Reginald Dewayne OakleyMonday morning, 32 men were arrested by federal and local agents for illegally selling or possessing crack, powder cocaine and guns. At a press conference later that day, one official called them the “worst of the worst” of our city’s criminals.
Today at 4:30, one of the men will be escorted from his prison cell to then stand before a federal judge who will determine whether or not he can be released until his January trial.
His name is Reginald Dewayne Oakley. He is 39. His street name is Joker.
“Because I wasn’t a joke,” he once told me.
I first met him on a windy Palm Sunday night as he sat at the head of his wooden dining room table. Around him, some in colors and some not, were gang members from across the city.