Gangsters: America's Most Evil

The Black Hand of Death: Clarence (2x1)

: 28, 2013

This episode features the case of Clarence Heatley and his "Preacher" Crew. The "crew" extorted, kidnapped, and even killed to gain notoriety on the streets of the Bronx and Harlem. Heatley's top lieutenant was a former housing cop named John Cuff. His team included "janitors" whose job was to clean up the mess after Preacher's victims were tortured and murdered. It was rumored that they once kidnapped singer Bobby Brown and held him for ransom over a drug debt. By the early 1990s, the NYPD and FBI formed a task force to take down the Preacher Crew. Both Heatley and Cuff admitted their crimes in plea deals to avoid the death penalty.