Scum
Georgetown
Redundant
John Turner and Rayful Edmond III had known each other since 7th grade when their mothers worked in the same government office. Edmond was a good student and a promising basketball player at Dunbar HS, but dropped out of UDC in the fall of 1986 to focus on the family's other business, which was drug dealing. Edmond's parents were reported to be active in the growing drug trade in the Washington area and Rayful had been involved as early as the age of nine. By 1989, Edmond controlled nearly
$2 MILLION OF CRACK cocaine sales PER WEEK in the District, employing a network of suppliers, dealers, and enforcers that totaled up to 150 people. The group even included his mother, sisters, brothers, brothers-in-law, a cousin and an aunt, all of whom were arrested in a 1989 DEA operation that eventuallty sentenced Edmond to two life terms without parole.
Edmond was a big basketball fan and a Georgetown one at that. He had no ties to the program before Turner arrived but would attend games at courtside at Capital Centre. When Turner joined the team, he would meet Turner and various teammates at clubs during the season, and invited Turner and Alonzo Mourning over to one of his houses to watch TV. Thompson told the players in no uncertain terms to stay away from Edmond and, in a famous one on one meeting, told Edmond to stay away from his team.
Mourning promptly disassociated himself with Edmond. But citing his close friendship with Edmond, Turner did not follow Thompson's order and reports continued to reach Thompson that the two were seen together, including at a Washington Bullets game and again at a local playground. In May, Turner said he was told by Thompson to get off campus within an hour, while the official release cited that Turner had voluntarily stepped aside because of unsatisfactory progress towards his degree.