Overview
Kevin Chiles was active in the late-1980s and early-1990s New York cocaine trade and later served a federal prison sentence for cocaine trafficking. After prison, he became closely associated with Don Diva, a magazine developed from an idea he advanced while incarcerated and focused on the history and culture of the Black criminal underworld.
Harlem and Washington
In later interviews, Chiles describes his operation as spanning Harlem and Washington, D.C., with substantial earnings coming from the District. He identifies Azie Faison, Rich Porter, Alpo Martinez, Fritz, Supreme, Fat Cat Nichols, and Domencio Benson as contemporaries operating in distinct New York markets.
These retrospective descriptions are valuable for reconstructing interpersonal geography, but they should be treated as participant testimony rather than as substitutes for court records.
Federal Case and Imprisonment
Contemporary reporting on Don Diva described Chiles as having served a ten-year sentence for cocaine dealing and being released in 2003. Later participant accounts describe a larger continuing-criminal-enterprise prosecution and two mistrials before a plea agreement. The precise charging history should be tied to the underlying docket before a dedicated case page is published.
Historical Significance
Chiles is important in two roles: as a trafficker connecting Harlem and Washington, and as a later narrator and publisher who helped preserve the names, relationships, language, and memory of the crack-era underworld. His testimony should be cross-checked, but it is especially useful for identifying contemporaries who never generated large public court records.