One Boston cop believes Whiting is encouraging youngsters to mingle at his center so he can pluck the best and brightest to join his drug-distribution network: "Why would he be with 15- and 16-year-old kids when he's 30-something himself?"

Police sources say Boston gangs have been holding peace powwows at Crown Hall at Whiting's behest. When the cops arrived to cancel a Queen Latifah rap concert scheduled for Crown Hall (no license) last December, they were surprised to find archenemies Intervale and the OP Trailblazers together in the house. Another time, according to a street source, a gang mega-merger was purportedly sewn up when crew leaders gathered around a table at Crown Hall, smoked some herb, discovered they had common enemies, and decided to become the ultimate posse.

Police sources believe the Crown club to be at the hub of Whiting's scheme to impose a peace plan on Boston's posses. Whiting, they surmise, knows that killing is bad for biz, it attracts too much Five-0 flash. His desire, cops say, is to increase his profit by uniting the gangs under his strong-arm leadership and supplying them with crack in a calm commercial climate. "These kids emulate the mob," says one cop. "To them, the Godfather is it.... Darryl's dream is to become the Godfather of Boston."

In that effort, cops say, Whiting would be reprising the role played by the late Tony Johnson. To his kid, Johnson was the well-liked athlete who'd made it to college. To the cops, he was the legendary leader of the Corbet Street Crew. Through friendships and force, they say, Johnson was able to become the Svengali to a handful of Boston gangs. Cops say he supplied their drugs, quashed the feuds, and ordered hits when the hammer was necessary. Now, they say, Darryl Whiting wants to take over that leading part. Some say Whiting has already one-upped TJ in the drug biz. "He's getting much fucking bigger than Tony Johnson ever was," says one Boston cop.

In addition to his retail drug houses, police and street sources says, Whiting has now established a wholesale dealership, supplying the best and cheapest crack in town to a growing number of street gangs including Intervale, Humboldt, and, of course, his home club, the Orchard Park Trailblazers. (Whiting is down on the Boston police gang list and being a member of OP, which one copy says is akin to listing Raymond "Junior" Patriarca as a member of the Angiulo family.)

Although described as a top-dog dealer, Darryl Whiting has thus far been able to evade the big collar. Police sources say that's because his operation is now more insulated than a triple-goose-down jacket. They say the streetwise Whiting never carries his product. He'll go down to New York to clinch a deal, they say, and then have someone else transport the goods back to Boston. At OP, says a source, dealers connected to him will gather their profits in $1000 bundles and then ship them to another locale. And he has surrounded himself with a cordon of loyalists. "For him, they'd kill in a minute if he asked," says one police source.

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  •   GANG GODFATHER OR MEAN STREETS ROBIN HOOD?  |  October 06, 2011
    Mr. Darryl Whiting, 34-year-old president of Corona Enterprises, was late for his nine o'clock appointment. The assemblage waiting on Whiting got so nudgy they had him paged. No show.
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    This article originally appeared in the April 1, 1988 issue of the Boston Phoenix.

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