(dramatic music)
(tense music)
- African immigrants are so vital
To the rich culture of atlanta.
- Mamadou came to the united states
For the opportunity, you know.
He just started building his life.
- He had turned into a very successful businessman
And was doing very well for himself.
(dramatic music) (glass breaking)
It was the most brutal, torturous murder
I think I've ever seen as a homicide detective.
Asphyxiation is probably the worst type of death.
This looked very targeted.
Was it motivated by money?
It was just wide open.
- I didn't stop crying for years, for years.
- Crime had gone crazy in atlanta.
(police sirens)
- Armed robberies, kidnapping, torture.
Everybody was afraid.
- Atlanta law enforcement heard rumors
That there might be one group responsible for this.
(dramatic music)
(intriguing music)
(upbeat music)
- [narrator] atlanta's west end is a historic neighborhood,
Known for its stately, magnificent houses,
And for being home
To several of the country's most prestigious hbcus.
- If you're from atlanta,
You have to know of what they call the historic west end.
The west end is composed of the atlanta university center,
Being spelman morehouse, morris brown, clark.
- [narrator] on top of its cultural grandeur,
The west end is a community
Which is rife with economic development.
- There's a lot of growing, lucrative businesses.
There's the west end mall, there's flea markets.
It's just a very thriving and up and coming area.
- [narrator] for the past two decades,
The west end has also been a magnet for african immigrants,
The driving force behind commerce in the neighborhood.
- In the early 2000s,
Immigrants primarily from west africa
Were making their way towards the west end.
- When it came to opening a small business,
Rents were low,
There was plenty of opportunity
To help each other become successful.
- And generally, people will go
Where they know someone who's established
And has the ability to help them out.
- [narrator] but in 2005,
The american dream for one immigrant
From the west african republic of guinea
Was cruelly broken
And his life brutally taken.
- On November 28th, 2005,
Just a couple days after thanksgiving,
Uniform officers respond to a call
At oglethorpe apartments in this west end area.
A maintenance person had gotten information
That a glass door on the back of the apartment was broken.
(dramatic music)
When they made entry,
The apartment is utterly ransacked.
They immediately smelt a foul odor.
As they walked through the apartment,
A black male was found bound in the bathtub.
He had on corduroy pants and a shirt.
His hands were handcuffed to a bar on the bathtub.
His feet were bound with cords and tape.
He was somewhat like hog-tied around one leg,
Like it was pulled behind him.
And on top of his head was a blue bucket.
- [narrator] first responders confirmed
That the victim is deceased.
They immediately called dispatch to report a homicide.
- As I walked in,
The aroma hits you like you're walking into a wet blanket.
- The medical examiner was able to remove the blue bucket
From the deceased male.
And we could see a clear plastic bag over the victim's head.
The victim was brutalized.
It appeared that he had been severely beaten.
(camera flash)
And there was a level of decomposition going on.
- Based on the level of decomposition,
The medical examiner estimated the time of death
Approximately three days prior to discovery.
There didn't appear to be any gunshot wounds
That we could see,
Or knife injuries.
The cause of death looked like asphyxiation, suffocation.
However, confirmation would later come
Through medical examination at the autopsy.
- Asphyxiation is probably the worst type of death.
It is very slow and painful,
And it's just pure torture.
It was the most brutal, torturous murder
I think I've ever seen as a homicide detective.
- He wasn't a small guy.
You know, he wasn't 130-pound guy.
So based on the location,
The position of the body,
The way it was tied up,
This was a crime that had to have
More than one or two people involved in.
- Was it motivated by money?
Was it motivated by drugs?
It was just wide open.
(suspenseful music)
- Investigators came across a wallet with identification.
Now, although the victim was slightly decomposed,
They compared the two
And they can see that this is the same person.
- We learned the victim in this case
Was 39-year-old mamadou barry.
- We had learned from the maintenance man
That mamadou barry's name
Is on the lease for the apartment.
- [narrator] with the victim now identified as mamadou barry
And the apartment confirmed to be his,
Investigators begin a thorough forensic workup of the scene.
- There was like a blue, soapy substance.
So they did swab that to determine what that fluid was.
We dusted for prints all over the apartment.
Nothing of value was found in the way of fingerprints.
