Dangerfield

In 97 minutes, a federal jury changed the course of George A. Dangerfield Jr.'s life yesterday -- transforming the self-styled "King of Baltimore" into a two-time convicted drug dealer with at least a decade in prison ahead of him."I'm walking out of here today," Dangerfield declared in an interview minutes before the verdict came in."One way or another, I'm walking out of here today."Called back into court at 3 p.m., the 29-year-old president of Estate Management Inc. deflated in his chair as the jury's decision came in after less than two hours of deliberation -- "guilty of drug conspiracy."

Even at an early age, George A. Dangerfield Jr. had the gift. The wide, easy grin. The firm handshake. Ambition. Drive. A head for numbers that would serve him well as one of the city's largest landlords.He opened his first business when he was 12 years old -- a sweetly smiling kid selling frozen Kool-Aid cups out the back door of his parents' rowhouse on Cliftwood Avenue. In two hot summers, he earned enough to buy a motor scooter."His hero was Evel Knievel, the stuntman," says Elizabeth Dangerfield, allowing a faint laugh at the memory of her youngest son's daredevil exploits.

Jury selection will resume today in the U.S. District Court drug trafficking trial of George A. Dangerfield Jr., who is accused of masterminding a drug ring and using the profits to build an East Baltimore real estate empire of 125 rental houses. The panel selection was halted yesterday after about an hour because Dangerfield's lawyer, Stephen H. Sacks, had to make an unanticipated appearance in an unrelated case in Baltimore Circuit Court. Before the Dangerfield case was adjourned, Sacks again asked the court to move the case to another community.

IN THIS dreary federal courtroom yesterday sat the lady friend of George A. Dangerfield Jr. He is the famously accused narcotics trafficker and slumlord. She is the true believer that he is neither. Somewhere, as a jury gathered to decide Dangerfield's fate, reality beckoned."This is my shield," the lady friend said. She held up a worn copy of her Bible. She is 26 years old and a vision of religious innocence. As she endured the jury's deliberations -- which lasted roughly 90 minutes and ended in pronouncement of Dangerfield's guilt -- the young lady could be seen as one of those blinded by wondrous surface illusions in a city that has given ground each day to its scavengers.

On April 11, 2008, THOMAS DANGERFIELD, SR. Friends may visit the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST INC., 4300 Wabash Avenue, on Monday after 8:30 A.M. The family will receive Friends on Tuesday at Macedonia Baptist Church, 718 W. Lafayette Avenue at 10:30 A.M, followed by funeral service at 11 A.M.

Browns@Bills 8:30 p.m. [ESPN] There's a lot of pride on the line in this one. Call this one the Rodney Dangerfield Bowl. After all, don't these two cities lead the NFL in disrespect? I'm reminded of the time Len Barker pitched a no-hitter for the Indians and a baseball writer, told that there had been a perfect game in Cleveland, replied: "There's no such thing."

A 29-year-old convicted drug dealer who sprang to public attention two months ago when it was revealed that he owned more than 120 rental houses in East Baltimore now faces a broad legal attack that could dismember his real estate empire.Most recently, federal prosecutors notified George A. Dangerfield Jr. that they will ask for double the normal sentence if he is convicted of a cocaine conspiracy charge at a June trial in U.S. District Court.That could add up to at least 10 years in prison and a $4 million fine that would consume his holdings and burden him with a lifetime of debt.

A Baltimore Circuit Court judge sealed all court records yesterday in a $500,000 wrongful eviction lawsuit brought by two former tenants of George A. Dangerfield Jr., a 29-year-old convicted drug dealer who owns more than 125 rental houses in the city.Judge Bonita J. Dancy issued a gag order requested by Dangerfield's lawyers, barring the parties from talking about the case in public. She then took the unusual step of sealing all court records, including tape recordings of yesterday's hearing.

George A. Dangerfield Jr., a convicted drug dealer described by city housing officials as one of Baltimore's worst scofflaw landlords, agreed yesterday to pay up to $100,000 in damages to an impoverished couple that he illegally evicted from their home.The settlement ended a lawsuit by former tenants Eric Holmes, 43, and his fiancee, Rosetta Bailey, 38, who were homeless for nearly two years after the incident.The couple charged that Dangerfield ordered a group of thugs to break down their door, drag them from their bed and cast them into the street in their underwear on a hot summer night two years ago as the landlord leaned against his Rolls-Royce, laughing.

Eric Holmes was not accustomed to living on the street. From the comfort of his parents' Park Heights rowhouse to a U.S. Army barracks in Germany to his own modest rental dwelling in East Baltimore, a roof above his head seemed a small given.Two years without one taught him a simple, but profound lesson: "You get sick, a lot, and you get mad."This is the essence of case #CC3258, Holmes vs. Dangerfield, set to begin in Baltimore Circuit Court today. Holmes and his fiancee are suing former landlord, George A. Dangerfield Jr., for allegedly hiring a group of thugs to illegally evict them from their Patterson Park rowhouse on a sweltering summer night two years ago.In a last-minute maneuver to stave off the former tenants, Dangerfield's lawyers filed bankruptcy papers late Wednesday afternoon, declaring their client all but penniless and seeking a court order protecting him from lawsuits.