Swain said Coles and Baukman saw Take Down Records as the way to get Philly rap a national reputation.

"They were tired of seeing Philly messed up. . . . They wanted to show the hood there was a way out."

That's why, Swain said, Coles attended and helped promote antidrug rallies.

In the summer of 2003, Swain said, "we were doing one every week."

Occasionally, Coles and Baukman would pose at the rallies with some of the city's top officials, including Mayor Street, Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson, and District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham.

All of them said that they did not know either Coles or Baukman. Mayor Street goes to "an awful lot of antiviolence rallies . . . and his picture is taken frequently," said his spokesman, Joe Grace.

Coles would hang those photos in his Take Down Records office.

As for the gangster nicknames - Capone and Gotti - they were an affectation, Swain said. Part of the rap business.

"You know how many Gottis there are?" he said. "Noriegas?

"It's a rap thing. . . . You can't call yourself Ace Goody Two-Shoes. Nobody would respect you."

The message that rap was a way out of the 'hood was one that Cooper emphasized in the opening scene of the pilot for Streets Inc.

Coles and Baukman are driving around Philadelphia in a Mercedes. A cameraman is in the backseat. Coles is behind the wheel and doing most of the talking:

"Man, when you black and you from the 'hood, the odds is against you. There's only a couple of ways to get money - if you play ball, football or basketball. . . . Rappin'.

"Now rap, hip-hop takin' over. That's the only couple ways dudes is really gettin' out the 'hood, man.

"And that's why we got this record label."

Connections, questions

As Coles was wheeling and dealing in the entertainment world, investigators looking into his suspected drug operation in 2003 were beginning to track businesses that he and his associates had set up and properties they owned.