‘First Lady of BMF’ Tonesa Welch biopic to debut on BET+ in October

The Black Mafia Family’s popular Starz show highlights the Flenory brothers, and now it’s Welch’s turn to have her story told

Sep 29, 2023 at 10:54 am

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First Lady of BMF: The Tonesa Welch Story is set to debut on BET+ on Oct. 5.

Tonesa Welch is considered the First Lady of Detroit’s kingpin Black Mafia Family. Interest in BMF has surged since 50 Cent’s BMF series started airing on Starz, but a new biopic on Welch will shine a light on her story.

First Lady of BMF: The Tonesa Welch Story is set to debut on BET+ on Oct. 5. The film is based on Welch’s true-life story and chronicles how she got introduced to Detroit’s drug world in the 1980s through a drug dealer named H, who enticed her with a fast-paced and glamorous lifestyle. After H got locked up, Welch met Terry Flenory (Southwest T) of BMF.

In a trailer for the First Lady of BMF biopic, we see Welch being physically abused by her former husband H before she links up with Southwest T and becomes a powerful part of the BMF criminal empire, and eventually ends up in jail.

Made-in-Detroit Starz crime drama ‘BMF’ is all about family: As it heads into its second season, the hit TV series gets a real-life Motor City story right

First Lady of BMF: The Tonesa Welch Story is directed by Vivica A. Fox and executive produced by Tressa Smallwood and Judge Greg Mathis. Michelle Mitchenor stars as Welch alongside Tobias Truvillion, Jessica “Jess Hilarious” Moore, Kellie Williams, Leon, Tristin Fazekas, Faith Malonte and Daphnique Springs.

Welch was previously featured on an episode of the BET+ unscripted true crime series American Gangster: Trap Queens. On the Starz BMF series, Terry Flenory’s girlfriend MarKaisha Taylor is based on Welch and played by LaLa Anthony. Welch has previously expressed disapproval of how she has been portrayed on the show.

Slideshow

The best Detroit moments from ‘BMF’ season 2 [PHOTOS]

Coney Island restaurants (throughout the series)Just like in real life, Coney Island diners are like a character in the BMF series, where you’ll find coney dogs — and also drug deals, meet-ups, sex, and shootouts.

Episode 1: The Raven LoungeIn episode one, K-9 invites Meech to a business dinner at the historic Raven Lounge, which opened in 1966 by Sam Watts and prides itself on being Detroit’s oldest blue’s bar. The club was created “to give up-and-coming Motown [talent] a place to play,” owner Tommy Stephens told National Geographic “It’s where stars came to listen to the blues.” Those stars included B.B. King, Diana Ross, Martha Reeves, and Smokey Robinson.

Episode 1: Chinatown“My sister and I used to ride our bikes all over the place when Chinatown was still around,” detective Jin (played by Kelly Hu) tells her partner during a car ride. “And then they started displacing us to the Cass Corridor…”The Chinatown comment speaks to the city’s Chinese-American community, which government leaders in Detroit unsuccessfully tried to relocate in the 1950s. It by far wasn’t one of Detroit’s finer moments, and oftentimes gets overlooked at how it impacted Detroit’s Asian-American community.“I remember doing the research on that and how they really just got rid of Chinatown. They tried to move it to another area, and it never really stuck, and so much of the gentrification of Detroit started during that period,” Hu tells Metro Times.

Episode 3: Devil’s Night/Angel’s NightEpisode 3 starts off by giving viewers an oral and visual history of Devil’s Night fire-starters in Detroit, but also sees Charles Flenoy (Russell Hornsby) with his two sons (younger versions of Meech and Terry) chasing a would-be arsonist away.“These things are saying, ‘Hey, we’re taking our city back, we’re here to protect our residents, our people, we’re here to keep everybody safe,’” Hornsby tells Metro Times. “I think things like that are needed all across the country. Detroit’s going to take something negative and turn it into a positive and it’s a beautiful thing.”

Episode 3: GatorsIn episode 3, Alvin (played by Donnell Rawlings) watches Lamar (played by Eric Kofi-Abrefa) remove a deceased man’s gator shoes off his feet and put them on. “I know you ain’t thinking about taking a dead man’s gators nigga … you can’t do that, it’s a violation,” Alvin says in the episode.The clip is a testament to when alligator skin shoes were a mainstay in Detroit’s fashion culture. When asked about it, Donnell Rawlings tells Metro Times, “To me, a pair of shoes is a pair of shoes, but what made me think of how important it was, was the Biggie Smalls line: ‘Pink gators, my Detroit players.’ And so for Biggie to acknowledge that and to know how important it is to establish that’s what Detroit is about, there had to be significance to it,” he says.

Episode 3: The RoostertailTerry Flenory (played by Da’Vinci) and Markisha Taylor (Played by LaLa Anthony) have dinner at the historic Roostertail.Although now mostly utilized as a space to host weddings, proms, and parties, the 65-year-old riverfront venue was once the preferred destination for private events among Detroit’s performers, politicians, and upper class. Elton John, Ted Nugent, Bob Seger, Stevie Wonder, and many Motown acts have had events and concerts held at the Roostertail.

Episode 4: Maserati RickTerry references famous Detroit crime figure Maserati Rick as he’s getting Meech out of the hospital. “This ain’t ‘bout to be no Maserati Rick repeat,” he says during the scene. Notorious drug crime boss Richard “Maserati Rick” Carter was murdered inside of his hospital room at Mt. Carmel Mercy Hospital on September 12, 1988. Two days earlier, he had been shot in the stomach. On Sept. 16, 1988 Carter was famously buried in a Mercedes Benz casket at Peace Chapel.

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About The Author

Randiah Camille Green

After living in Japan and traveling across Asia, Randiah Camille Green realized Detroit will always be home. And when she says Detroit, she's talking about the hood, not the suburbs. She has bylines in Planet Detroit News , Bridge Detroit , BLAC magazine, and Model D .Her favorite pastimes are meditating on...