Police bust father-and-son
cocaine dealers

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

Ricardo McKendrick Sr. and his son Ricardo Jr. weren’t your average drug dealers.
According to local authorities, they were among the biggest cocaine dealers in the Philadelphia region — perhaps the biggest. They allegedly held hundreds of pounds of the stuff, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, at any given time.
But perhaps most unusual about the McKendricks, city and federal narcotics investigators say, is they didn’t seem to worry much about protecting their vast illicit assets.
Philadelphia police and FBI agents allegedly discovered a stash of 274 kilograms, just over 600 pounds, of powdered coke packaged for sale in single-kilo bricks inside a rowhouse at 2606 Federal St. early April 2.
Despite all those drugs, which have a "street value" of about $28 million, investigators found just one gun on site — a .38-caliber revolver.
"That would indicate to me that they felt pretty comfortable there," Chief Inspector William Blackburn, head of the Philadelphia Police narcotics bureau, said during a news conference on the afternoon after the 1:15 a.m. raid.
Blackburn described the drug bust as the largest he’s seen in his 26-year police career and likely in the city’s history.
Later that morning, investigators served a search warrant on the younger McKendrick’s Woodstown, N.J., home and allegedly seized as much as $800,000 in loose cash stuffed into 15 duffel bags.
Though based in the South Philadelphia neighborhood of Grays Ferry, the accused dealers’ footprints extended throughout the city and likely the surrounding region, according to Police Commissioner William Ramsey.
"A seizure this size will impact not only Philadelphia but the surrounding area," Ramsey said. "This is certainly an indication of the kind of drugs that flow through the city at any given time."
McKendrick Sr., 56, the owner of both 2604 and 2606 Federal St., and McKendrick Jr., 36, were arrested and charged federally with conspiracy to distribute 5 kilos or more of cocaine and possession with intent to distribute more than 5 kilos of cocaine.
Both men made their initial appearances in U.S. District Court on Thursday and were scheduled for an April 10 detention hearing. Both remained in federal custody as the Times went to press.
The McKendrick name is a familiar one to longtime local law enforcement officials, as the elder man was once identified as a prominent associate of the Black Mafia, an African-American organized crime syndicate that wrought havoc on the city from the late 1960s to the early 80s.
The elder McKendrick was known as "Little Ricky" because of his diminutive stature.
"They call him ‘Little Ricky,’ but he’s a big-time drug dealer," said U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan, who joined Mayor Michael Nutter, FBI Philadelphia Special Agent in Charge Janice Fedarcyk and officials from the Philadelphia/Camden High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area at last week’s news briefing.
According to Philadelphia court records, McKendrick Sr. has at least 13 prior arrests dating back to 1969 with at least seven convictions. He served one brief prison sentence in the mid-1970s, records showed. Ten of the arrests and six of the convictions were in drug-related cases.
McKendrick Sr. beat a murder rap in 1970 and a series of weapons-related charges in 1976. His last arrest on record was in 1995 on drug distribution and possession charges that were later dropped.
McKendrick Jr. has one prior arrest on record in Philadelphia. In 1993, he was convicted of assault, resisting arrest and carrying a firearm in public. He was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison.
A figure for the amount of time he actually served was not immediately available.
Authorities said an undisclosed tip prompted the investigation, which lasted several weeks and intensified into around-the-clock surveillance in the final 72 hours leading up to the April 2 raid on Federal Street.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, investigators watched McKendrick Jr. enter and exit the alleged stash house on Federal Street three separate times in the hours leading up to the raid. Each time, he arrived and departed in a stylish black Ford 500 luxury sedan. On at least two occasions, another man accompanied him.
At about 7:45 p.m. on April 1, investigators watched McKendrick Jr. leave the property and drive away. Moments after the suspect dropped off a passenger, authorities stopped his vehicle at 23rd and Wharton streets.
When a drug-sniffing police dog detected contraband in the vehicle, investigators got a search warrant and found $53,000 cash inside a leather bag on the front seat, the affidavit states. They arrested McKendrick Jr. on the spot.
Later, police raided the Federal Street house and allegedly found the drugs, along with $5,000 cash, a power substance commonly mixed with cocaine to cut its potency and increase its weight, as well as a hydraulic press used to package the drugs into one-kilo bricks. McKendrick Sr. was arrested there.
About 10 kilos were on the first floor, ready for immediate distribution, authorities said, and about 264 kilos were in the basement.
Also found in the basement were seven 55-gallon drums that investigators suspect were used to ship the drugs, Blackburn said. Authorities claimed they don’t know where the McKendricks got the cocaine, but they believe the father and son sold it in bulk to other high-level dealers in the area.
Investigators are trying to track the origin of the metal drums, Blackburn said.
City records show that McKendrick Sr. owes $5,810.69 in property taxes, interest and penalties on 2606 Federal St., dating back to 1997. He also owes $464.52 to the city on 2604 Federal St. ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com