Career
He became the first black man to own and operate the Apollo Theater in Harlem when he purchased it in 1977. Fisher is currently serving a life sentence at the United States Penitentiary, Tucson in Arizona. In 1984, Fisher was convicted of multiple counts of RICO violations, including continuing criminal conspiracy, drug trafficking, and murder, and was sentenced to life in prison without eligibility for parole.
In 1978, Barnes was tried and convicted on multiple racketeering counts and sentenced to life without eligibility for parole.
The prosecutor in the case was Rudolph Giuliani, who would later become mayor of New York City. Eleven months after his incarceration, Barnes telephoned Federal prosecutors indicating that he would agree to become a government informant in their case against Fisher and others
Barnes claims that he decided to testify because Fisher was having an affair with his mistress. In exchange for his information, Barnes was released into the federal Witness Protection Program.
