Professional Mafia Style Hits...Rap?

This is pretty interesting for those who haven't heard about it. I'm sure you are familiar with every music show and award having guys like Irv Gotti, Ja Rule, and 50 Cent. But would you have ever expected this.


This is an old article, you may want to read this first. It came out in May of 2003.

"In the relentless probe into the alleged criminal and drug activities of Irv Gotti and the entire Murder Inc. label, it was uncovered last week that investigators have hard evidence that could make Ja Rule sing a prison song.

In an affidavit made public on Thursday, federal investigators state they have evidence that proves drug money bankrolled the launch of Murder Inc. Even more damning is the purported link the investigators have found between Murder Inc. and the 2000 shooting of 50 Cent. According to The NY Daily News, the affidavit claims that reputed druglord Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff of the notorious Supreme Team out of Queens, NY uses Murder Inc as a cover to launder drug money and provides muscle to intimidate rival rappers including 50 Cent.

In one particular incident of intimidation, it is alleged that Supreme sought revenge against 50 Cent for his statements in "Ghetto Quran" --a song of 50's life growing up in Queens that named Supreme and his cohort "Prince" in murder and drug trafficking:

"Yo, when you hear talk of the southside, you hear talk of the team
See ni99as feared Prince and respected Preme
For all you slow muthaf#@$as I'm a break it down iller
See Preme was a business man and Prince was the killer...
Had the whole projects workin for fifty on five-hundred"-Ghetto Quran
The affidavit by Special Agent Francis Mace of the IRS was uncovered on Thursday after it had been filed "under seal" earlier this year in the federal money-laundering probe of Murder Inc. and other rap enterprises.

Irv Gotti grew up together in Queens with Supreme, who is currently in jail awaiting sentencing on gun possession charges. Supreme's lawyer, Robert Simels, called the affidavit "totally baseless." At this time, neither Supreme or Irv Gotti have been officially charged."

www.sohh.com...

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This is what eventually unfolded between that time.

In November of 2004, the book keeper was arrested for money laundering.

msnbc.msn.com...

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And the end result was......


Posted Jan. 26, 2005 -- After a long-running investigation, music mogul and head of The Inc. Records, Irv "Gotti" Lorenzo, was arrested Wednesday by federal agents and charged with myriad offenses related to racketeering, murder, conspiracy and money laundering charges. Others charged were his brother, Chris Lorenzo, and Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff.

Gotti turned himself in to the FBI early Wednesday morning.

The Inc.'s parent label, Universal Records, was not charged with any wrongdoing in the case. With artists like Ja Rule and Ashanti, The Inc. has made over $1 billion for Universal. Ashanti and Ja Rule also were not charged in any crime.

Earlier this week, the FBI announced publicly that the agency intended to arrest employees of Murder Inc.

The feds allege that millions of dollars in illegal drug money have been funneled through Lorenzo’s company, sources familiar with the investigation told BET.com.

The trio is expected to be prosecuted under the RICO Act (The Racketeering In Corrupt Organization Act), which targets organized crime.

Federal agents say they have sufficient evidence to support their claims. Late last year, authorities arrested two men alleged to be in cahoots with McGriff, an alleged drug lord in Queens, New York. They contend that the suspects murdered New York rapper E-Money Bags under orders from McGriff.

Through his lawyer, McGriff denied the charges.

"This case is based on fabrications by liars trying to cut a deal with the government to save their own skin," his attorney, Robert Simels, told the Los Angeles Times. McGriff is in a federal prison in West Virginia on unrelated charges.

The arrests will punctuate the feds ongoing investigation into Gotti's alleged use of millions in drug money to launch his Murder Inc. imprint. Gotti has denied the accusations, stating that his label was started with $3 million in seed money from Def Jam Music Group, and not “a bag of money.”

Along with the allegations against McGriff, the government’s circle began to close in rapidly in late 2004. Ron “Gutta” Robinson was arrested and indicted on money laundering charges last November. Law enforcement officials charged Robinson with conspiring with others to transfer over $1 million via Murder Inc. In addition, Murder Inc.'s bookkeeper, Cynthia Brent, 39, was indicted during the same month on similar charges.

In 2003, Irv Gotti changed the name of his record label to The Inc. to avoid the negative connotation with the word “murder.”

Representatives of The Inc. were unavailable for comment.

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That's crazy because 50 cent basically knew who shot him, it was well publicized that he hated Ja Rule and Murder Inc. But he never actually said they shot him. I guess it was to be assumed.

The ironic thing is this is just one event. How many other situations like this occur in various industries.

[edit on 4-4-2005 by Lord Altmis]

I'd bet that organized crime has inroads in tons of industries. I've heard that they are big in the music industry. I'd believe it, there's a venue I used to work at when I was a DJ that was a front for the Yakuza, they actually seemed like nice guys to me in conversation hahaha.

~Astral

There was a point in time when I thought the mafia and mafia type activity no longer existed. I learned just because the news doesn't cover it, doesn't mean it's not going on.

Well think about this, how many unsolved murders are there in every major city? Now not all of these can be mafia-style violence but something I leaned while working at that club is that these guys are very inteligent. Most of the guys were college educated and they were really on the ball.

How many times have you seen the news start with a story about a murder, then you never hear anything about that killing again. The trail goes cold due to lack of evidence. These people do it for a living, I think they'd get good at it.

~Astral

Organized crime is more powerful and prevalent than ever, but also much less conspicuous. It's not about money and power anymore. It's about Power and Money- Power first, with a capital P. We're talking about the kind of power that nations excercise: telling people how to think, having a say in global conflicts, making and breaking billionaires.

Corporations and Media- that's where it's happening now- that's where political power comes from. Not only can they influence domestic politics, they can be players on the world stage in their own right. The powers that be need major corporate fronts, they need to play the stock market the right way (not just the honest way either- fraud, terrorism, sabotage, etc- no holds barred), and they need as big a stake in the media as possible. That's where organized crime works today.

The old stereo-type gangster stuff is little league. The turf wars have been subcontracted out to drug gangs (and if you go high enough, somebody is always "connected" in those gangs). The tricky business with labor unions and major companies has been refined and insitutionalized. We don't even see it for what it is. We call it "white collar crime" instead of organized crime. We send people to jail for 6 months on fraud charges when we catch them in a multi-million dollar racket, yet we honestly believe that the mob is dead and that the judge wasn't on the take?

The mob isn't seen for what it is because it's in charge now. The winners don't just write the history books- they write the newspapers too.

Don't believe me? Go take a pry bar to the local ATM machine and steal a few hundred dollars. They'll parlay that into 2 or 3 strikes and you'll be going in for all day if they get their way with you.
Meanwhile somebody an still several MILLION dollars from that same financial instutiion and only do 6 months because he was wearing a tie and didn't use pry bar.