Editor’s note: The original September 2023 version of this article was lost. The Lee Daily Register rebuilt it in October 2026 from the sources cited below, and added what happened afterward. The original version said Welch married Terry Flenory and was his first wife; we found no credible reporting of a marriage, and the outlets cited here describe her as his longtime girlfriend. It also described their story as a reality show; “BMF” is a scripted drama.
Interest in Tonesa “Toni” Welch has grown with the second season of Starz’s drama “BMF,” where La La Anthony plays MarKaisha Taylor, a character inspired by Welch, Deadline reported. A BET+ film about her life, “First Lady of BMF: The Tonesa Welch Story,” directed by Vivica A. Fox, is set to premiere Oct. 5, Variety reported.
That has left many viewers asking the same question about Welch and Terry Flenory. Here is what the public record shows.
Who Tonesa Welch is
Welch grew up in a middle-class Detroit neighborhood. Her nickname, the “first lady” of the Black Mafia Family, comes from her years as the girlfriend of Terry “Southwest T” Flenory, who started the drug trafficking organization with his brother, Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory, HollywoodLife reported in a 2021 interview with her. Baltimore public radio station WEAA also described her as Terry Flenory’s longtime girlfriend in its 2021 interview.
Welch was arrested in 2005 for helping Terry Flenory launder drug money and was sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison, according to HollywoodLife. She was released in 2012.
The Flenory brothers’ sentences
In September 2008, a federal judge in Detroit sentenced Terry and Demetrius Flenory to 30 years each after they pleaded guilty to leading a continuing criminal enterprise that distributed cocaine across the country from 1990 through 2005, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced. The brothers also received 20-year sentences for money laundering.
In May 2020, federal authorities released Terry Flenory from a Kentucky federal prison to home confinement amid the coronavirus outbreak, with about six years left on his sentence, theGrio reported.
So, are they still together?
Nothing in the credible coverage we reviewed says they are a couple today, and we found no public statement from either of them describing a current relationship. Recent reporting refers to the relationship in the past tense. In February 2023, HotNewHipHop described Welch as someone who once dated Terry Flenory.
The same month, Welch used Instagram to object to a “BMF” storyline that showed MarKaisha involved with a teenage Terry. She wrote that she never kissed Flenory until he was 25 and that she did not agree with the show’s timeline or its portrayal of the character.
Welch now works in prison reform. She told HollywoodLife she helps women leaving prison with resumes and clothing and teaches them about their legal rights. In a 2021 interview with Sheen Magazine, she said watching her son and nephews go to prison hurt her deeply, and that she believes she brought them into that lifestyle.
What happened next
“First Lady of BMF: The Tonesa Welch Story” was streaming on BET+ by October 2023. In a CNN interview published Oct. 20, Welch credited Fox’s direction, and CNN again described her as Terry Flenory’s longtime love. The film was later nominated for two NAACP Image Awards, including outstanding television movie. At the ceremony in March 2024, Welch told The Neighborhood Talk she remained unhappy with how “BMF” portrayed her, HotNewHipHop reported. “I don’t know who I am in that story,” she said.
