Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory, the convicted drug trafficker and money-laundering kingpin who was involved in the early careers of rappers Jeezy and T.I. in the 2000s via his label BMF Entertainment, has been released from prison, Billboard has confirmed.
Flenory, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2008 after being convicted on several counts of criminal conspiracy and money laundering for his involvement in the Black Mafia Family crime ring, was released from a Florida prison on Oct. 15 but must serve the remainder of his sentence (which was reduced from 360 to 292 months over the course of his imprisonment) in a halfway house. His projected release date from the halfway house is Jan. 27, 2026, after which we will be subject to supervised release.
TMZ was first to report the news.
The Black Mafia Family was launched in Detroit in the mid-1980s and operated for roughly 20 years before being brought down by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2005, when Flenory, his brother Terry Flenory and more than 100 co-conspirators were arrested and charged with a plethora of crimes. In court documents, Flenory was described as “a leader of a vast, multi-state drug-trafficking operation with an extensive criminal history, including prior convictions for drug, weapons, and assault offenses.”
The gang’s rise and fall has more recently been chronicled in the ongoing, 50 Cent-produced Starz series BMF, on which Flenory’s son, Demetrius Flenory Jr., was cast as his father.
Among those commenting on the news of Flenory’s release was rapper Sexyy Red, who tweeted Wednesday (Oct. 16), “Where da welcome home party @ I’m trona perform for da freeski.” The same day, Boosie Badazz also celebrated by tweeting, “WELCOME BACK #BIGMEECH #LEGEND.” And on Thursday (Oct. 17), NBA superstar LeBron James tweeted, “Welcome home Big Meech!!”.