Kenneth A. "Kenny" Jackson (born 1957) is an American businessman in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, with alleged past connections to the

illegal drug trade The illegal drug trade, drug trafficking, or narcotrafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of drug prohibition, prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibitionism, prohibit trade, exce ...

in the city. He is alleged to be one of the Baltimore figures whose stories are dramatized in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

series ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...

'', but his actual influence upon the show is disputed. The connections among drug trafficking, legitimate businesses, and political donations depicted in ''The Wire'' reflect aspects of Jackson's life.

Early life

Jackson was born in 1957 and raised in the Latrobe Homes in

East Baltimore This list of Baltimore neighborhoods includes the neighborhoods of Baltimore, Maryland, divided into nine geographical regions: North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West, Northwest, and Central. Each district is patrolled by a re ...

. When he was seventeen, he committed his first murder when he killed a Baltimore business man during a robbery. With drug and gang influence Jackson was able to secure a high-profile lawyer and gain an acquittal on a technicality.

Legal trouble

He was convicted in 1978 for manslaughter, in 1979 for resisting arrest, and in 1984 on a drug charge. Jackson took an

Alford plea In United States law, an Alford plea, also called a Kennedy plea in West Virginia, an Alford guilty plea, and the Alford doctrine, is a guilty plea in criminal court, whereby a defendant in a criminal case does not admit to the criminal act a ...

in 1977 on a charge of manslaughter, and his sentence was suspended. Jackson's name appeared in the

Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publish ...

's 1987 series ''Easy Money: Anatomy of a Drug Empire'', the author of which was

David Simon David Judah Simon (born February 9, 1960) is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work on ''The Wire'' (2002–2008). He worked for ''The Baltimore Sun'' City Desk for twelve years (1982–1995), wrote '' ...

, who went on to be the creator, executive producer, and head writer of ''The Wire''. In the newspaper series, Simon claims that Jackson used to be one of the trusted surrogates of Melvin Williams, a legendary Baltimore

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

dealer whose story influenced ''The Wire'' character

Avon Barksdale Avon Randolph Barksdale is a fictional character in the American television series ''The Wire'', played by Wood Harris. Barksdale is one of the most powerful drug dealers in Baltimore, Maryland, and runs the Barksdale Organization. Stringer Bell ...

. Jackson explicitly denies any past connection to Williams. Jackson is believed to be responsible for initiating a 1981 drug war for control of the Lafayette Court housing project. In the mid-1980s Jackson was convicted on a federal gun charge, but was acquitted of murder charges in 1991. In 1992, Jackson pled a bribery charge down to one count of giving false information to a state trooper. Federal tax-evasion charges were dropped in 1994.

Business career

By 1984, Jackson owned a mini-market, a shoe store, a produce and carry-out stand, rental properties in West Baltimore, and ran his family's business. But his most successful business venture has been the Eldorado Lounge, an adult entertainment club in East Baltimore. In 1978, Jackson's mother, Rosalie, acquired the Eldorado Lounge from Michael Stewart.Eldoradoloungebaltimore.net
/ref> Rosalie hired Kenny to manage the club; and in 1986, Kenny advanced the Eldorado Lounge's format. The Eldorado Lounge property was sold in 2000 but re-emerged in 2003 at a different location on East Lombard Street, outside downtown. Kenny Jackson continues to run the Eldorado Lounge there. In 2007, Jackson earned a business degree from

American InterContinental University American InterContinental University (AIU) is a private for-profit university with its headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois. It employs open admissions. American InterContinental University is a member of the American InterContinental Universit ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Political activities

In 1995, Jackson was involved in establishing a

political action committee In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...

("PAC") that advocated for convicts' voting rights. The PAC donated a total of $8,000 to the campaigns of various Democratic political candidates, including then-mayor

Kurt Schmoke Kurt Lidell Schmoke (born December 1, 1949) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 47th mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, from 1987 to 1999, the first African American to be elected to the post. He is a former dean of the Howard University ...

and future mayor

Sheila Dixon Sheila Ann Dixon (born December 27, 1953) is an American politician who served as the 48th mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, after mayor Martin O'Malley was sworn in as governor on January 17, 2007. Dixon, then president of the Baltimore City Counci ...

. Jackson's PAC no longer operates. After the Eldorado Lounge property was sold, Jackson contributed $2,500 to then-City Council President Dixon. Dixon was criticized for her role in the sale of the property after a story regarding the sale appeared in the ''Baltimore Sun'' in 2000. Then-Mayor

Martin O'Malley Martin Joseph O'Malley (born January 18, 1963) is an American politician who served as the 17th commissioner of the Social Security Administration from 2023 to 2024. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was th ...

returned $2,000 which he had received from Rosalie. Rosalie also donated $1,000 to

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...

's 2000 presidential primary campaign.

Possible connections to ''The Wire''

In Season 5 of ''The Wire'', the show's fictional ''Sun'' reports on the sale of a strip-club property owned by a drug dealer, Fat Face Rick. Nerese Campbell, the fictional City Council President is then shown angrily reading a critical newspaper article about her role in the sale. The anecdote appears to allude to Sheila Dixon's part in the sale of the Eldorado Lounge. Another similarity to Jackson's life is the entrepreneurial impulse of

Stringer Bell Russell "Stringer" Bell is a fictional character in ''The Wire'', played by Idris Elba. In the criminal world of early 2000s Baltimore, Bell serves as drug kingpin Avon Barksdale's second-in-command and assumes direct control of the Barksdale O ...

, the number-two in Barksdale's organization. In Season 1 of ''The Wire'', detective

Jimmy McNulty James McNulty is a fictional character and the protagonist of the HBO drama ''The Wire'', played by Dominic West. McNulty is an Irish-American detective in the Baltimore Police Department. While talented in his profession, McNulty's conceited ...

tracks Bell to his business course at a local community college. According to Jackson, Baltimore police actually were present while he took classes at Baltimore Community College. On the show, Bell strives to become a part of the legitimate business world and even gets involved in bribing politicians. Jackson has collaborated with Nathan Barksdale on an unreleased docudrama titled ''Baltimore Chronicles: Legends of the Unwired''.">Last Word: Nathan "Bodie" Barksdale and Kenny Jackson tell their versions of Baltimore's street life in The Baltimore Chronicles: Legends of the Unwired , Baltimore City Paper

References

External links

* http://www.eldoradoloungebaltimore.net/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Kenneth A. Living people American businesspeople American businesspeople convicted of crimes Year of birth missing (living people)