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FILE-A prisoner’s hands are seen in a prison cell. (Photo by Giles Clarke/Getty Images)

Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory, the infamous co-founder of the Black Mafia Family crime enterprise, has been released from prison and will complete his sentence in a halfway house. TMZ reports this Wednesday.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons tells the entertainment media outlet that Flenory was transferred Tuesday from FCI Coleman Low in Wildwood to community confinement under the supervision of the Bureau of Prisons Miami Residential Reentry Management Office.

Flenory was arrested in 2005 and in 2008 he was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being convicted on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering. In 2024, a judge shortened his sentence by almost three years.

Flenory is expected to be released on January 27, 2026, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.

Who was the Black Mafia Family?

The BMF was founded in Detroit in 1985 and was led by brothers Demetrius and Terry Flenory. The crime syndicate was a drug trafficking and money laundering operation.

Newsweek reported that BMF had more than 500 members nationwide and earned more than $270 million between 1989 and 2005.

In 2000, the Flenory brothers built a cocaine distribution network through their Los Angeles-based drug sources and their connections to Mexican drug cartels.

According to Newsweek, Demetrius also launched BMF Entertainment, a hip-hop music company that served as a front for the brothers’ money laundering and other sources of income.

But in October 2005, the Drug Enforcement Agency conducted a drug raid, arresting thirty members of the BMF. $2 million worth of cash and assets, including weapons and cocaine, were seized during the raid. That same year, the Flenory brothers were indicted on multiple charges.

Citing court documents, Newsweek reported that the brothers pleaded guilty in 2007 to operating a continuing criminal enterprise “involving the large-scale distribution of cocaine” in the US from 1990 to 2005.

Demetrius and Terry were sentenced to 30 years in prison for being leaders of the criminal enterprise BMF.