Hip-hop mogul wanted rivals to ‘carry a coffin’
By Rich CalderFebruary 10, 2014 | 9:14pm
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Hip-hop mogul wanted rivals to ‘carry a coffin’
DEA agents escort James Rosemond after his arrest on cocaine-dealing charges.

After his teen son was slapped by rapper Tony Yayo in 2007, hip-hop mogul James “Jimmy Henchman” Rosemond issued a cold-blooded order: someone from Yayo’s hip-hop group G-Unit “had to die,” prosecutors said Monday.
“His goal was to make sure that members of G-Unit had to carry a coffin,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Samson Enzer told jurors during opening statements of Rosemond’s murder-for-hire trial in Manhattan federal court.
“The attack on Rosemond’s son,” he noted, “was an attack on Rosemond.”
The 49-year-old Rosemond — who was sentenced to life in prison last year for running a multi-million dollar drug empire — and longtime associate Rodney Johnson are charged with orchestrating the 2009 Bronx murder of Lowell Fletcher, a member of the notorious Bloods street gang who was also an associate of Yayo and fellow G-Unit founder 50 Cent.

The March 2007 attack on Rosemond’s then-14-year-old son occurred after Yayo, 50 Cent and others in the G-Unit crew spotted him in Manhattan wearing a shirt that advertised his father’s rival music management company Czar Entertainment, police sources said.

Yayo, whose real name is Marvin Bernard, was harassing the kid at the direction of 50 Cent, allegedly showing a gun tucked into his waist. He then pushed the kid up against a wall, started asking him why he was wearing the shirt and smacked him.

For two years after the assault, Rosemond tried to make good on his vendetta, prosecutors said.
This included organizing at least three failed drive-by shootings aimed at G-Unit associates, including one outside radio station Hot 97’s offices in Manhattan.

Prosecutors say Rosemond paid off Brian “Slim” McCleod with a “slab” of cocaine worth $30,000 to lure Fletcher to a Bronx street corner in September 2009 where fellow thug Derrick “D” Grant pumped bullets into Fletcher. Johnson was on the scene supervising nearby, prosecutors said.
“On the surface and in the public eye, James Rosemond was an executive in the music industry,” Enzer said. “But beneath the surface and in reality, Rosemond was a ruthless criminal who ran his rap business like a street gang.”

Rosemond’s lawyer, J. Bruce Maffeo, told jurors he believes the government’s case is flawed because it relies heavily on the testimony of four men – including McCleod and Rosemond – who are singing to the feds out of desperation to avoid life in prison for a slew of crimes.
He questioned how jurors could find the testimony “credible and believable” considering they allegedly “lied to prosecutors” during the course of the investigation by recanting their stories to suit their purposes.
Fletcher’s sister, Leta Bethel, of Brooklyn, described her brother as a member of the Bloods who began working for Yayo nearly a decade ago. She said they were once pretty tight, adding that Fletcher even lived with the rap star at his Hamptons home between 2006 and 2007.
Rosemond – who has long been suspected of involvement in the 1994 non-fatal shooting of slain rap icon Tupac Shakur in Manhattan – once mingled with the likes of Jay-Z, Akon and Sean Combs.
He was found guilty by a federal jury in Brooklyn last year of using his thriving record label as a front for a coast-to-coast cocaine ring.

I'm tired of hearing about this mothafucka

I ain't privy to not a one of this mothafuckas alleged artist

now tony yayo who was forty atleast 8 years ago flashing guns to 14 yr olds is lame

He's not in the news that much cook. I think its interesting stuff.He was a pretty big dealer, was supplying large amounts of coke in queens and brooklyn and he's got a lot of history in the music industry.

any information on 'pop' freeman

he was a leading queens drug dealer during the 60s and then was succeeded by ronald basset who was associated with fat cat nichols. Is he connected to rosemond?

Pops was from Harlem. Supposedly set up shop in Queens with Genovese backing

Yeh he was lcn backed. ronald basset was being supplied from out of baltimore and he had both supreme mcgriff and lorenzo fat cat working for him before he got arrested. And if I'm not mistaken he was arrested again at 60 recently for being involved with a heroin ring out of new jersey not sure if its him or someone else but the age seems about right.

Im surprised bloods didn't go after rosemond for the murder cause lowell fletcher was a member and was even arrested with them during a takedown of a set in far rockaway back in 2007.

Yea thats the same Bassett who was somewhat recently arrested. Old habits die hard. Guy was huge in his prime and was taught by one of the best in Pops. Should have stuck with the numbers

Rosemond from what I hear had some real cred while on the street, I wouldn't call it power, but he had a shitload of money, and was just a man about his business, illegal or otherwise. The average NY Gang member has nowhere near that sort of power out here, not even the leaders in most cases. A lot of them are teenagers, and the older ones can't afford to go to war with a person like Jimmy Henchman and those he employed.

