He Ruled Brownsville on Horseback: The Untold Story of Derrick 'Akbar' Ford

He led one of Brooklyn's largest gangs, got cast in The Education of Sonny Carson to play a fictionalized version of himself, then spent decades as the man Brownsville developers had to answer to, sometimes literally from horseback. Derrick "Akbar" Ford's story runs through a real 1981 Trump Tower labor protest, a 2003 mob racketeering case, and a death with no obituary, no record, no explanation. A deep dive into everything we could verify, and everything we still can't. Disclaimer: For educational and historical purposes only. This video does not condone, glorify, or encourage any criminal activity depicted. Some details come from community accounts and eyewitness testimony that could not be independently verified, and are presented as such.