Black Mafia Family co-founder Big Meech released from federal prison

Big Meech, the infamous co-founder of the Black Mafia Family crime syndicate, has been released from federal prison.

Demetrius 'Big Meech' Flenory, 56, was transferred from FCI Coleman Low in Wildwood, Florida on Tuesday to community confinement overseen by the Bureau of Prison's Miami Residential Re-entry Program, according to TMZ.

He is now serving his sentence for building a nationwide money laundering and drug trafficking operation at a halfway house, and he is expected to be released on January 27, 2026, Complex reports.

Flenory was arrested in October 2005, when the Drug Enforcement Agency took down his and his brother's nationwide drug trafficking operation, and he was sentenced in 2008 to 30 years behind bars.

But earlier this year, a judge shortened his sentence by almost three years, after Barnett argued that he remained an upstanding citizen while serving time, including obtaining his GED, performing well in other classes and staying out of trouble.

Flenory's attorney, Brittany K Barnett, told TMZ she was 'overjoyed' that he is free after nearly 20 years behind bars.

She added that he used his time in prison to focus on personal growth, and said he now has the opportunity to start a new chapter in life.

He had founded Big Mafia Family, aka BMF, in 1985 as a creative agency and hip hop label with his brother, Terry Lee, also known as 'Southwest Tee.'

It promoted and was associated with up and coming hip hop artists like Jay Z, Newsweek reports.

But in the early 2000s, federal agents determined that the company was just a front for a nationwide cocaine trafficking and money laundering scheme, in which the brothers raked in more than $270million.

They said Demetrius was based in Atlanta, handling distribution, while Terry was in Los Angeles handling shipments of the drug from Mexican drug cartels.

An Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation into the label - with the help of the Drug Enforcement Agency's Special Operations Division - relied on information from low-level dealers and high-level distributors that worked for BMF to seize large quantities of drugs.

By October 2005, the DEA carried out a large-scale raid, arresting 30 members of the operation.

Agents also seized $2million in cash and assets - including weapons and two and a half kilograms of cocaine, while other law enforcement agents seized $21million worth of assets - including cash, jewelry, 13 homes in metropolitan Detroit, Los Angeles and Georgia, as well as three dozen vehicles.

Agents had also wiretapped Terry's phone, and overheard a conversation in which he raised concerns about Demetrius' excessive partying and the damage it was doing to their enterprise.

The two brothers were later indicted, with prosecutors presenting 900 pages of wiretapped conversation transcripts from Terry's phone over the course of five months.

They were charged under the Continuing Criminal Enterprise Statute, conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, possession with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and two counts of possession with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine.

Meanwhile, the Treasury Department reported in 2006 that 16 others had been charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and with money laundering, bringing the total number of those involved in the crime syndicate to 49. But by 2009, that number rose to 150.

The Flenory brothers ultimately pleaded guilty to running a continuing criminal enterprise 'involving the large-scale distribution of cocaine throughout the United States from 1990 through 2005,' according to court documents.

They were each then sentenced in November 2007 to serve 30 years behind bars.

'The BMF was a violent, sophisticated drug smuggling and money laundering organization that began right here in Detroit, Michigan,' Special Agent in Charge Robert Corso said at the time.

'Terry and Demetrius Flenory expanded what was a small, local operation into a multistate, multimillion-dollar criminal enterprise with direct links to Mexican-based drug trafficking cartels.

'Today's sentencings demonstrate that no matter how large the operation, or how much money a drug trafficker makes illegally, eventually the law and justice will catch up,' he said.

The agent added: 'This community and communities across the United States are safer with the Brothers Flenory behind bars.'

Terry was eventually released from home confinement on May 5, 2020, after being granted compassionate relief for ill health amid the COVID pandemic.

Demetrius' release comes ahead of the fourth season of 50 Cent's show, BMF, documenting the brother's criminal enterprise.

His own son plays him in the show, which has become one of Starz's largest hits, garnering guest stars like Snoop Dog, Yung Miami and even Eminem.