goes to the Greek, our own John Anagnopoulos, to talk all things Wemby, Ja Morant, Kevin Durant and more...

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Criminal Minded Media's Don Sikorski, sits down with Chased: Alone, Black and Undercover author, Lennie Grimaldi.

Part One of Three.

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The story of the Hip-Hop Cops when I started the documentary back in 2004, was that it was a secret unit, and it was shrouded in mystery, for many reasons.

The journey of going inside Hip-Hop and law enforcement for two years, left me with a few takeaways, but more importantly it left me with a question inside my head that played over and over.

Why was the Hip-Hop music industry at War with the Cops, and more importantly why did Hip-Hop have such a distinct connection to the War on Drugs.  

While the NYPD, FBI, HIDTA, and the United States Attorney looked at the business of Hip-Hop what they really were looking to do was connect 80s era crack kingpin organizations to known and famous faces, it made for a more interesting story, it made headlines, more importantly for young and hungry cops and investigators it gave them purpose and a sexy reason to pursue these cases.

While Hip-Hop artists are music storytellers, when cops solve a big case or they feel they have a story they too want to become storytellers, and while I was doing the documentary, there was a retired NYPD Cop, who was brazen enough and understood Hollywood, to start calling himself THE HIP-HOP COP, his name was Derrick Parker.

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As we begin to roll up our sleeves in this investigation, it’s time to look at the players of this ugly chapter in Arizona history.

We must look at several key individuals, both according to the STATE’S THEORY of events, as well as several characters we feel need a much closer look.

With the premise of the state-sponsored theory, it appears that Don Bolles’ murder may have been misconstrued from the start.

Max Dunlap, John Adamson, and James Robison were all charged with being involved in the blast, but was it just a cover-up for the real players?

Let’s start with ‘The Kemper Marley Theory.’

Now remember, Kemper Marley was a local liquor magnate who lost his seat on the state racing commission due to a prior story Bolles wrote. So, the assumption was, he had an axe to grind. This theory includes the only men prosecuted for the murder of Don Bolles... 

The state charged Max Dunlap with first-degree murder for ordering the hit on Don Bolles. But who was Mr. Dunlap & what was his connection to the murder of a famed journalist?

Before his arrest, Dunlap was a well-known figure in town. He was a family man, married to Barbara, and father to their seven children.

Dunlap was a contractor in the land development business.

He started his own company called MA Dunlap Construction and grew his company with the help of a close friend and mentor, Kemper Marley.

Prior to the Bolles murder, it would have been difficult to find anyone in the Phoenix area with a negative thing to say about Max. However, he was also definitely in the orbit of both John Adamson and Neal Roberts, a high school classmate and friend. 

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In creating the prospect, I started to realize that while I am vastly interested in tracking the rise of Wemby, and seeing what happens to a player that has already been anointed, the premise of the Prospect, keeps bringing up memories of all my basketball experiences, have given me the ability to track stories that are adjacent to the Wemby journey that cross-over into my thoughts on the modern day NBA.

In the creation of this episode and thinking about Wemby, my memories took me to another touted prospect, who had a unique journey and that is Allen Iverson.  

While I was thinking about Iverson this past week, news broke that shifted my thinking in a totally different way…….

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Vito Collucci was an undercover drug investigator who like Billy Chase was undercover inside drug organizations and the Mafia in Connecticut, he rubbed elbows with the same corrupt cops, politicians and gangsters that Billy Chase was bringing down.

Vito decided to go after the systemic corruption inside Connecticut Police Departments who had been infiltrated by the Gambino Crime Family.

His investigations uncovered wrongdoing in 8 City departments that included a police sergeant running the largest drug ring in Southern, Ct.

Fifteen City and state officials resigned or were fired.

What happened in CT reverberated far beyond the city and state, and it served as the catalyst for Ronald Reagan’s initiative against the American Mafia and the establishment of the President’s commission on organized crime. 

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As my persistence to tell the story of the Hip-Hop Cops increased, my “fixers” — Steve Lobel and Pistol Pete, delivered on their promise to secure me interview subjects.

What sounded good in theory, was in reality far different, as their strategy was to merely accost artists and executives pretty much anywhere—at studios, at parties, concerts, on the street, back alleys—they even spotted Kanye West at an album release party and convinced him to do an interview in the back of the club’s kitchen.

In true Kanye fashion he gave me a great sound byte, even though I was only able to ask him one question. Here is his response to me asking him about the scrutiny that the police had on the industry. This was polo Kanye, College Dropout Kanye… but still it was Kanye in the back of a kitchen….

I was trying to tackle racial issues, but my execution was off—it was sloppy.

I just had to grab anything I could from the celebrities as it was rare to get an actual sit-down interview.

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Immediately after the bomb went off under Don Bolles’ Datsun, chaos ruled - at the scene, the Phoenix Police Department, the Arizona Republic & the Bolles home.

Those early hours, an entire city scrambled to come to grips with the savage attack, and who might be involved.

Bolles was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital where he was in surgery for 5 hours and had his right leg amputated above the knee.

He eventually would lose both legs and an arm due to infection.

Though in critical condition, Bolles remained conscious after his surgery. Two police officers showed Bolles a picture of John Harvey Adamson and asked him if he was the guy.

Unable to speak, he nodded his head yes. 

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In the journey of Victor Wembayama and whether he will become the NBA’s next greatest star or prospect, I stumbled across an article in New York Magazine, that I feel is very relevant to tracking Wemby’s journey.

While the NBA news cycle was in overdrive this week, all around the trade of Kevin Durant to Phoenix, and Kyrie Irving to Dallas, I started to think about the larger NBA environment, and where we are at in popular culture as NBA teams look to position themselves in the Wemby lottery, which is why a hit piece on Kyrie Irving was something I wanted to talk about and explore.

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