Jemeker Thompson-Hairston is an American former drug dealer who rose to the top of the cocaine trade during the peak of the 1980s

crack epidemic The crack epidemic was a surge of crack cocaine use in major cities across the United States throughout the entirety of the 1980s and the early 1990s. This resulted in a number of social consequences, such as increasing crime and violence in Ameri ...

in the United States. She was based in "South Central" Los Angeles and had cocaine distributors in multiple US cities working for her.

Biography

When Thompson was 8 years old, she and her mother were evicted from their apartment in South Los Angeles (formerly known as South Central Los Angeles), and their belongings were strewn outside. In the Netflix documentary episode about her life as a drug dealer, Thompson states that "I knew then that I wanted money and that I wanted to control everything." She ran track in high school and was the girlfriend of Anthony "Daff" Mosley. Daff was dealing marijuana and Thompson began collecting payments for him. Thompson began selling between 3 and 4

kilos Kilo is a decimal unit prefix in the metric system denoting multiplication by one thousand (103). It is used in the International System of Units, where it has the symbol k, in lowercase. The prefix ''kilo'' is derived from the Greek word (), ...

of cocaine a week, while still in high school. She and "Daff" married in 1980, and began selling

crack cocaine Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be smoked. Crack offers a short, intense high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment'' calls ...

. Thompson's drug dealing business boomed, she and her husband bought a home in

Encino, California Encino (Spanish language, Spanish for "oak") is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. History In 1769, the Spanish Portolá expedition, first Europeans to see inland areas of California, traveled north t ...

and in 1982, had a son. When "Daff" was murdered,

Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within th ...

agents, who had been watching Thompson, thought she would stop drug dealing. In 1984, she began to grow her business again by recruiting distributors around the U.S. and for some time began getting the cocaine directly from producers in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. At age 26, she opened a hair distribution business (of

wigs A wig is a head or hair accessory made from human hair, animal hair, or synthetic fiber. The word wig is short for periwig, which makes its earliest known appearance in the English language in William Shakespeare's ''The Two Gentlemen of Verona' ...

and

hair extensions Artificial hair integrations, more commonly known as hair extensions, hair weaves, and fake hair add length and fullness to human hair. Hair extensions are usually clipped, glued, or sewn on natural hair by incorporating additional human or syn ...

), which Thompson said was a legitimate business but authorities said was used for laundering drug profits. When Percy "Cheese" Bratton, her business partner, was arrested with kilos of cocaine in his car, he made a deal with investigators, providing the evidence needed to indict Thompson. Thompson tried to avoid capture, but at the age of 31, was arrested at her son's 6th grade graduation ceremony. Thompson was charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and five counts of money laundering. Thompson was indicted, convicted and completed 12 of her 15-year prison sentence. During her time in prison, Thompson

converted to Christianity Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person to Christianity. Different Christian denominations may perform various different kinds of rituals or ceremonies initiation into their community of belie ...

and after her release, began a Christian ministry called Second Chance Evangelical Ministries. Her son became a professional skateboarder. Thompson-Hairston is married to Champ Hairston.

Memoir

The

in the U.S. was a time during the 1980s when people were using crack cocaine as payment for every day goods, crack cocaine was cheap. Thompson wrote about her life during that time in ''Queen Pin'', co-written with David Ritz. It was published in 2010.QUEEN PIN: A Memoir by Jemeker Thompson-Hairston and David Ritz
, ''Kirkus Reviews'', June 22, 2010 In a mixed review, ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' said that it "lacks the salacious elements that make criminal memoirs compelling," but noted that it "may appeal to believers" due to its religious content.

''Drug Lords'' episode

Thompson was the subject of an episode in the second season of the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series ''

Drug Lords ''Drug Lords'' is a 2018 American docu-series exploring real-life drug-dealing cartels and kingpins such as Pablo Escobar, the Cali Cartel, Frank Lucas and the Pettingill family. Premise ''Drug Lords'' explores real-life drug-dealing cartels and k ...

''. On July 10, 2018, Netflix aired an episode featuring Thompson's story. In the documentary she talked about making millions in the drug trade, her time in prison, converting to Christianity and doing

Christian ministry In Christianity, ministry is an activity carried out by Christians to express or spread their faith, the prototype being the Great Commission. The '' Encyclopedia of Christianity'' defines it as "carrying forth Christ's mission in the world", in ...

since her release from prison.

''Gangsters: America's Most Evil''

Thompson was the subject of the 8th episode of the first season of '' Gangsters: America's Most Evil''. A&E aired the episode on September 12, 2012, which documented that Thompson was one of the top contributors to the 1980s crack epidemic in the United States.

Christian ministry

Thompson's change from drug dealer to evangelist was featured on '' The 700 Club'', a program on the Christian Broadcasting Network.

References

External links

IMDB Jemeker Thompson: Crack Queen of L.A.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Jemeker American drug traffickers American female gangsters American memoirists American women writers Gangsters from Los Angeles Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American women memoirists Drug dealers 21st-century American women