- [narrator] with the bathroom yielding no forensic leads,
The team searches the rest of mamadou barry's apartment
For clues.
They enter the kitchen
Where the floor is littered with shattered glass.
- We had found a spark plug near the broken glass.
Obviously, that was an indicator
That perpetrators made entry
Through the back sliding glass door.
(glass shattering) - [narrator] the team surmises
The assailants attacked mamadou,
Dragged him to the bathroom,
Then ransacked the unit.
But what were they looking for?
- There's papers everywhere,
Things pulled out of drawers,
Holes in the couch.
- Televisions were still there.
Electronics were still there.
- They barely took anything.
This looked very targeted
With the holes in the couch
Is pretty indicative of people looking for money,
Or drugs, or something specific.
- [narrator] to get a better understanding of mamadou barry,
Detectives speak with the first witness on scene,
The maintenance man who reported the crime.
- According to the maintenance man,
Mr. Barry lived in that apartment alone
For several months.
And he'd indicated that he was a businessman
Selling dvds and cds.
He had a storefront where he sold those items.
- [narrator] investigators seize a large amount of invoices
And information on business associates
From the scene as evidence
To analyze for leads.
They then exit the apartment
And turn their attention
To searching for witnesses in the building.
- We're looking for any information
That anybody can give us
To help us with the timeline when the victim was last seen.
If anybody heard anything,
Anybody saw anything out of the ordinary.
And in this case,
The canvass didn't produce any leads.
Unfortunately, there's no cameras installed
In this apartment complex,
So that kind of shut down any lead
Of seeing people coming and going.
It was a dead end.
- [narrator] as the team wraps up the scene,
Detectives now face the unenviable task
Of notifying mamadou barry's family of his killing.
- The victim's father was located in guinea.
So unfortunately, that is a very tough way
To have to give a death notification over the phone.
(somber music)
- They just said he's murdered.
They're doing an investigation.
My dad, he was very sad.
But what could he do?
20,000 miles from here.
- When mamadou passed away,
I called his mom.
She don't stop crying.
It was her first son.
Mamadou was the first son.
She was very devastated.
- His father explained to us that
The victim had come here from guinea to atlanta
To start a new life,
To start a business in the year 2000.
So what we learned from mamadou's father
Was that when mamadou got here,
He started a import and export business.
He had turned into a very successful businessman
And was doing very well for himself.
- Mamadou came to the united states
For the opportunity, you know,
To buy different merchandise like clothes,
Different things, and sell them.
My nephew worked very hard,
And all he wanted is to grow his business
So he can help his family.
I was proud of him.
- Mamadou's father was telling us
That part of mamadou's business
Was the selling of these mini motorcycles
Called pocket bikes.
The pocket bikes went for a lot of money on the street,
And he was selling hundreds at a time.
- Paperwork found inside the apartment
Identifies the location of the storefront.
- [narrator] police immediately rush over
To mamadou's storefront
In the sylvan hills neighborhood
In search of answers.
- When we got there, nobody was there.
We actually had to force entry into the location.
It was totally secure.
We took a look around.
There were some things out of place,
But it was not in the same disarray
As his apartment was in.
- [narrator] as detectives scour the storefront for clues,
(bell clanging)
They are interrupted when the front door unexpectedly opens.
- A male walked in.
He identified himself as Sunday enyema,
And he stated that he was an employee of mamadou.
- So law enforcement then informed Sunday enyema
That mamadou barry has, in fact,
Been the victim of a murder.
And Sunday is distraught upon finding out that news.
- We asked Sunday the last time he had seen mamadou,
And he said it was Saturday the 19th before thanksgiving.
Sunday was very emotional.
Clearly, he could not have been our killer.
And he couldn't think of any reason
Why anybody would wanna hurt mamadou.
- [narrator] while Sunday can't name any suspects,
He tells investigators another location to check out.
- Enyema also tells police about a warehouse
Where mamadou barry stored a lot of his goods,
Including his very popular mini motorcycles.
- According to Sunday enyema,
Tens of thousands of dollars of items
Was stored at the warehouse owned by mr. Barry.
- [narrator] Sunday tells investigators
That he's the lone employee at the store
And only mamadou has the key to the warehouse.
- The warehouse is in east point,
Not far from the west end.
