Brother of cocaine kingpin is arrested
'Jo Jo' Flowers held by Alameda police after bizarre encounter in car
By Susan McDonough, STAFF WRITER
ALAMEDA — The brother of notorious Oakland cocaine kingpin Anthony Flowers was arrested Wednesday after a bizarre but mostly peaceful standoff with police, authorities said.
Joseph "Jo Jo" Flowers, 32, was charged Thursday with resisting arrest after he locked himself inside his car for 45 minutes and refused to talk to police.
Officers were trying to arrest him on two separate outstanding warrants, the most serious a probation violation originally for a felony narcotics distribution charge.
Flowers — a former rapper and convicted member of a huge drug cartel that a decade ago sold more than 100 pounds of drugs a month in Oakland — was loitering Wednesday in a parking lot behind a Shoreline Drive apartment complex, police said.
Police said Flowers' "lady friend" lives in the beachfront Shoreline Apartments.
Flowers raised neighbors' suspicions by sitting in his black Mercedes for hours and moving it from parking spot to parking spot. Witnesses also reported Flowers was walking on the roof of the car and kicked in the back window.
Flowers' erratic behavior continued when police responded to a neighbor's complaint about 8 p.m.
Police said Flowers refused to provide any personal information and locked himself inside the Mercedes. He kept reaching under the seat as if he had a weapon, but instead he would pull out a sheet of paper, write some song lyrics on it, rip it up and throw it out the window, according to police.
"It was as if he was taunting (police)," said Alameda police Officer Robert Frankland. "Officers showed tremendous restraint (by) not firing."
Police were able to run an identification check on the car using the vehicle identification number. The car, which had no license plates, came back registered to Flowers. A computer-generated booking photo confirmed the suspect was Flowers, police said.
After negotiating with the Oakland man through the Mercedes' sunroof for close to an hour, police broke the passenger window. Flowers jumped out the driver's side and was arrested, police said.
He is in police custody on $10,000 bail.
Flowers was arrested in Hayward in 1994 for his role in one of Northern California's largest and deadliest drug operations. Flowers' older brother Anthony, or "Ant," was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison for running the violent cartel that with another group controlled the majority of cocaine trafficking in the East Bay.
In 1987, "Jo Jo" Flowers, then 14, and his cousin Jamie Hathorne, were shot in the head and left for dead on a desolate stretch of road near Tracy after being robbed of cash, jewelry and narcotics.
Flowers survived the shooting, but his cousin died days later.
'Jo Jo' Flowers held by Alameda police after bizarre encounter in car
By Susan McDonough, STAFF WRITER
ALAMEDA — The brother of notorious Oakland cocaine kingpin Anthony Flowers was arrested Wednesday after a bizarre but mostly peaceful standoff with police, authorities said.
Joseph "Jo Jo" Flowers, 32, was charged Thursday with resisting arrest after he locked himself inside his car for 45 minutes and refused to talk to police.
Officers were trying to arrest him on two separate outstanding warrants, the most serious a probation violation originally for a felony narcotics distribution charge.
Flowers — a former rapper and convicted member of a huge drug cartel that a decade ago sold more than 100 pounds of drugs a month in Oakland — was loitering Wednesday in a parking lot behind a Shoreline Drive apartment complex, police said.
Police said Flowers' "lady friend" lives in the beachfront Shoreline Apartments.
Flowers raised neighbors' suspicions by sitting in his black Mercedes for hours and moving it from parking spot to parking spot. Witnesses also reported Flowers was walking on the roof of the car and kicked in the back window.
Flowers' erratic behavior continued when police responded to a neighbor's complaint about 8 p.m.
Police said Flowers refused to provide any personal information and locked himself inside the Mercedes. He kept reaching under the seat as if he had a weapon, but instead he would pull out a sheet of paper, write some song lyrics on it, rip it up and throw it out the window, according to police.
"It was as if he was taunting (police)," said Alameda police Officer Robert Frankland. "Officers showed tremendous restraint (by) not firing."
Police were able to run an identification check on the car using the vehicle identification number. The car, which had no license plates, came back registered to Flowers. A computer-generated booking photo confirmed the suspect was Flowers, police said.
After negotiating with the Oakland man through the Mercedes' sunroof for close to an hour, police broke the passenger window. Flowers jumped out the driver's side and was arrested, police said.
He is in police custody on $10,000 bail.
Flowers was arrested in Hayward in 1994 for his role in one of Northern California's largest and deadliest drug operations. Flowers' older brother Anthony, or "Ant," was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison for running the violent cartel that with another group controlled the majority of cocaine trafficking in the East Bay.
In 1987, "Jo Jo" Flowers, then 14, and his cousin Jamie Hathorne, were shot in the head and left for dead on a desolate stretch of road near Tracy after being robbed of cash, jewelry and narcotics.
Flowers survived the shooting, but his cousin died days later.
