Celebrity Crime Files

Oakland native Shakir “Shake” Stewart rose to become Executive Vice President of rap powerhouse label Def Jam Records. He discovered and signed multi-platinum rap superstars like Young Jeezy and Rick Ross and worked with R&B divas like Ciara, Beyonce and many others. The brash and flashy executive made a name for himself in Atlanta, where he threw lavish parties and attended Morehouse College. Atlanta was like the new Motown and Shake had a lot to do with that. He was the right hand man to famed producer and executive LA Reid. Stewart seemed headed to the same heights as his mentor Reid but the stress and dangers of the music business proved too much for him. His suicide shocked his peers and left his family devastated. Celebrity Crime Files goes behind the scenes to unravel the mystery surrounding his death. What caused one of music’s most beloved and successful executives to take his own life?

Stephanie St. Clair was the baddest boss lady in NYC, running a bustling criminal enterprise in the 1920’s and putting the NYPD on blast for extortion and taking bribes. The fiesty and no-nonsense numbers runner from Martinique eventually became the first female kingpin in Harlem. Nicknamed “Madam Queen,” she was beloved in uptown NYC. St. Clair even employed the legendary Bumpy Johnson as her enforcer. Her bloody battle with notorious gangsters like Dutch Schultz over money in the organized crime underworld ended in over 40 murders. Known as a fashion icon who flaunted her wealth and sometimes berated her enemies in French or Spanish, St. Clair remains a fascinating and mysterious female gangster.

Stanley "Tookie" Williams. A name that goes hand in hand with the origin and rise of the infamous Crips street gang. By the late 70's he became the most powerful member of The Crips, helping to shed massive blood shed and terror throughout South Central Los Angeles and beyond. A ruthless and intimidating body builder Williams could take on any enemy but his escalating addiction to drugs proved to be a beast that he could never conquer. Then in 1979 he was convicted of four counts of murder and sentenced to death. While on death row earning millions, to deal cocaine on the side? How does an Olympic gold medalist and elite pro fighter end up writing bad checks? What drives the rich and famous to commit unspeakable atrocities against their loved ones?

Chris Lighty was a giant in the entertainment world. As President and co-founder of Violator Management, he helmed the careers of superstars like 50 Cent, P. Diddy, Mariah Carey and many more. And his branding and advertising expertise helped clients like A Tribe Called Quest and 50 Cent score lucrative multi-million dollar commercials with Sprite and Vitamin Water. But while he had corporate success, street beefs still haunted him. A war between his client 50 Cent and The Game resulted in murder, assaults and people trying to kill Lighty himself. But it wouldn’t be rap beef that would eventually end his life. While police ruled his death a suicide, friends and family say he was the victim of foul play. Even a suspicious 50 Cent hired a private investigator to dig deep into the August 2012 incident, alleging that there was something fishy about the circumstances. For the first time ever on TV, those closest to him explain just what happened to Chris Lighty.

Prison is an understandable breeding ground for professional boxers. Sonny Liston served five years for armed robbery before going on to win the heavyweight title. Bernard Hopkins learned to box in Graterford State Penitentiary and became one of the greatest fighters of all time, the oldest man ever to win a world title. Similar to Hopkins, Dwight Muhammad Qawi learned the sport behind bars and became the world light heavyweight champion and a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

The NFL has a drug problem. Nearly every week a new player is suspended for violating the league’s anti-drug policy. Players use supplements and PEDs to improve performance, marijuana to relieve the stress of a high-profile job and harder drugs, presumably, because they like to live the high life and can afford it. But why would an athlete earning millions in salary and endorsements run a drug operation during his precious down time? These are the stories of three men who weren’t satisfied with the riches they were earning from legitimate work and got busted trying to sling on the side, going from touchdowns to lockdown.

Blacks are underrepresented in politics so when a black elected official breaks the law the community suffers deeply. These men betrayed the support and trust of their citizenry for their own personal gain.

Blasting on the scene in October of 1966 in Oakland, California, the Black Panther Party were a subversive civil rights group who became international sensations with a “freedom by any means necessary philosophy.” Along the way they empowered a generation but they also raised a lot of hell, tangled with police forces across the nation and were eventually public enemy number of the FBI’s infamous COINTELPRO program, which essentially targeted and wiped out numerous African American organizations. CCF looks at the life and crimes of its founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale and its shining princess, the great Angela Davis.

There is a long list of people who died on the frontlines fighting for social justice for African-Americans. But there are three iconic men whose names remain legendary. Malcolm. Martin. Medgar. Just their first name is enough to make a nation remember the volatile 1960’s when these three bright stars and champions of civil rights were cut down in their prime. Their efforts, and those of the people who supported them and continued their work, have resulted in significant, groundbreaking changes. CCF explores the life and crimes of three titans.

For hundreds of years since arriving in America from Africa, thousands of Blacks have been lynched or violently killed at the hands of racists, especially in the deep South. Since the end of Jim Crow laws, there have been fewer incidents of these types of crimes. But two shocking murders in Texas and Alabama in the last 40 years remind the nation and the world that violence and terror against Blacks can still happen at any given moment.