It's, you know, a couple miles down the road.
- [narrator] detectives hurry to the warehouse,
But when they arrive,
They discover it's unlocked.
- Once we got to the warehouse,
(dramatic music) (garage door creaking)
We could see it was in disarray.
- The warehouse is empty.
Thousands of dollars worth of motorcycles cleaned out.
- [narrator] the similarities between the warehouse
And mamadou's apartment are striking.
Both have been ransacked
In a seemingly coordinated and ruthless manner.
- It was very telling to the investigators
That perhaps the warehouse
Was the motive behind this vicious murder.
(dramatic music)
Crime had gone crazy in atlanta.
- Irc was the most dangerous, notorious,
Organized crime gang atlanta had ever seen.
- Could mamadou barry's murder
Be linked in some way to this crew?
- And then we got one huge break.
(dramatic music)
- [narrator] atlanta detectives are investigating
The brutal murder of entrepreneur mamadou barry,
A 39-year-old immigrant from guinea
Killed in his west end home.
Suspecting the killing may be related
To mamadou's business dealings,
The team has just located the warehouse
He uses to store his inventory,
Only to discover it's been cleaned out.
(tense suspenseful music)
- So we call crime scene out and they process the warehouse,
You know, just like we did the crime scene.
They dust and try to lift fingerprints.
There was nothing.
We were inquiring to see if there's any cameras in the area,
And, unfortunately, there's no cameras.
And that just took us to another dead end.
- Was this valuable inventory taken by the murderers?
- Mamadou, his business was dvds, music,
And then clothes, shoes,
And small bike for kids.
- Mamadou's family told us
That the business was very successful,
And based on what we observed,
It was obvious that this was a business
That was in excess of six figures.
- [narrator] investigators head back to the station
To search through the list of suppliers
Recovered from mamadou's apartment.
- During the investigators' search of mamadou barry's home,
They found a list of people
That he apparently did business dealings with.
And so the police needed to examine who those people were.
- [narrator] two weeks into the investigation,
While atlanta pd tries to break ground in the case,
Mamadou barry's family lay him to rest.
- When immigrants are victims of crime,
One of the beautiful things is that,
Usually, the community rallies around them to support them
In a multitude of ways.
- When they release his body,
We went to pray at the mosque on 14th street.
And I was crying
And everybody came around me
To help me calm down.
When we left him at the cemetery,
I could not stop crying because I realized it's true.
We are leaving,
We are going and leaving him here.
- [narrator] but despite the outpouring of support,
Mamadou's loved ones still have to come to terms
With their devastating loss.
- Mamadou was a very bright kid,
Very intelligent.
He would get along with everybody.
- Each time a friend talked to me about him, I cried.
I didn't stop crying for years, for years.
For years.
- [narrator] in the days following mamadou's funeral,
Police ask his family if they know of anyone
Who would want to harm him.
- I didn't know any of his enemies.
Maybe people he been competing with the business,
Or somebody want to get money from him,
Or something like that.
But I didn't know anybody.
- [narrator] the homicide team
Continues painstakingly combing
Through all of mamadou barry's paperwork
For the names of everyone he did business with.
In the absence of forensics, witnesses, or video evidence,
It's all they have to go on.
- We made so many phone calls.
Nothing panned out.
It was very, very deflating.
It's like taking hot air out of a balloon.
- When you're investigating a homicide,
You have a short window.
You don't want the case to go cold.
(tense propulsive music)
- [narrator] investigators then get word
That the lab results are in.
But to their dismay,
No prints or dna were recovered from the scene.
- They took photographs, measurements,
They tried to lift fingerprints.
Nothing of value was found.
- [narrator] but the team was able to identify
One puzzling sample from the crime scene.
- Lab report comes back and indicates to us
That the blue liquid discovered on the crime scene
Is actually windex.
We were unclear at that point
The significance of the windex on the crime scene.
- [narrator] over the next few weeks,
Detectives hit the streets,
Asking members of the west end business community
If anybody has information
About who could have harmed this beloved young entrepreneur.
- After police talk to the community at large
That knows mamadou barry,
They find out that nobody can give any information.
(phone snaps into receiver)
- [narrator] several weeks into the investigation
Of mamadou barry's murder,
The atlanta homicide team has run out of leads.
