Amercan Gangster - Wayne "Silk" Perry Interview

Notorious Washington, DC head-hitter, Wayne "Silk" Perry was one of the baddest in the business. He was loved by some, feared by many, but respected by all. He was the Michael Jordan of the murder game. If one was to list the top five head-hitters to ever come out of the Murder Capital Silk would be number one and number two. The government has called him a hit man, a contract ki1ler, and even DC's worst-case scenario.

Everybody has heard the stories about how Silk protected the infamous rat/Harlem drug dealer, Alberto "Alpo" Martinez. Silk allegedly dropped bodies to keep Alpo alive and Alpo repaid him by telling the feds everything and helping them seek the death penalty against Silk. That story is well known, but Silk's early life is not. Most people only know the Wayne Perry of the late 80s, but the legendary gangster has been in the mix since the 70s. Now, confined in the Control Unit of ADX with five life sentences, the man that federal prosecutors called one of the most heinous murderers in DC history is ready to shine a little light on how he became the feared and respected gangster that he is. This is the Don Diva exclusive.

DON DIVA: Why have you waited so long to share your story?
WAYNE PERRY: I really don't and haven't talked about my past in a long time because even though I speak facts and the truth, one could easily mistake the truth for arrogance. I hate arrogance. Besides that, it's a struggle to simply reach out to one's family and friends from this slave plantation, Neo n@zi camp (ADX). These racist crackers that run ADX are so foul they tear up, if not all, most of my mail, so it's difficult for me to reach anyone, and these crackers also tear up my incoming mail and lie to justify rejecting most of my mail.

DD: How much longer do you have to do in ADX?
WP: I have 18 months left in Control Unit. (Control Unit is the
most secure housing unit in the super max prison.) Insha Allah (God Willing), if I don't get my time ran up, I hope to get to pen. But most likely these Crackers are going to keep me here in ADX a while longer. I've been here 12 years. I refuse to kiss these crackers' %#&@$! or compromise. It's DBD 4 Life with me. I ain't going for NOTHING!

DD: Where did you grow up? -
WP: I was born 11-14-62 and raised in DC. I grew up down Southwest and lived on L Street. I spent a lot of the summers of my childhood in Georgia. I even put fools in the dirt down there and back then it was super racist. Crackers used to call me boy.

DD: What were you into back in those days?
WP: I was the best baseball player in DC at one time; I've been in the Washington Star several times about baseball. I grew up on sports. I lived across the street from the boys club. I boxed, played basketball, baseball, and football and was always the MVP, but I was caught up in that gangster stuff.

DD: Where did you get the name Silk from?
WP: I got the name Silk from my extended brother, Lop. I was real smooth in sports and with the girls when I was a kid. I was 12 or so when Lop gave me that name. Lop was my idol, the thoroughest and baddest joker I ever knew.

DD: What were your high school days like?
WP: I went to Wilson High School. I got locked up in 79 for shooting the hall monitor man. But I really didn't shoot him. The
dude who did it and his crew blamed it on me because it was a
riot, SW against NW, and I kicked it off by punishing this older joker from NW, but I didn't have a weapon. It was known that
I wouldn't tell and I'd ride it out so they lied on me, but I
beat it in court. I got put out of school and went to Randall
but ended up beating the baseball team coach with a bat at practice and got barred out of all DC public schools. Then I went
to Franklin GED School cause a judge ordered me to. I had to
ki1l a fool there for telling me he was going to take my chain.
I was real small back then so I guess he thought he could try
me.

DD: When did you get involved in the street life?
WP: In 1974 I put my first fool in the dirt. I started hustling in 1975 and had a crew up under me. In 1976 I learned how to cheat with crooked dice, marked and cut cards. I was real good at it. Older guys I never told I was cheating used to take me all over to gamble cause they thought I was lucky. I was rich for a youngster in 77.

DD: When did you start robbing?
WP: I started robbing in 78, I started robbing banks. My little brother got ki1led in a bank by a pig in 79.

DD: What areas of DC did you used hang out in?
WP: Back then, I had started hanging up 17th Street NW, gambling. I was also hanging on 14th Street, and 7th and T Street NW with older guys, watching their backs while they hustled. They knew I'd shoot anybody, police, ki1lers, gorillas, etc. I also used to go on robberies with some helleva gangsters, but they always took the bullets out of my gun cause they said I was trigger happy.

In the early 80s, Southwest, DC was the host of some of the biggest crap games in the city. Hustlers and gangsters from all over DC could be found at these crap games. By this time, Wayne Perry's name was all over Southwest and a few other spots; he had his hands in a little bit of everything. He was known to make an example out of wh0ever crossed the line with him as well. Silk's close comrade, and DC street legend, Sop Sop, remembers one of those examples: "They had this big crap game going on outside down Southwest one day. A lot of well known hustlers and gamblers from other parts of the city was out there. Wayne and this well known and respected dude whose name I can't recall got into it about a bet. Wayne shot him in his %#&@$! twice in front of everybody." As time went on it became clear that Wayne Perry had no problem making an example out of anybody at any time.

