The Family was founded by Akbar Pray in Newark, New Jersey in the early 1970s, and collapsed several years after he was sentenced to life in prison in 1990.
A Newark-based cocaine and marijuana trafficking organization, called The Family, operates in several areas of the country.
It was headed by Wayne (Akbar) Pray for nearly 20 years until his incarceration in federal prison in 1989 for life, without the opportunity for parole.
Director Coleman related how Pray built up The Family through "fear, intimidation and violence," directed primarily against rivals for the drug trade.
Pray's drug trafficking venture started out in a small area of Essex County and eventually extended to several states, including Ohio, Michigan, New York and Southern Florida.
Reliable sources have indicated that Pray has maintained his customers and contacts and is still overseeing his drug transactions from prison.