⚖️ The Gutter Report: Paul “London” Thompson Returns to Court After Two Decades Behind Bars
The Staten Island legend who turned his cell into a classroom heads back before a judge.
This Monday, October 20th, 2025, Paul “London” Thompson — a name etched deep into the DNA of Stapleton, Staten Island — is set to appear before Judge Marina Cora Mundy in Richmond Supreme Court, Part 6.
The docket lists the case as #IND-00221-03, the same 2003 homicide that’s defined his legal battle for more than two decades.
But this isn’t a story about a man who disappeared behind the wall.
It’s about a man who refused to rot.
🩸 The Early Days — 1990: The Tompkinsville Era
Before “London” became a household name in Staten Island’s street history, he made headlines in 1990 after pleading guilty to manslaughter for the killing of a Tompkinsville drug kingpin.
It was the height of the crack era — when loyalty meant life insurance, and every block was its own battleground.
London did his time and came home sharper, more calculated, and more dangerous — not to others, but to the limits the world tried to place on him.
💼 From the Blocks to the Booths — The Entrepreneur Phase
When London touched back down, he wasn’t chasing the same life — he was chasing ownership.
He linked into the music industry, developing JoJo Pellegrino, a Staten Island lyricist who was rising through the ranks of New York’s underground scene.
Then he took his business international.
London started flying to China, forming direct relationships with manufacturers, and cutting out the middleman.
He was bringing back exclusive fabrics, fits, and designs — and flipping them in New York with surgical precision.
He turned fashion into commerce, commerce into power, and power into respect.
For a stretch, he had the whole hood on fire — not off the block, but off pure ingenuity.
He was building what most of us didn’t even have words for yet: a brand.
🔫 2003: The Stapleton Shooting That Shook the Island
By October 2003, London’s name was back in headlines — this time tied to the murder of Rasheem “Poppy” Williams, an alleged rival shot near Broad and Gordon Streets in Stapleton.
When police from the 120th Precinct moved in, they recovered:
A .380 pistol fitted with a silencer,
A hoodie,
And a fingerless glove later found in his pocket.
That glove became the centerpiece of the case.
No DNA linked Thompson to the silencer, but the glove was later reintroduced into evidence after being suppressed — a decision that would become the backbone of his appeal.
Despite the controversy, in 2007, Justice Stephen J. Rooney sentenced him to 25 years to life for second-degree murder and weapons possession.
🧠 From Prisoner to Paralegal — London the Lawman
Inside Green Haven Correctional Facility, London refused to fade into the background.
He lived in the law library, studying cases, filing motions, and mastering the same system that once buried him.
He’s been credited with helping overturn multiple wrongful convictions — including that of Grant Williams, the Wu-Tang Clan studio worker who was later exonerated and awarded $7 million by New York City in 2022. (Source: NBC News)
He also assisted Michael “ST” Montgomery, another Staten Island figure, in his own legal fight — using his intellect and precision to help men find light through the cracks.
He wasn’t just reading law books — he was rewriting fate.
🎓 | From inmate to intellect — London earns his degree behind the wall.
📘 | Paul “London” Thompson inside Green Haven — still smiling, still standing.
📚 2014: The Appeal and the Glove That Wouldn’t Go Away
In 2014, his defense team brought the case to the New York Court of Appeals, arguing the prosecution crossed lines by reintroducing the fingerless glove after summations.
The court acknowledged the irregularity but upheld the conviction, saying the trial’s integrity wasn’t “fatally impaired.”
London took the loss — but not the defeat.
He stayed locked in, turning his frustration into firepower for others.
🕰️ 2025: The Return to Richmond Supreme
Now, more than twenty years later, Paul “London” Thompson returns to the courtroom that defined his story — this time before Judge Marina Cora Mundy.
The official reason for the hearing hasn’t been made public, but to those who know, it feels different this time.
There’s hope in the air.
He’s not walking in as a statistic — he’s walking in as a symbol.
A man who’s spent decades fighting for truth, freedom, and legacy — not just for himself, but for everyone he’s ever helped.
🩶 Legacy & Lineage — The London Effect
For me, this one’s personal.
That hunger you see in LFTG Radio — that edge, that relentlessness, that refusal to fold — I got that from my uncle.
The same fearlessness that made him a legend in the streets is the same energy I bring to the mic and the keyboard.
He was fearless in real life — I’m fearless with words.
Different battlegrounds, same DNA.
He paved the road I’m walking now.
And as he heads back to court this Monday, I’m praying this one brings our family some good news for once.
Not because we need another win — but because he’s earned one.
📲 TikTok: @elliott_carterr
Not for clicks — for clarity.
Good morning and Godspeed.
— Elliott Carterr
