Mandatory Minimum Sentence Changes a Life

Dec. 23, 2004 -- -- For John Forté, life has had a dramatic ascent -- and an equally dramatic drop. Born into humble circumstances, he became a major success in his chosen career -- and now languishes in a federal prison.

But parts of the glamorous life he once led are still with him. One celebrity family is even fighting so that he can put his life on the upswing again.

Forté, 29, was raised by a single mother in Brooklyn, N.Y. But he was a prodigy when it came to music, and when he was 13, earned a full scholarship to the prestigious Exeter academy.

Friends at Exeter introduced him to another musically talented young man: Ben Taylor, the son of entertainers Carly Simon and James Taylor.

"We found common ground in the variety of our musical selection -- the fact that we listened to everything," Forté said.

He became a part of their family, spending a summer in their house on Martha's Vineyard. "When John was here it was just always a happier healthier universe in this house," Simon said.

Partly fueled by the interest and support of his adopted musical family, Forté's career took off. He produced music for Public Enemy, Black Eyed Peas and the Fugees. He even rapped on a Michael Jackson CD.

By 25, he had won a Grammy for best rap album and a nomination for album of the year with the Fugees for 'The Score.'

"Regardless of the money that I make or the millions of records that I sell, I'm still going to stay where I'm from," he told ABC News' Charlie Gibson in a 1998 interview.

But then that rise to fame came to an abrupt halt.

By 2000, Forté's music career had stalled and his label had dropped him. He had an idea to put out a new album independently. "Everybody else was doing it," he said. But he needed money.

Forté met a man who offered him $10,000 to recruit two women to move what he says he thought was money from Houston to Newark, N.J.

He says he did not think that the women could be carrying drugs. "One could assume all day long, but I did not know it had to be drugs," he said.

Simon defended Forté: "You can know and not know at the same time." She said she thought she could imagine Forté thinking that "this is not my bad deal. It's their bad deal."

The women got stopped at the Houston airport. Undercover agents found more than 30 pounds of liquid cocaine in their bags. The women identified Forté as their contact.

When Forté turned up in Newark, authorities jailed him. He was told the women were carrying drugs. "They said 'You know what's going on here,'" he remembered. "I was stuck. I was completely stuck."