A former high-ranking member of the notorious “Black Mafia Family” drug cartel who turned informant was arrested Monday after allegedly beating up two women.
Omari Lateef McCree was charged with battery and accused of punching his girlfriend’s friend in the face and slamming her to the ground last Friday, then hitting his girlfriend when she tried to break up the fracas, according to police reports.
McCree, 32, was able to make a $2,500 bond but is being held at the Fulton County jail because he violated the conditions of his parole for a 2005 cocaine trafficking conviction.
“Regardless of the bond status, it is common practice for a parole officer to place a parole hold on an offender, ” Georgia Pardons and Parole Board spokeswoman Rita Rocker said. “Parole warrants are non-bondable.”
McCree was released on parole last year after serving less than five years of a 15-year prison sentence.
Arrested in 2005, he signed a confidential source agreement with federal investigators building a case against the so-called BMF, describing his role in the Atlanta-based drug ring and naming Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory as the primary source of cocaine in the $270 million enterprise.
Flenory, his brother Terry, and more than 150 others were indicted in 2005 as a result of information McCree and other informants provided as part of an investigation that lasted more than a dozen years and reached through 11 states.
McCree did not testify in court against the Flenory brothers or any BMF members.
In Friday’s incident, he was at the Collier Heights apartment he shares with his girlfriend when her friend walked in through an already-opened front door, police said.
McCree stepped in front of the friend and said, “you don’t live here, do you?” according to the police report. He then began tapping her on her forehead.
When she smacked McCree’s hand away and told him to “get your hands off me,” police say he began punching her in the face and body. He then reportedly pushed her to the ground and pulled some of her hair out.
His girlfriend stepped in to intervene, and McCree began hitting her, before returning to the friend to throw her onto the ground.
The friend was able to reach her phone, and McCree left the apartment, police said.
Officers returned Monday with an arrest warrant and took him into custody without incident. McCree told police he was injured, showing scratches on his face and nose.
A jail spokeswoman would not comment on where McCree was being held.
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