Biz Markie's former manager and business partner, Lamont Wanzer, is said to have had close ties to the DEA as an informant.
According to a warrant, Wanzer began working closely with the U.S. federal law enforcement agency once he was exposed for working with a drug organization that involved a drug lord named Richard Byrd and an attorney named Kenneth Ravenell. Although the 83-page document didn't mention the businessman's legal name, he was referred to throughout the transcription by his nickname, "Monte," and BizMont -- the company Wanzer ran with Biz Markie -- was referenced in recorded conversations.
Lamont Wanzer and Richard Byrd operated a marketing firm together, which was a front for laundering Byrd's drug money, but Biz Markie was never implicated in any of his former partner's criminal activity or DEA involvement. Wanzer passed away in 2014, nearly seven years before the passing of the legendary rap pioneer.
Source: Baltimore Sun
