Why Demetrius 'Lil Meech' And Terry Flenory Of The BMF Never Reconciled
The second season of the Starz series "BMF" continues the story of the Black Mafia Family, also known as the BMF (via IMDb). With interests in drug trafficking and hip hop music through an offshoot called BMF Entertainment, what would one day become the BMF was founded in the 1980s in Detroit by two brothers, Demetrius "Big Meech" and Terry "Southwest T" Flenory (pictured). By the time the BMF was brought down in 2005, it had spread all across the country, according to Mara Shalhoup, author of the 2010 book "BMF: The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family" (via Creative Loafing).
The primary BMF areas of operation, though, were in Los Angeles, Detroit, and Atlanta. By the time federal law enforcement agencies caught up with the BMF in 2005, the Flenory brothers had fallen out. The dispute between the two convicted drug traffickers remains unresolved to this day. (Per 2021 reporting from The Detroit Times, Big Meech was expected to be released from prison in 2028 for good behavior; at that point, Southwest T had been put in home confinement on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.)
Southwest T operated out of LA, Meech worked in Atlanta
At the height of the BMF enterprise, Southwest T primarily handled the importation of crack cocaine from Mexico in LA, while Lil Meech (above) took care of distribution from his home base in Atlanta, where he also founded BMF Entertainment (via Highsnobiety). Mara Shalhoup goes on to write on Creative Loafing that both Southwest T and Meech acted as heads of the BMF empire, and like any organized crime family, they expected absolute loyalty from those involved. The BMF moved pounds of cocaine per month, and as a result, the two brothers earned thousands of dollars a day.
Much of the money earned through the BMF's illegal drug trafficking operation was later laundered through BMF Entertainment. Over time, the pressure of an illegal crime business and the federal investigation in the BMF as it intensified drove a wedge between the two brothers. Per a 2007 Creative Loafing article by Shalhoup, the rift was so extreme that once Southwest T and Meech were arrested, defense lawyers for the Flenory brothers filed a motion to try each brother separately.
Evidence of the dispute between the two brothers emerged in 2004
As Mara Shalhoup goes on to note on Creative Loafing, the dispute between the two Flenory brothers first showed up in a 2004 phone call Southwest T made to an incarcerated associate. When asked about his brother, Southwest T reportedly said (via Creative Loafing), "We don't even speak. He lost his mind." During the federal investigation of the BMF, Southwest T was wiretapped, and it was in one of these recorded conversations when another mention of Lil Meech came about. At that time, Southwest T said Meech was mad at him. "He mad at me," Southwest T reportedly said, referring to his brother. "He letting them motherf****** put that s*** in his head. He don't even know why he is mad," he added.
For his part, Meech was never caught on a wiretap. In addition to the pressures of running a major drug ring, the cause of the dispute between the Flenory brothers can be traced to a 2003 shooting in which two men died, and Meech was arrested. Meech was later acquitted of the crime, but according to Shan Nicholson (pictured) — director of the follow-up Starz documentary "The BMF Documentary: Blowing Money Fast" — the rift between the two never healed (via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution).