February 5, 2021 – Former Detroit crime lord John (The Bread Man) Bass was released from a federal prison in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago on a sentence reduction and has returned to the Motor City for the first time in almost two and half decades. Bass headed the West Side’s Dawg Pound Gang of the 1990s.

Bass, 51, was busted on drug and murder charges in February 1997. Less than a year earlier, he had ordered the murder of his half-brother and partner-turned-rival, Patrick (Pat the Ram) Webb and then killed the man he contracted for Webb’s slaying himself days later.

The U. S. Attorneys Office in Detroit is appealing the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Tarnow to let Bass walk free, arguing that the Bread Man still poses a threat to society. Tarnow cited Bass’ “transformative redemption” behind bars and the fact that his 325-pound size makes him a COVID-19 risk and reversed his own decision that the Bread Man should spend the rest of his life in prison.

Bass and Webb founded the Dawg Pound Gang on Monterey Avenue in 1990, picking up the pieces of the Westside drug scene left behind by the warring Young Boys, Incorporated and Pony Down crews of the 1980s. “DPG” soon set up satellite camps in Ohio and Indiana.

“YBI” boss Milton (Butch) Jones got out of prison and joined forces with Bass and his Dawg Pound organization in 1993. Under Jones’ influence, the DPG expanded into high-stakes pitbull fighting.

When Bass got locked up in September 1998, Jones, the self-proclaimed “Henry Ford of Heroin,” assumed control of the Dawg Pound crew. He got nailed in a 2001 racketeering, narcotics and accessory to murder case and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Jones, 65, isn’t due for release until 2027.