Despite Silk's growing notoriety in the streets, his loving parents had no idea he was into so much, especially his hard working father. Silk and his father eventually fell out because of Silk's lifestyle. During their fall out Silk spoke to his father in such a disrespectful way that his father was emotionally scarred for life. Silk's father had never heard his son speak to him in such a way. Feeling deep regret after the fall out with his father, Silk soon went to prison carrying that burden. It would be a burden that would affect him for the rest of his life.

DD: What did you go to prison for at that time?
WP: In 84 I ki1led a fool in front of the police, it was sort of like self-defense. I went down Youth Center.

Lorton's Youth Center was one of the most violent and aggressive prisons of its time. Convicts went to war with everything from hammers and butcher knives to lawn mower blades. Any weakness in a man was exploited to the utmost down the Center. It was truly a place that could make or break a man, and it produced many of the gangsters and street legends that took the nation's capital by storm in the late-80s and early-90s. "Wayne came down Youth Center One where myself, Titus, Gator and many other good men were," says Sop Sop. "Wayne established himself as a man among men. He then went home in the late 80s and looked out for all the men he left behind and did what he had to do to survive as a man in the streets."

DD: When did you come home from Youth Center?
WP: I came home in late 87. When I came home my father was in critical condition after having two strokes. In a short time he passed and I lost my mind and was on a death wish.

The late 80s were dangerous times in the DC streets. Gunplay was at an all-time high. At the same time, there was tons of money to be made for a man with a game plan and enough balls to put the plan into effect. Wayne Perry had both and in no time he was right back in the mix of things. Murder, robbery, drug dealing, extortion, you name it, Silk had his hands in it. "He was a master philosopher when it comes to that street %#&@$!." says Manny, a comrade of Silk's that Silk says is like a blood brother to him. "Silk had his extortion game down so tight that he took me to a spot that was owned by some major dudes in the city and said: 'Go in there and tell such and such to send a bag of that money out here and don't make me come in there and get it either.' I thought he was playing, but he was dead serious." Manny remembers. "I went in the spot and told the dude what Silk said and with no problem the dude gave me a bag full of money. Silk had n1ggaz scared to death." Silk didn't stop at street figures when it came to his extortion game, he went as far as extorting lawyers and Italians in Georgetown.

However, Wayne Perry's murder game is what grabbed the most attention and he was playing no games when it came to firing his pistol. When he allegedly started taking money for murder nobody was safe. If the price was right and the joker wasn't in Silk's circle he had no problem putting that work in. He was known to lay on his victims for as long as it took. There are stories of Silk sleeping in the yard of dudes that had money on their heads until he could get at them. Silk allegedly told a comrade of his: "I don't play that across the street %#&@$!, I walk right up and put seven in they head like it ain't %#&@$!." According to police and homicide detectives, one of the things that made Wayne Perry so dangerous was that he would ki1l where least expected. He would pop up in broad daylight and gun down a victim in the middle of a crowded outside basketball tournament. At times, it was said that he wouldn't even wear a mask, knowing that witnesses would be scared to death to talk to police.

The fear that Silk put in the hearts of some people was like no other. Even other so-called ki1lers tried to avoid his %#&@$! list. Close friends of Silk say that he had a thing for taking down wannabe ki1lers. He also put fear in the hearts of big drug figures that he wasn't even paying attention to at times. "When Silk was on the streets, certain n1ggaz wouldn't even drive their expensive cars because they didn't want him to think they were getting money." says Manny. "If you were weak or a punk you weren't supposed to have %#&@$! as far as he was concerned."

Aside from his murderous street persona, Wayne Perry still lived up to the name Silk. He would pop up out of the blue driving anything from a 560 Benz to a CE and step on the scene in top-of-the-line Versace gear without a care in the world despite the fact that he was allegedly behind a number of high profile murders in the city. He was the life of the party, extremely funny, down for a good time and always joking and playing. He joked and played so much that it was hard to tell when he was serious unless you really knew him. Without a doubt, he could be very serious in a heartbeat. Silk was also very smart and shrewd; he could run circles around the average joe in the streets. He played the streets like a game of chess, thinking his moves out several steps in advance. Loyalty was one of his strong points. If he had love for you and respected you he would stand against the world with you no matter what the odds were. "Wayne was_a_real_good dude," says Sop Sop. "A well respected man of honor. Well respected by myself and other men like me. Wayne would give a friend the shirt off his back." Silk lived by the code, but played by his own rules.

Alberto "Alpo" Martinez