RIVERSIDE MOURNS SLAIN 'GHETTO ICON'

J.R. Perkins Was A Violent Drug Dealer Who Bought Food And Shoes For
Poor Families

Hours after J.R. Perkins was shot and killed Tuesday, cars lined
blocks upon blocks of the main drag of the Riverside Housing project
until the wee hours of the morning. Hundreds of somber young men and
women and boys and girls stood on Bowers Street, from Kingswood
Community Center to 27th Street.

"It looked like a head of state had been killed," said the Rev.
Derrick Johnson, pastor of Joshua Harvest Church. "He was a ghetto icon."

The 26-year-old had been shot once in the chest while driving near
the project. Police have no suspects. Perkins' popularity among so
many young, black city residents was threefold, say those who knew
him. He successfully rose to be a high-level dealer in Wilmington's
drug world; he was never convicted of drug trafficking; and he spread
his wealth by paying for sneakers for young boys, hair stylist
appointments for young moms and food for barbecues for the poor
families in Riverside.

For more than a year, Perkins had attended Johnson's church when he
wasn't in jail. The pastor said to understand why so many mourned a
known drug dealer with a reputation for violence, one has to
understand the abject poverty of Riverside. Johnson himself grew up
there. He went on to kill a man during an argument about a woman. He
was jailed for manslaughter before he became a pastor.

"The young people don't look up to him because of his negativity or
his deviant lifestyle," Johnson said of Perkins. "They view him as a
guy who ran things and was still standing, not incarcerated."

Shawn Allen, an outreach worker who counsels adjudicated teens, agreed.

"It was common knowledge that he got caught up in the [drug-dealing]
lifestyle at a very young age," he said. "The kids in Riverside have
nothing. Their choices are minimal. Sometimes their mom, their only
parent at home, is smoking crack. Under those circumstances, it's
hard to turn away when someone tells you you can get a pair of
sneakers or become the popular guy that you weren't last week if you
stand lookout on a corner or go sell a bag."

A Long Rap Sheet

A testament to Perkins' reputation as a major drug player in the city
lies in the fact that bail of $1.1 million was set for him for
allegedly participating in a kidnapping and assault in December 2003.
The victim reportedly was a narcotics dealer and enforcer working for
Perkins who had taken money and drugs from the mother of one of
Perkins' seven children, police said.

As detailed in court records, the "associate" suffered facial
fractures and implicated Perkins and others in the incident. The
victim was bound with an electrical cord and a belt, and said Perkins
put a gun to his head, threatening to kill him if he didn't return the money.

Prosecutors said the man was tossed in the back seat of a van with a
hood over his head and driven around the city as Perkins held the
gun. At one point, Perkins asked the driver to stop the van, and he
got out after seeing a police car drive by. The driver then parked
the van and got out. The injured victim jumped into the front seat
and commandeered the vehicle. He drove north on 35th Street in
Riverside, where he slammed into another vehicle at 35th and Bowers
streets, got out and flagged down an ambulance.

Warrants were issued for the arrests of Perkins and four others on
charges of kidnapping, carjacking, aggravated menacing, attempted
murder, possession of a deadly weapon during a felony, possession of
a deadly weapon by a person prohibited, conspiracy and violation of
probation. Perkins was arrested Feb. 4, 2004, and faced a minimum
life sentence if convicted of all charges. That, coupled with the
fact that Perkins had a record of not showing up for his court
hearings -- a pretrial report stated he'd failed to appear 25 times
- -- contributed to the extraordinarily high bail.

Former Deputy Attorney General Natalie S. Woloshin argued at Perkins'
Feb. 24, 2004, bail hearing that he moved frequently, despite defense
attorney Andrew Ahern's contention Perkins lived with his mother and
two sisters, co-owned N&J Variety at 17 W. 27th St., and was the
father of seven, all of whom lived in Wilmington.

"The defendant has made some proclamations that he owns the 'hood,
and he's the king of his castle and his domain, and whatever happens,
he controls," Woloshin said in court records.

Bail Commissioner Michael P. Reynolds refused to reduce the $1.1
million bail, saying Perkins "has more places to sleep than Saddam."

In later court proceedings, Perkins' attorney, Joe Hurley, argued a
bail of that magnitude typically was reserved for people like Michael
Jackson. The court refused to yield.

Respected And Feared

In court records, the state paints a picture of Perkins as a bad man
- -- a violent street criminal and narcotics dealer who employed
associates to sell his wares and henchmen to carry out his bidding to
injure or kill.

But Hurley said his client was not the gangster they portrayed.

"He was a very popular, cordial guy," Hurley said Thursday. "He was
like a big teddy bear, so he didn't come across as the persona
depicted by police."

Hurley said the police had a particular interest in "JR" because they
viewed him as a leader in the drug trade. Despite his past, Perkins
never was convicted of a drug offense.

