July 21, 2019 – The persistence in itself is impressive. And the more things change in Memphis, Tennessee, the more they stay the same. Fabled Memphis drug kingpin Ronnie Woods was indicted recently on more narcotics-trafficking charges. Back in May, Woods, his two brothers, Steve and Bernard, and 35 other alleged associates and conspirators were indicted in state court for selling cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy. Gun and money laundering offenses are included in the indictment as well. Revered on the streets of the Dirty South, the 55-year old Woods founded his “Memphis Mob” organization in the 1980s at the height of the crack epidemic. He’s been nailed in numerous state and federal drug cases through the years (1993, 2004, 2013) and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if found guilty in his current case. Bond for all three Woods brothers was set at a cool $2,000,000 a pop. Previous drug purchase-and-supply routes for the Memphis Mob spanned from Houston to Arkansas and then into Tennessee. Woods once dated Marjory Bridges Harvey, the wife of famous comedian Steve Harvey. He used to headquarter his drug operations out of a series of car washes and nightclubs. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, his Martini Room club in Hickory Hill was a rowdy hotspot popular amongst rappers, athletes and dope boys. Memphis-born rapper Yo Gotti frequently name checks Woods in his music. Mike McKinnie, one of the Woods’ co-defendants, faces an additional first-degree homicide charge for the April murder of LaTaricia Stripling. McKinnie, who has prior manslaughter and drug convictions, was dating Stripling and had a track record of domestic abuse in their relationship. The indictment alleges McKinnie physically pulled Stripling from a car in the parking lot of her sister’s apartment complex and executed her in front of her 3-year old daughter.
