Donald Goines "Street Players"

In this, his fourth novel, Goines tests the tensile strenght of a ghetto spawn who clawed his way to the top and fights like hell to stay there. He's known as "Earl the Black Pearl," and he's left his homeboys behind-way behind.He's cool, sharp as ice crystal, and it seems no one can touch him. Until someone even higher up puts the heat on and his friends begin dropping like flies-of lead poisoning. That's when Earl fights back...and all hell breaks loose!