As the kidnapping case was about to go to trial, the victim--
Perkins' childhood friend -- recanted and disappeared.

"Everybody was terrified to testify against him," the prosecutor said.

Perkins was convicted of conspiracy and violation of probation
following the incident. He served one year in jail and was released
in February. In June, he violated his probation again and spent an
additional two months in jail. He was released Aug. 31 from the
supervision of the Department of Correction, spokeswoman Beth Welch said.

13-Year Record

Perkins' criminal record begins April 23, 1992, when, at age 13, he
was charged with robbery. During his juvenile years, he was in and
out of trouble with the law, facing charges such as shoplifting,
disorderly conduct, rioting, burglary and, at age 15, possession of a
deadly weapon. By 1999, the bulk of his charges were traffic offenses
and a string of probation violations.

Sometimes, crime didn't pay. Perkins was wounded at least twice -- in
one month -- when he was 17. He was shot once in the left thigh in
July 1996 as he and a 16-year-old boy were leaving the William Hicks
Anderson Community Center in the 500 block of N. Madison St. The next
month, he was shot in the stomach while standing on the corner at
27th and Bowers streets in Riverside. A second man also was wounded
in what police called a "turf dispute" over drug sales.

When he was 20, Perkins and a 19-year-old man were arrested on
robbery charges after police said they approached a car near 24th and
North Thatcher streets, pulled a woman from the car, attacked her
husband and looted the vehicle.

Vacuum In City's Drug Hierarchy

Wilmington Police Chief Michael Szczerba said he could not comment on
Perkins' death except to say that his department is focused on
finding the killer.

Perkins' "record and reputation speaks for itself," he said.

The Rev. Johnson said he did not think Perkins' slaying was a drug
hit. He thinks police eventually will discover it was a simple
argument over a woman, a car or some money.

"He was controversial, and I'm sure he made a lot of enemies," said
Hurley, adding he was not surprised at the violent end his former client met.

While he would not discuss Perkins specifically, Szczerba said police
heighten their alert whenever a reputed high-level dealer leaves the scene.

Law enforcement sources seem to think Perkins recently was less
involved in Riverside's drug trade than he had been a few years ago,
but they were watching to see if he was making a comeback. That
information jibed with what Johnson saw since Perkins began attending
his church.

"I don't know if I ever believed he was removed from the game," he
said. "I do know that his name was mentioned less in those kinds of
stories since he started attending church."

'Teddy Bear'

Perkins' friends and family paint a different picture than his rap
sheet does. While they don't deny his criminal endeavors, they say
there was much more to him. In separate interviews, Hurley and
Johnson each called Perkins a "teddy bear."

Leslie Fitzgerald, who considered Perkins a brother, remembers him as
the guy who bought fireworks displays to set off in the project on
holidays. She said he didn't want to be a drug dealer his whole life
and was impulsive, changing his mind about his future all the time.

"He recently had decided to be a boxer, but changed his mind after he
couldn't run around the track one time," she said.

His aunt Rhonda Bleen said Perkins also dreamed of becoming a
computer technician and owning a record label. His sister, Meisha
Perkins, said he loved playing flag football and PlayStation, and baking cakes.

Perkins had seven children from more than one mother. Two kids were
named Jerome.

Latisa Alls, Perkins' companion, said that when he was about 10, he
would steal Wonder Bread from a store and give it to poor families in
Riverside.

Product Of Riverside Life

Allen, the outreach worker, said Perkins was the "essence" of Riverside.

"He controlled the [drug] market there for a while, so he controlled
the neighborhood," he said.

Perkins had a reputation as a ruthless businessman and a kind
neighbor. Allen said both were true.

"When you're in the drug game and you came from nothing like he did,
your persona has to be one who will keep what he has by any means
necessary," he said. "If somebody else would just slap you upside
your head, he would kick you all the way down the block."

Johnson said young men from across the city would ask him to resolve
conflicts, similar to the role of a mafia don.

"He was always squashing beefs from the West Side," he said. "He's
gotten so many people to not shoot someone."

Johnson said lyrics from the late rapper Tupac Shakur's "Dear Mama"
offer insight into the mind-set of Riverside's young men. The song
talks about a 17-year-old boy whose mom is addicted to crack cocaine.
The boy provides for her by selling drugs.

Johnson and Allen said they hope Perkins' death is looked back on as
more than simply a predictable end to a thug's life.

"I think that most people will take his death as a lesson in a way
not to live," Allen said.

Perkins will be laid to rest Monday. Johnson said he would spend the
weekend searching for words that might help others learn from Perkins' life.

"The issue is whether we can prevent the young boys who looked up to
him from being the next JRs," he said.

Staff reporter Andre Taylor contributed to this article.