Book: Whitney Houston Paid $400K Ransom for Bobby Brown

Are you prepared for some drama!

According to a new book, Whitney Houston paid $400,000 to save then-husband Bobby Brown's life after he was held for ransom by a murderous New York gang.

The author, ex-convict David Collins, was a member of the gang - known as The Preacher Crew. And in an exclusive interview, Collins told The Enquirer how poor Bobby wound up naked and hog-tied at a gang hideout.

"It was April 1993. Whitney's movie The Bodyguard and the movie's album were big hits," said Collins, whose book "Preacher of the Streets" tells the inside story of the gang and Brown's kidnapping.

According to Collins, Bobby got about $25,000 worth of cocaine from a dealer in New Jersey, where Bobby and Whitney lived - and told the dealer he'd pay him later. But soon the drug dealer was fuming because Bobby couldn't be reached. (Sounds familiar and not far-fetched.)

The dealer, Luke, was on a visit to Atlantic City when he bumped into a friend, Clarence Heatley, a 6-foot-7, 260-pound mountain of evil who was kingpin of the notorious Preacher Crew gang.

Heatley - whose fiery oratory earned him the nickname "Preacher" - dealt his poison in Harlem and the Bronx.

Torture was the gang's trademark. Members would slice off body parts of rival dealers before killing them. When Preacher met Luke in Atlantic City, Luke mentioned that Bobby Brown owed him about $25,000 and was ducking him.

"Preacher came up with a plan to make himself a lot more than $25,000," Collins said. "He paid Luke the money Bobby owed and told Luke, 'His debt is now my problem.'"

So, Simon Cowell is the least of Bobby Brown's worries.


via