Tonesa Welch

Tonesa Welch is famous for being the first lady of BMF, Black Mafia Family, a drug trafficking and money laundering organization founded by Demetrius "Big Meech" Flenory and his brother Terry "Southwest Tee" Flenory.

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Early life

Welch was born in a middle-class family on the west side of Detroit. She lived with her mother, stepdad, and three brothers, one of whom was later killed. 

Most of her family members worked at an auto company. According to her, she didn't have a real relationship with her biological father until she grew older.

Welch gave birth to her first child at the age of nineteen. The child's father is her high-school sweetheart. 

They later broke up, and she ended up being a single mother.

Tonesa on how she got into the world of drugs and how her ex-husband once tried to kill her.

Welch was 19 when she went to a party with one of her brothers' girlfriends on the east side of Detroit that changed her whole life. 

She was so drawn towards the East Side lifestyle, and her whole experience turned her life around. 

It was there where she met drug dealer Harold, her ex-husband. Until then, she was sheltered from drugs and heroin.

Because she was so captivated by the money and the lavish lifestyle she would get from it, she had no fear at all. 

She knew by talking to Harold and seeing the crowd she was with that the way to get it was to get the quantity and sell it, and the faster the selling, the faster the money. 

At 19, she was living the life she wanted to live. 

It was her brain that they later expanded their business to the west side of Detroit as she knew there were more crowds using the drugs and had more money. 

As she had expected, they started making more and more money. 

It was Harold’s idea to recruit some of the guys in the business to help them out, and they were Big Meech and his brother Southwest Tee, who later formed BMF.

Everything was going well between her and Harold before their relationship started taking a rocky patch. 

It became so abusive that her husband Harold once tried killing her. 

But before that, she attempted to kill him, stabbing him in the chest, and she landed up in prison. Harold luckily survived.

However, they got back together and started living together and were on their business. 

She thought he wouldn’t do that again, and he didn’t, but only for a while. 

She eventually ended up divorcing Harold while he was in prison and started dating Southwest Tee. 

But after Harold comes out from prison, he attempts to kill her, setting up with one of her friends whom she confided her. 

She asked her to go out with her, and she agreed. 

When they reached outside the bar, her instinct told her not to go inside, and she started heading towards her home when she saw a truck plowing dead into her. 

The only thing she remembered was Harold hitting her and later waking up at the hospital banged up very badly. 

She recalled Harold telling her that he was going to take her life at the time, but something told him not to.

She was sentenced to five years imprisonment 

Big Meech and Southwest Tee pleaded guilty to running a continuing criminal enterprise in November 2007 and were sentenced to 30 years imprisonment, while she ended up pleading guilty to seven years. 

According to her, she went to the court to plead to get her sentence accepted, but the judge didn't accept her plea because she felt she was a victim of her circumstances. 

The judge gave her extra time off, and she was sentenced to 57 months. She was released in 2012. 

Southwest Tee was granted a compassionate release over COVID-19 concerns in 2020.

Her life behind the bars changed her life for good

Welch described her time behind bars to be the worst nightmare ever. 

In an interview with HIPHOP DX, she said she is happy that she went to prison, explaining that she was hit with reality once she woke up, all that junk and all that stuff came pouring out of her body. 

“I realized that this is not the life. This can’t be it, and this is not my life. I am better than this. I’ve been doing this for so long. I was happy that prison changed me”, she expressed.

Welch's first job in prison was in the prison Chapel, where she got connected to God even more. 

According to Welch, she went to the chapel from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day and did not leave until the count time because she had to go through it.

Net Worth

According to the sources, her net worth is estimated to be around $1 million.

Age 

1. She was born on the 13th of August, 1971. She is currently 52 years old.