Music, drug mogul murder trial testimony: 50 Cent pals, P. Diddy involved
The beef that allegedly led to the 2009 execution of 50 Cent rap crew associate Lowell Fletcher involved peace talks with P. Diddy, a drive-by shooting and an order to injure hip hop industry titan Chris Lighty, a witness said Wednesday in the murder-for-hire trial of music mogul and drug lord James (Jimmy Henchman) Rosemond.

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2014, 2:30 AM


It was a rap battle for the ages.

The beef that allegedly led to the execution of a 50 Cent rap crew associate in 2009 involved a sitdown with P. Diddy, a drive-by shooting and an order to injure hip hop industry titan Chris Lighty, a witness said Wednesday in the murder-for-hire trial of music mogul and drug lord James (Jimmy Henchman) Rosemond.

Khalil Abdullah, 40, said the years-long feud between Rosemond, of Czar Entertainment, and G-Unit, a clique that includes rapper 50 Cent and was managed by Lighty, hit a rough patch in 2006 after an argument before an awards show at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.

Words were exchanged between Rosemond, 49, and G-Unit rapper Tony Yayo about another rapper, The Game, and a G-Unit associate flashed a gun, the witness said.

Abdullah, who was running cocaine for Rosemond to the tune of up to 100 kilograms or $3 million a week, had a thug shoot up Yayo's white Bentley on Madison Ave. in retaliation after the awards show, he said.

"He just dumped some rounds into the Bentley," Abdullah testified in Manhattan Federal Court. "Me and [Rosemond] just chuckled."


P. Diddy, the rapper and producer once known as Puff Daddy, called a peace conference between Rosemond and Lighty, Abdullah said. But it didn't go well.

"Chris ended up mushing [Rosemond] in the face," he said. "Puff jumped in between them and broke it up."


The beef escalated in 2007 when Yayo was accused of slapping Rosemond's son on a Manhattan street.

Rosemond told Abdullah to have Lighty shot in the leg, but the witness didn't follow through on the order, he said in Manhattan Federal Court.

In 2009, Rosemond hired Brian "Slim" McLeod and another goon to lure G-Unit hanger-on Lowell Fletcher to the Bronx and kill him, Abdullah said, citing a conversation he had with Rosemond a day or two later.

Khalil Abdullah testified in court Wednesday about the years-long feud between rap executive James Rosemond, on trial for ordering a murder, and G-Unit, a clique that includes rapper 50 Cent and was managed by Chris Lighty. P. Diddy once tried to broker a truce between the warring music businessmen, Abdullah said.
Khalil Abdullah testified in court Wednesday about the years-long feud between rap executive James Rosemond, on trial for ordering a murder, and G-Unit, a clique that includes rapper 50 Cent and was managed by Chris Lighty. P. Diddy once tried to broker a truce between the warring music businessmen, Abdullah said.

"Slim's man came out of nowhere and clapped the dude up," said Abdullah, who wasn't at the scene.

Rosemond was in Miami at the time of the murder, Abdullah said.

Rosemond is serving a life prison sentence for drug trafficking.

Hip hop industry titan Chris Lighty, pictured, managed G-Unit. He was long involved in a beef with murder-for-hire suspect and fellow music big James Rosemond, but his 2012 death was ruled a suicide.

Hip hop industry titan Chris Lighty, pictured, managed G-Unit. He was long involved in a beef with murder-for-hire suspect and fellow music big James Rosemond, but his 2012 death was ruled a suicide.

Abdullah pleaded guilty in the drug case and received an eight-year rap, but could have his sentence reduced based on his cooperation in Rosemond's trial.

Rosemond’s lawyer, Bruce Maffeo, battered Abdullah on cross-examination, calling attention to the witness’s past crimes and lies in an effort to undermine his credibility.

There has been no mention at trial of 50 Cent being involved in any violence. Lighty was found dead in 2012 with a gunshot wound to the head. It was ruled a suicide.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/2009...5#ixzz2tCBQRov1

Thats a lot of coke, he did have a lot of suppliers though on the west coast in the bloods and crips. He must have millions stashed away considering how long he was operating for.

Guard gave shot dying man wrong directions to subway

By Laurel Babcock and Rich Calder

February 11, 2014 | 7:38pm


A Bronx security guard testified Tuesday that he watched in horror in 2009 as an associate of 50 Cent’s rap group G-Unit was shot— and then accidentally gave the badly wounded man wrong directions to the subway after he staggered up to him seeking aid.

“I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was thinking about my own situation. I was basically scared,” Claude Crooks, 35, told a Manhattan federal jury.

Prosecutors in the murder-for-hire trial of fallen hip-hop mogul James “Jimmy Henchman” Rosemond had asked Crooks why he pointed in the wrong direction when a bloodied Lowell Fletcher approached him and uttered, “Where’s the nearest train station?”

