Lorenzo Nichols

Infobox Criminal
subject_name = Lorenzo Nichols


image_size = 200px
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date_of_birth = birth date and age|1958|12|25|
place_of_birth = New York City, New York,U.S.
date_of_death =
place_of_death =
alias = Fat Cat
charge = Drug trafficking, murder
penalty = 25 To Life
status = Incarcerated
occupation =
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Lorenzo "Fat Cat" Nichols (Born December 25, 1958) is an American drug dealer and organized crime figure.

Nichols ran a drug dealing gang in the Jamaica, Queens neighborhood of New York City with his partner Howard "Pappy" Mason. The gang sold drugs and netted as much as $200,000 per week in profit. In 1985 Nichols was arrested on drug charges. From jail he ordered subordinates to "hurt" his parole officer, Brian Rooney who had violated his parole after the arrest. Nichols henchmen killed Rooney instead. In January 1988 Nichols was convicted on the drug charges and on February 25, 1988 was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The next day on the orders of Mason (who was behind bars at the time), police officer Edward Byrne was gunned down.

Nichols, who was also behind bars at the time, was implicated in the murder of which led to increased law enforcement attention and his eventual indictment and conviction on various charges including the murder of his parole officer Brian Rooney, to which Nichols pleaded guilty in 1992 and was given a second 25 year prison term. Earlier in 1989 Nichols pleaded guilty to federal drug and murder charges for which he was sentenced to 40 years. Because of his cooperation with Federal authorities he was spared a life sentence and his state and federal prison terms were set to run concurrently.

He was initially in federal custody but was transferred to the New York State Department of Correctional Services and is serving 25 to life at the Clinton Correctional Facility. He will be eligible for parole in 2010 in New York. His federal sentence expires in 2026. Nichols life story was profiled on the BET show "American Gangster".

Reference

*Ethan Brown, "Queens Reigns Supreme: Fat Cat, 50 Cent, and the Rise of the Hip Hop Hustler" (2005)