There was a moment in time when Whitney Houston would do anything for her love, Bobby Brown — even if that meant paying a $400,000 ransom to save the R&B bad boy's life.
David "Popcorn" Collins, a former gangster in Harlem, New York, said there was no real beef with Bobby Brown when his gang, the Preacher Crew, run by Clarence Heatley, aka "Preacher," kidnapped him in the ’90s. Collins was an eyewitness to the entire plot and has shared his account of what happened on various platforms, especially in his books, “Preacher of the Streets” and “No More Harlem: The David Collins Story.”
"It was April 1993. Whitney’s movie ‘The Bodyguard’ and the movie’s album were big hits," he said in a 2009 interview with The National Enquirer before breaking down what happened on the night his gang decided to snatch up one of music’s biggest stars.
Preacher, the gang's leader, and his crew decided to take a trip to Atlantic City, New Jersey, to indulge in some bottle-popping. Spur-of-the-moment trips to go party were a way of life for The Preacher Crew, who were big spenders known for making a great deal of money selling cocaine, crack, heroin, PCP, and other drugs in Harlem and the Bronx.
The night was full of revelry. However, things took a turn when they met up with a dealer named “Luke” from New Jersey, who claimed he and his crew had a beef with Bobby Brown. Allegedly, the “Don’t Be Cruel” singer owed them $25,000 for a kilo of cocaine he copped from them on consignment.
"When we see this motherf—r Bobby Brown, we gonna kill him," Collins says Luke told Preacher. "He borrowed a ki of coke from us about three months ago, and he's ducking us."
Brown was a titan of a star in 1993. His sophomore solo album sold over 7 million copies, and he had five songs from the project that landed in the Top 10 slots of Billboard Hot 100 hits.
He had also just married Whitney Houston in 1992. The couple shared a lavish mansion in Mendham, New Jersey, and because Mendham was right over the George Washington Bridge, Bobby often made trips to NYC to frequent The New Yorker — the same club where Sean "Puffy" Combs, Jennifer Lopez, and Bad Boy rapper Shyne would be involved in an infamous shootout years later.
Knowing Bobby's nightly hangout spot, Preacher and his crew offered to settle Bobby's debt.
"Preacher came up with a plan to make himself a lot more than $25,000," Collins told the National Enquirer.
“I tell you what, let me buy that beef from you. I'm gonna give you $10,000 right now, and it is no longer your problem. It is my problem. You ain't got nothing to do with that,” Preacher said, according to Collins.
The Preacher Crew, who terrorized the Bronx and Harlem, were responsible for 47 murders by the early 1990s. The notorious gang was known for its torture tactics. They would chop off body parts and even kill to get what they wanted.
After paying Luke and his crew $10,000 to resolve the issue, Preacher devised a pla
