In the late summer of 2011, the violent life of Garelle Smith, a 29-year-old Black male, came to an equally violent end. On Saturday, August 13, 2011, he was found dead on Hamburg Street in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana. Smith had been shot multiple times, with gunshot wounds to his head and chest. His death, like the many he was accused of causing, became another unsolved homicide in the city.
The New Orleans Police Department offered little comment on the case, and information about any potential suspects was not made public.
Smith was a man who had become a notorious figure in New Orleans, not for any single act, but for the string of serious accusations he consistently evaded. He had been arrested in connection with four different murders but was never convicted. Prosecutors often found their cases against him crumbling due to a lack of evidence and witnesses who were either too afraid to testify or unwilling to cooperate. This recurring theme of collapsed cases led some to view him as a symbol of a flawed criminal justice system.
Perhaps the most high-profile crime Smith was linked to was the 2003 murder of the promising New Orleans rapper James Tapp, who performed under the name Soulja Slim. Authorities believed Smith was a hired hitman, allegedly paid $10,000 for the killing, which was thought to be the result of a record label dispute. Despite being arrested for Soulja Slim's murder, and a ballistics test matching a gun found in his possession to the bullets that killed the rapper, the case was dropped because no witnesses would come forward. Smith was also a suspect in the slayings of two other local rappers, Spencer "Funk" Smith Jr. and Mandell Duplessis. In each instance, the outcome was the same: the charges were eventually dropped.
Despite his numerous arrests for violent crimes, the only conviction mentioned in several reports was for attempted possession of a firearm. His ability to repeatedly avoid conviction for murder charges made him a well-known figure to law enforcement and the public. Ultimately, the street justice he was so often accused of dispensing was visited upon him. His own murder remains without any publicly identified suspects or arrests, adding a final, violent chapter to his turbulent story.
