Federal agents raided Tommy Mickens’s residence in Dix Hills, Long Island, on May 10, 1988, seizing $2. 5 million in assets, fifteen cars, and a Rolls-Royce with a Louis Vuitton interior. When they opened the luxury vehicle, a copy of the film Scarface was playing in the VCR. The man who had nicknamed himself Montana had the story of Tony Montana running in his car as it was confiscated.
The arrest spelled the end of the so-called Montana era in Laurelton, Queens, a period that would later be immortalized by 50 Cent in the song “Ghetto Quran. ” Mickens, known across the neighborhood as “Tommy Anytime,” was convicted in 1989 on charges including drug dealing, money laundering, and tax evasion. He was fined $1 million, had his assets seized, and was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison. Born in Corona, Queens, to Mary Mickens and a man known on the streets as Weasel, a numbers runner, Tommy’s life in the underground economy began early.
His mother remarried and moved the family to the working-class southeastern Queens neighborhood of Laurelton, a community of modest homes and tree-lined streets where residents were focused on building something legitimate. Tommy saw a market where others saw a stable neighborhood. At 10 years old, he organized his friends to carry groceries at area markets. He paid them $5 a day while collecting all their money, a structure that would define his approach to business: pay the workers, keep the profits.
As the crack era transformed New York City in the 1980s, the drug organizations that would define Queens mythology were building just north of Laurelton. South Jamaica’s Supreme Team under Kenneth McGriff, Lorenzo “Fat Cat” Nichols, and the Corley family operated as literal neighbors to the community where Mary Mickens had raised her son. Tommy watched, absorbing the lessons of the underground economy that his father had navigated. The growth of Mickens’s operation was documented.
In 1985, he generated $121,000 while filing taxes as an upholsterer. In 1986, that figure jumped to $605,000. By 1987, his organization was generating over $1,133,000 annually. The trappings of success were deliberate and visible.
Mickens owned a $760,000 mansion in Dix Hills with its own landing strip for a helicopter. He had a 38-foot yacht docked in California and fifteen cars, including a Ferrari, two Mercedes-Benzes, and the Rolls-Royce with the Louis Vuitton interior. He paid $32,000 in cash for the Ferrari, carrying the money in a grocery bag. A car salesman who later testified at trial said his thumbs turned black from counting the small bills.
Mickens had diamonds and emeralds embedded in his teeth, a smile Queens called the Kool-Aid smile for the haters. Unlike many operators of his era, Mickens reportedly believed in leading through relationships and reputation rather than violence. Gun play was a last resort. He commanded a 50-man crew operating around the clock on Merrick Boulevard and ran three legitimate businesses bearing his name in the neighborhood.
His business card simply read “Tommy Anytime” with his phone number, a sign of a man who saw no reason to hide. While serving his prison sentence, Mickens faced a personal loss. His mother suffered a stroke in 1993. After she spent time in a nursing home, he managed to get her released, buying her a house in Florida from behind bars.
Mary Mickens died that same year. Mickens served 20 years of his sentence and was released in 2008. His legend had already been preserved in hip-hop culture. 50 Cent, who grew up absorbing the oral history of Laurelton, released “Ghetto Quran” in 2000, paying tribute to the Queens street legends who shaped the borough, including a direct reference to Montana.
In 2011, Nas featured Mickens in his music video for “Nasty” and referenced Montana in the lyrics. Laurelton holds another footnote in American history: Bernie Madoff, the mastermind of the largest Ponzi scheme in history, also lived in the neighborhood. Both men built operations that looked legitimate on the surface while generating money at scales their stated businesses could not explain. Madoff defrauded investors of billions.
Tommy Mickens filed taxes as an upholsterer while making over $1 million in a single year. History remembers one of them. Today, Mickens is reportedly teaching aerobics to senior citizens in the Bronx. 50 Cent did not exaggerate a single detail of what Tommy had built.
Lord knows Tommy had Laurelton sold.