But detectives take note
That the brutality of mamadou's torture and killing
Appears to be part of a growing trend across atlanta.
(police sirens)
- In early 2006,
Crime had gone crazy in atlanta.
I remember as a prosecutor at that time,
It was a very, very scary time.
There were so many reports of murders
And assaults and robberies.
And atlanta law enforcement heard rumors
That there might be one group responsible for this.
We learned that the crew transplanted from new orleans
Because of hurricane katrina.
And they called themselves the international robbing crew
Or the irc.
- They were committing armed robberies,
(gunshot)
They were kidnapping,
They were torturing people,
They were doing home invasions.
They were operating as if they were the mafia.
And pushing people for money,
Like collecting the money weekly,
And if not, then they were gonna commit violence.
Everybody was afraid.
- The similarities between the chillingly executed crimes
Attributed to the international robbing crew
And the torture and murder of mamadou barry
Are too striking for atlanta detectives to ignore.
- It now dawned on us
That the brutality of mamadou barry's death
Fit the pattern of the irc,
The international robbing crew.
- So the more we learn about irc
And we see them wreak havoc in our city,
We see the murder rate,
The violent crime going up,
We start thinking,
Is this connected to mamadou?
- This was a frightening development
For the city of atlanta.
There was no question that there was concern.
The level of concern was so great
That a multi-agency task force needed to be established
To tackle the scale of the issue.
- It was a consensus among law enforcement
That irc was the most dangerous, notorious,
Organized crime gang atlanta had ever seen.
- [narrator] then, 15 months after mamadou barry
Was tortured and killed in his home,
Investigators finally get a lead.
- In February of 2007, we got one huge break.
The task force was contacted by some federal agents.
They had conducted a raid and made an arrest
Of an individual named carlos drennon.
- Carlos drennon was facing federal charges
On a separate case,
But he claims that he has information
About mamadou barry's murder.
- [narrator] detectives look up carlos drennon in the system
And discover he has a long rap sheet
And allegedly has ties to the irc.
But more importantly,
The feds say drennon wants to talk about mamadou's case.
- Finally, this was the break
Law enforcement had been looking for.
This was the turning point in the entire case.
(dramatic music)
- [narrator] atlanta detectives
Investigating the murder of businessman mamadou barry
Are speaking with carlos drennon,
A convicted felon with ties to the organized crime outfit,
The international robbing crew.
Drennon, arrested on separate charges
By a special task force,
Has told police
He has information about mamadou's killing.
- Carlos drennon's motivation to talk
Is he's got fed charges.
With fed charges, there's no good time.
It's just straight time and that's it.
So he knows he's gotta do something
To get off of these charges.
And he starts talking about all these murders
He knows about.
- You never know if they're telling you the truth or not.
So we're very, very skeptical.
He got very specific about the mamadou barry murder.
Drennon was able to tell us about
How one of the irc members confessed to him about
How he participated in mamadou's murder.
- Carlos drennon specifically described
How mamadou was killed and suffocated with the bag,
And how, in addition,
They tried to clean up the crime scene.
- Carlos drennon described why we had that
Blue, soapy, liquidy substance
On the floor of the bathroom,
Because the irc member
Tried to clean up the crime scene with windex.
(dark tense music)
This information wasn't released to the public.
Nobody could have known this information
Unless you had been told by the killer
Or you had been at the crime itself.
- [narrator] drennon claims he's unable to recall
Any of the assailants' names.
He is taken into custody on his other charges.
Drennon's specific information about the murder
Proves he's telling the truth.
And atlanta detectives are convinced
He's holding back on naming mamadou's killers,
So they concoct a plan to gather more intel from him.
- Carlos drennon was in custody at fulton county jail.
The communications that are outgoing
From the fulton county jail,
As with most jails, are all recorded
And have the ability to be monitored by law enforcement.
So we are monitoring carlos drennon's communications
As he's making calls out of the jail.
- [narrator] over the next few months,
Atlanta detectives attempt to learn more about the irc
Through what comes over the wire
From the incarcerated drennon.
- So we listen to the calls
And the focus of the investigation
Then becomes these communications from the jail.
And they turn out to be a valuable resource.
- In analyzing those jail calls with drennon,
We were able to decipher names of the group.
