Scotty Appleton (born 1954) was an NYPD detective who was best-known for his infiltration of Nino Brown's Cash Money Brothers gang in 1990.
Biography[]
Scotty Appleton was born in Harlem, New York City, New York in 1954, the son of a schoolteacher mother. His mother was shot by LA Boyz gang member Nino Brown on 23rd Street as a part of a gang initiation, and Appleton, motivated by a desire to avenge his mother's death, joined the NYPD as a policeman. Appleton worked undercover for years, posing as a drug dealer on many occasions. In 1990, he was assigned to take down Brown and his Cash Money Brothers organization.
Appleton was partnered with fellow maverick cop Nick Peretti by case handler Mario Stone, and the two cops initially disliked each other. They recruited Pookie Robinson, a former crack addict who Appleton had previously shot in 1986 and had forced into rehab, as an informant within the CMB. However, Robinson relapsed on drugs while a member of the gang, and he was later compromised and executed. The NYPD proceeded to storm the Carter Apartments crack den in an attempt to save him from the CMB, but many policemen and gangsters were killed in the shootout. 
Appleton and Peretti were then sent to go undercover as drug dealers to infiltrate the CMB. Under the alias "Mr. Washington", Appleton pretended to be a drug dealer, and he was introduced to CMB member Gee Money through Mafia member Frankie Needles. Appleton became "friends" with Brown after Gee Money introduced him to Brown, and he saved his life on a few occasions, even protecting him from a wedding shootout. Soon, Stone ordered Appleton and Peretti to take down Brown in a drug deal sting operation. At that moment, however, Brown's lieutenant Kareem Akbar recognized Appleton as the man who had shot Robinson back in 1986 after Robinson stole some drug money, and Akbar identified Appleton as "five-oh". A shootout ensued, and Peretti saved Appleton by killing the Duh Duh Duh Man. Brown would kill Gee Money for calling him an egomaniac, leaving him as the sole leader of his gang.
Brown ran his criminal empire out of his apartment, and Appleton forced a young teenager to tell him which apartment Brown lived in. Appleton and Peretti proceeded to storm the apartment, severely beat Brown, and throw him off of the fire escape into a pile of trash. Brown was savagely beaten by Appleton, who wanted to kill him to avenge his mother. However, the arrival of Stone and potential witness Selina Thomas persuaded Appleton to let him be dealt with "the right way".
At Brown's trial, he was sentenced to just one year in prison after he gave up all of his connections; the prosecuting attorney felt that it would be better to get the drugs off the streets rather than get Brown off the streets. Appleton was enraged, and he told Brown that he should have killed him himself. However, justice would soon be served. As Brown left the courtroom and talked with journalists, an angry old man shot Brown, who fell over the balcony of the spiral staircase to his death.