Annette John-Hall: Holdup rekindles a quest for peace

As he looks back on that fateful, nearly fatal night last month, Charles "Charlie Mack" Alston admits he had the audacity to believe that no thug living in Philadelphia would mess with him because surely they all knew who he was.

"Philadelphia is water ice, pretzels, and Charlie Mack - in that order," says the entertainment impresario and nonviolence crusader, in all seriousness.

OK, so humility isn't Mack's strong suit. But neither is inertia. Even growing up in Southwest Philly, one of nine in a single-parent home, Mack, 44, never sat around waiting for somebody else to make things happen.

Which probably explains how the high school dropout left behind his drug-dealing life and began promoting concerts for a little-known rap duo named Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. That twosome would blow up musically and on television with the popular NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

As Will Smith's star rose, so did Mack's. He went on to rub shoulders with the rich and famous as personal assistant/confidant to Smith, now one of the most powerful entertainers in Hollywood.

But after 15 years spent globe-trotting as Smith's babysitter, Mack realized his passport was full but his legacy empty. "It's not just about being Will Smith's man," he says definitively over lunch. "It's about what you give back."

Celebs for a cause

For Mack, the city's peace ambassador, it was another year of raising awareness about violence. But he never expected just how much his own awareness would be raised.

It happened June 17, a Thursday night. Mack had just watched Kobe and company edge the Celtics in Game 7 for the NBA crown and was headed to his daughter's 21st birthday party when he stopped at the Sunoco on 38th and Girard to fill up.

As he climbed into his BMW 645, he felt the cold, hard barrel of a 9mm gun thrust against his stomach.