Craig Petties

Craig Petties (born December 11, 1976) is an American convicted drug trafficker best known for the criminal empire he led in Memphis, Tennessee, from the mid-1990s to 2008, and for his connections to the Mexican drug cartel. The organization's prosecution was later described as the largest drug case in Memphis federal court history. Petties was sentenced to life in prison in 2013 at the age of 36. The family lived in a tiny brick home his mother bought for US$17,000. Clinton, nicknamed "Goldie", was 18 at the time while Martin, nicknamed "M", was 20.

Petties was arrested as an adult for the first time at age 21 in 1998 after pleading guilty to burglarizing boxcars in Memphis rail yards. With this more powerful association, Petties grew his organization much larger and became a multimillionaire in his mid-20s. Some drug packages were even mailed via FedEx. Each time Mexican authorities closed in on Petties, corrupt officials tipped him off, including one such warning from an employee of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, causing Petties to move to a different city. From there, he was still able to orchestrate homicides back in the United States and organize the illegal transportation of over a ton (900 kg) of marijuana and hundreds of kilos of cocaine from Mexico back into Tennessee and other states.

Select homicides Friends of Petties noticed his desire for revenge after he fled to Mexico, inspired by the Mexican drug cartels' propensity for violent redemption against rivals and informants. Allen's cooperation with law enforcement was discovered when Geraldine Galloway, the president of a local bail bond company, told Petties that Allen was providing police information. Broady contacted Small under the ruse of planning a robbery together, and Small brought an accomplice Kalonji Griffin (25). As Stewart continued secretly recording the conversation, Pride confessed that Petties ordered his death and even admitted that he stood in Stewart's backyard one night to commit the murder, only backing down because of their friendship. Petties had ordered his kidnapping and torture in search of information on Bobby Craft who stole of cocaine from the group worth millions of dollars that Craft was in charge of guarding. Gang members finally believed Turner when he indicated he did not know where Craft was hiding but killed him anyway before dumping his body. On March 16, McNeil was spotted at Divine Wings & Bar in Hickory Hill at 3279 Kirby Parkway. After being contacted and driven to the restaurant, Martin Lewis entered the establishment and fatally shot McNeil after Carlos Whitelow told him over the phone what McNeil was wearing. Demetrius Fields was sentenced to 37 years on February 1, 2013.

Mexican drug lord Edgar Valdez Villarreal was given a 49-year sentence in 2018.

Imprisonment Petties' cooperation with authorities did not diminish his sentence, but it did inspire Judge Mays to honor a request to place Petties in a prison near Memphis so that his elderly mother, wife, and children could visit.