Darryl Reed of Oakland: From Crack King to Obama’s Clemency

Darryl Reed, known on the streets of Oakland as “Lil D,” was the Bay Area’s most powerful crack cocaine dealer in the late 1980s. Arrested in December 1988 after officers caught him cooking nearly 30 pounds of cocaine in his Adams Point apartment, he was convicted in federal court and sentenced to 35 years in prison. He served 26 of them before President Barack Obama commuted his sentence in 2016, and he now runs a youth-focused nonprofit in Oakland.¹

How He Took Over Oakland’s Drug Trade

Reed was a nephew by marriage of Felix Mitchell, the heroin kingpin whose “69 Mob” ran East Oakland’s drug market in the early 1980s.¹ Mitchell was convicted in 1985 and killed at Leavenworth the next year. His removal did not shrink the local drug market. It fragmented it.²

Reed stepped into the opening. He took over what remained of Mitchell’s operation and shifted its product from heroin to crack cocaine, the drug then sweeping American cities.³ By 20, he was a millionaire whose network reached East, West, and North Oakland, sourced through Los Angeles connections.¹

The Scale of the Operation

Law enforcement described Reed as a hands-on operator who personally cooked powder cocaine into crack. Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Russ Giuntini called him “the most feared drug dealer in Oakland” and “the main man in Oakland if you wanted to buy quantities” of crack.⁴ Authorities said Reed’s group completed transactions of up to $900,000 in a single day.⁵

His crew carried automatic weapons, and investigators linked the organization to at least 10 drug-related shootings over roughly two years, including the killing of a 14-year-old boy.⁵ The influence spilled beyond the trade itself. Local businesses reportedly closed to the public when Reed arrived with his crew, and in December 1988, just before his arrest, he threw a birthday party for 3,000 guests that cost $30,000.¹

The 1988 Raid and Arrest

Oakland narcotics officer Ken Scott built the case over three months. He worked from an apartment directly above Reed’s Adams Point residence, where he could hear Reed cooking cocaine.⁶

When police entered on December 8, 1988, they found Reed with his hands in a metal soup pot cooking nearly 30 pounds of cocaine into crack.⁴ Officers seized 30 pounds of crack, 16 pounds of powder cocaine, $59,000 in cash, and a .45-caliber pistol.⁷ The drugs had an estimated street value of $3 million, described at the time as a record seizure.¹

Federal prosecutors charged Reed with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. Each count carried a possible life sentence and a $4 million fine.⁵

The 35-Year Federal Sentence

A federal jury convicted Reed, then 21, of manufacturing and possessing with intent to distribute 28 pounds of crack cocaine and possessing with intent to distribute 15.4 pounds of powdered cocaine. On January 29, 1990, U.S. District Judge Lowell Jensen sentenced him to 35 years in federal prison and imposed a $50,000 fine. Prosecutors had asked for 40 years; the defense proposed 30.⁸

The length was driven by the federal sentencing framework of the era. Under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, crack offenses triggered mandatory minimums at quantities 100 times smaller than powder cocaine. Five grams of crack carried the same five-year floor as 500 grams of powder.⁹ Congress narrowed the ratio to 18-to-1 with the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, but did not apply the change retroactively to people already sentenced.¹⁰

Prison Years and Youth Mentorship

Reed served time at Terminal Island Federal Prison in California and later at a federal facility in Oregon.³ Behind bars, he began working with the Urban Peace Movement, an Oakland racial justice group founded in 2009 by Nicole Lee. He called into meetings to speak with young people, and Lee described him as a “mentor to hundreds of youth” who saw it as “his responsibility to turn the tide the other way and use his life experience to steer youth in Oakland in a positive direction.”¹¹

Reed and former associates also helped coordinate an anti-violence song called “Oakland” featuring local rappers E-40, Too Short, and Yuckmouth.³

Obama’s Clemency and Reed’s Release

On August 30, 2016, President Obama commuted Reed’s sentence, setting a release date of December 28, 2016.¹² The commutation came through the administration’s clemency initiative for prisoners serving outdated drug sentences, particularly nonviolent offenders sentenced under the old crack framework.¹⁰ The Urban Peace Movement had submitted a letter to the president supporting his petition.¹

The decision was not universally welcomed. Retired prosecutor Russ Giuntini, who had led Alameda County’s major narcotics unit from 1988 to 1999, publicly criticized the commutation and compared Reed’s impact on Oakland to that of Al Capone or John Gotti on their cities.¹

Reed walked free on December 28, 2016, after a period of home confinement, having served 26 years. On the day of his release he was seen donating toys to children in Oakland for Christmas. “I’m going to take the negative about my journey and turn it into a positive,” he said. “The things that I went through that got me where I’m at now are giving me the tools to take my life story and share it with the world.”¹³

What He Does Now

Reed founded the Darryl Reed Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at young people in communities affected by the war on drugs. The foundation lists education, career training, and mental health and wellness as its core focus areas, and it works with local leaders and mentors to reach at-risk youth. It runs annual fundraisers and community events, including toy drives.¹⁴

1
East Bay Times. Oakland Crack King Darryl Reed Gets Clemency From Obama
2
BlackPast. Felix Wayne Mitchell (1954–1986)
3
Mercury News. Former Drug Dealer Speaks to Youth, Urges a Different Path
4
Los Angeles Times. Oakland Drug Dealer Charged
5
UPI. Bloody New Drug War Feared
6
Mercury News. Oakland Crack King Darryl Reed Gets Clemency From Obama
7
UPI. Millionaire Street Crack Dealer Charged
8
Los Angeles Times. Drug Dealer Gets 35 Years
9
U.S. Sentencing Commission. Amendment 706
10
The Marshall Project. Obama Commutes the Sentences of 61 Federal Prisoners, Many With Crack Convictions
11
ABC7 News. Sentence Commuted for Former East Bay Drug Dealer
12
U.S. Department of Justice. President Obama Grants Commutations
13
NBC Bay Area. Crack King Freed After Obama Pardon Looks to Positive Future
14
Darryl Reed Foundation. Darryl Reed Foundation