We were able to develop who irc was.
- So the conversations give us an idea
As to who the actual core members of the group are.
Based on this list of
Individuals and individual names,
A concerted effort is then taken
To go out and to interview
All of these people on these lists.
(suspenseful music)
So on one of the intercepted jail calls,
We hear carlos drennon coordinating with his girlfriend
To meet up with a person known as marciell easterling
As it relates to a firearm.
Marciell easterling is located and brought to the office.
- [narrator] but as investigators
Get ready to speak with marciell easterling,
They are met with a surprising proposition.
- Marciell easterling had an attorney
Who approached the task force and said,
"if you grant my client immunity,
He'll tell you everything."
(dramatic music)
- [narrator] atlanta detectives
Investigating the brutal murder of mamadou barry
Are speaking with marciell easterling,
A member of the crime syndicate, the irc.
Easterling claims to have information about the case,
But he'll only talk if he's granted immunity.
- After marciell easterling is granted immunity,
He is extensively interviewed by the task force.
In easterling's interview,
He did indicate that he was part of the irc.
- [narrator] with the mention of the spark plug,
Investigators' ears instantly perk up
As they recall the spark plug
Found amidst the broken glass
At the crime scene.
(dramatic music)
- [narrator] easterling points the finger
At his fellow irc member, slep,
Aka jeremy dunn,
As one of the assailants.
But there is also a third man, daquan stevens,
Who easterling says has a personal connection
To mamadou barry.
- For months, we had been looking for
A connection between mamadou
And how his path would've crossed the irc.
We could now say that there was an intersection
Where the two met.
So learning about the working connection
Between mamadou barry and daquan stevens,
It was a real a-ha moment for us.
- [narrator] with easterling agreeing
To cooperate with the task force,
Detectives shift their focus on tracking down the assailant
Who allegedly has a personal connection to mamadou barry,
23-year-old daquan stevens.
- In some of the documents
Taken from the original mamadou barry crime scene,
We found the name of somebody
That mamadou barry was doing business with,
Last name stevens.
And it turned out that mr. Stevens
Was daquan stevens' father.
So when law enforcement runs
Daquan stevens' criminal history,
They find out that he has a long rap sheet.
- [narrator] with stevens named by easterling
As one of mamadou barry's killers,
The task force is able to get a warrant for his arrest.
- Task force agents are able to locate daquan stevens.
They make the arrest
And transport him to the homicide office
For an interview.
In that interview, we advised daquan stevens
That we knew that he had a relationship with mamadou barry.
- Daquan stevens proceeds to tell what really happened.
- This case went on for two years
And a lot of pieces of the puzzle had to be put into place
So finally we're on the brink of solving this case.
(dramatic music)
Daquan went into detail
About how he tried to deter the irc
From plotting an attack against mamadou barry.
- They get frustrated,
Start screaming, "where's the money?"
And they start their interrogation slash torture.
(dramatic music)
- [narrator] atlanta task force agents
Are interviewing daquan stevens,
A man whose father did business
With homicide victim mamadou barry.
Detectives now believe that barry's case
Is connected to a series of violent crimes across atlanta
Carried out by an organized crime outfit
Known as the international robbing crew,
Or the irc.
Stevens has just agreed to come clean about what happened.
- In that interview,
We learned daquan himself
Had done some financial transactions
Purchasing dvds from mamadou barry.
- [narrator] stevens tells investigators
That jeremy dunn had become obsessed
With the idea of robbing mamadou.
- Daquan went into detail
About how he tried to deter the irc
From plotting an attack against mamadou barry.
However, that was not enough
To keep mamadou barry from being targeted.
- According to daquan stevens,
He, marciell easterling, and jeremy dunn
Went to the home of mamadou barry after thanksgiving.
- They knew he had large amounts of cash,
He had a lucrative business,
And they were thinking
That he was gonna keep the cash at his house.
So they threw a spark plug
Through the sliding glass door of his apartment
And made entry through the broken glass.
- They didn't believe that mamadou barry would be at home.
They figured he would be at work since it was a Friday.
- But mamadou was actually home.
You know, they ransacked everything.
They're making holes in the couch trying to find the money.
And they're not finding anything.
They get frustrated,
So they immediately start screaming,
"where's the money?"
