James Williams was a hero of hot New York summer nights. A streetball legend who showed others a way out. An untamable talent who fizzled in the pros and wrestled a bear for a paycheck. A reclamation project who taught through his errors. Now that he’s in prison, though, busted for running a heroin ring, his whole story needs retelling.
James Williams was a watched man when he strode with his arrogant gait into the Brownsville Recreation Center on the afternoon of July 14, 2016.
He wore eyeglasses with red lenses, two diamonds in his left ear and a gold chain around his neck as he arrived to oversee a youth basketball game in his old Brooklyn neighborhood.