- According to daquan,
Jeremy dunn became upset, irate,
And attacked mamadou barry,
(dramatic music) (grunts and groans)
Dragging him into the bathroom.
Easterling went with them into the bathroom.
Daquan stevens said that he stayed in the living room area.
Daquan said that he tried to deter 'em.
However, that was not enough
To keep mamadou barry from being attacked.
Daquan said that he felt bad about the circumstance.
- They take mamadou to the bathtub,
Turn up the music really loud,
So no other apartment occupants would hear anything,
And they start their interrogation slash torture.
- According to daquan, dunn tortured mr. Barry
And forced him to tell them about
The valuables in the warehouse.
- Torture was a big part
Of what this organized crime group did,
The international robbing crew.
- They're hitting him,
They're pistol whipping him.
- [narrator] stevens explains that dunn then forced him
To hand over the keys to his warehouse.
- And they put a bag over his head
So that he could slowly suffocate himself,
And put a bucket over his head and left.
- After leaving mamadou there to die,
They went to the warehouse
And they cleaned out all of his pocket bikes
And items there.
- Daquan said that he felt bad
About the actions taken against mamadou barry
And was a little bit remorseful
In the fact that he knew that victim personally.
- [narrator] daquan stevens is arrested and charged
For his role in mamadou barry's murder.
(police sirens)
Homicide detectives now waste no time
In attempting to track down the man
They believe to be the ringleader in the murder plot,
Jeremy dunn.
- According to the testimonies
Of both daquan stevens and marciell easterling,
Jeremy dunn was actually the person
Who murdered mamadou barry.
- [narrator] but as justice is finally about to be served
On jeremy dunn
For one of the most senseless
And savage murders in the city's history,
The case delivers a final stunning twist.
- Jeremy dunn is rounded up and found at the local hospital.
He has been shot multiple times.
- It turns out that he was shot
By another member of the irc.
(dramatic music)
- [narrator] atlanta police have apprehended
Two of the three men responsible
For the torture and murder of mamadou barry,
And they're now zeroing in
On the ringleader behind the killing,
A member of the crime syndicate,
The international robbing crew,
Jeremy dunn.
The team had just located dunn in a surprising place,
The hospital.
- Jeremy dunn was actually shot by another irc member
And eventually died as a result of those gunshot wounds.
- So jeremy dunn dies before he is able to be sent to prison
For the death of mamadou barry,
Which, in its own way, is kind of an injustice.
- [narrator] investigators now move forward
With prosecuting dunn's accomplices
In mamadou barry's murder.
- Daquan stevens is convicted
And sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
Marciell easterling is granted immunity for his cooperation.
- When I heard that police
Is about to catch all the group,
All those guys that was killing people in the area,
I was very happy.
That was very comforting.
- When it's a well-coordinated group of individuals,
You have to get these people off the street.
The longer they're on the street,
The more powerful they believe they are,
Then nobody is safe.
- They're brutal. They brutalize people.
They kill innocent people.
- [narrator] tragically for mamadou barry,
His success made him a target.
- Daquan stevens' father
Was doing legitimate business with mamadou barry,
Which is how they learned about him
And they learned about how much money he had.
- [narrator] in the nearly two decades that have followed,
Atlanta's immigrant community has vastly grown,
Transforming the big peach
Into one of america's most international cities.
- African immigrants are so vital
To the rich culture of atlanta
And to their community as a whole.
(contemplative music)
Here we have this man who came from africa
And started a life for himself.
He was successful,
And it was a senseless murder.
The irony of all of this is just beyond tragic.
- It breaks my heart.
Immigrants are a targeted community.
That's just a very common thing.
But when these crimes are solved,
It justifies their reasons for coming to united states
In that they're in a place
Where the institutions actually do work.
It's where if something happens to them,
They feel that, you know, they'll be protected
Or that justice will be served.
- But for the family of mamadou barry,
The outcome is bittersweet.
- I was just happy to know that
They're not gonna destroy other families.
And I wish could help those people
So they have a better life.
They are in a country
Where they have so many opportunities
To do something good.
Dying is destiny,
But the way he passed away was so,
Just so sad.
So sad that we cannot bring him back.
When somebody lose their life, we cannot bring them back.
(somber music)
(light airy music)