Crooks, who was subpoenaed by the feds, said he ran away after the shooting and that the 33-year-old Fletcher found him minutes later a few blocks away — just a block from the Mount Eden 4-train station. Fletcher would collapse and die after running a few blocks in the wrong direction.

Fletcher, who was lured into the ambush, was so surprised that he dropped a bag of “chips” he was carrying, Crooks added.

“I sensed danger so I crossed the street,” Crooks said. “I seen a young man appear out of nowhere, a bag of chips was dropped and shots were fired.”

Rosemond, 49 — who was sentenced to life in prison last year for running a multi-million dollar drug empire — and longtime associate Rodney Johnson are charged with orchestrating the murder of Fletcher, a member of the Bloods and an associate of G-Unit founders Tony Yayo and 50 Cent.

Prosecutors say Rosemond hired thugs to kill Fletcher as payback for Yayo slapping Rosemond’s then 14-year-old son two years earlier.

Crooks described the shooter as “a strange man wearing all black, a hoodie over his head.” He claims not to have seen his face or even the actual gun.

“I just saw the shooter extend his arm. I heard shots, I heard whistles toward my ear,” said Crooks, adding that cops initially questioned whether he was personally connected to the crime.

Prosecutors say the shooter is Derrick “D” Grant, one of four Rosemond goons who are now cooperating with the feds to avoid life in prison.

EXCLUSIVE: Jimmy Henchman’s Publicist Addresses Media Coverage Of Murder Trial & “Snitching” Allegations

by Yohance Kyles (@HUEYmixwitRILEY) February 19th, 2014 @ 9:15am



(AllHipHop News) The ongoing murder trial of James “Jimmy Henchman” Rosemond has become a major topic in both traditional media and social media outlets. The case has drawn comments from many observers about the convicted drug dealer and Czar Entertainment CEO.


As Rosemond faces a murder conviction for the killing of G-Unit associate Lowell “Lodi Mack” Fletcher, 50 Cent was one of the people who took to social media to express his thoughts on his longtime rival.

50′s posts implied that Rosemond cooperated with the authorities. He wrote, “old gangsta Jimmy, go ahead tell some more s**t.”

Jimmy Henchman’s publicist, Sibrena Stowe de Fernandez, contacted AllHipHop.com to issue an official statement about the press coverage of the case. Fernandez also addresses allegations of “snitching” on the part of Rosemond.

Read the full statement below.


As James Rosemond’s publicist and as I weigh in on media commentary regarding Mr. Rosemond’s new trial I only have to say that I’d like for the media to remember Mr. James Rosemond is currently in the middle of a trial and I’d like for him to be afforded a fair trial and not have it played out in the media which can and in my opinion has influenced his last sentencing.

I read what a certain rapper and music mogul wrote on twitter and he too is entitled to his opinion but it doesn’t make the information that he tweeted correct because as I remember the last trial, Mr. Rosemond never testified in court against anyone and so the term, “snitching” shouldn’t apply to him. I don’t recall this music mogul/rapper or anyone from that camp at the last trial and so the information that he allegedly tweeted is not accurate information. Let’s let the trial play out and let’s see what the verdict is. There are folks who are testifying in this trial and they’re looking at a lot of time and so let’s see how it plays out.

- Sibrena Stowe de Fernandez, LaChic Media

Murder-for-Hire Witness Tells of Music Exec's Bloodlust for 50 Cent
By ADAM KLASFELD

MANHATTAN (CN) - A former music executive on trial for murder had been "thirsty for blood" as he drove past 50 Cent's apartment on the Hudson River, a key government witness testified Friday, before his credibility crumbled on cross-examination.
Already serving life after an unrelated 2012 federal trial in Brooklyn, James "Jimmy the Henchman" Rosemond faces a new jury weighing whether he paid goons drugs and cash to kill Lowell Fletcher, affiliated with 50 Cent's crew G-Unit.
Prosecutors called cooperating witness Mohammad Stewart to make the case that the former hip-hop manager ordered Fletcher's murder on Sept. 7, 2009, as payback for an assault on his 14-year-old son.
Stewart has been cooperating with the government since April 16, 2010, the same day that three branches of federal agents arrested him on drug- and firearm-related charges.
For a day and a half, Stewart has regaled jurors with sordid accounts of Rosemond's alleged exploits, including two attempts on 50 Cent's life.
The first tale Friday alleges that Rosemond had been driving down Manhattan's West Side Highway when he allegedly took his hand off the wheel of his Ford Expedition near the rapper's building to retrieve his gun. Rosemond stopped after being told that police were behind them, Stewart testified.
Stewart said Rosemond looked like he was "thirsty for blood."
Stewart also made reference to a vague plan to "blow up" 50 Cent's bulletproof van.
This appeared to be slang for gunfire because his testimony centered on firearms rather than explosives, which Rosemond never has been accused of using.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nola Heller handed Stewart a plastic evidence bag containing bulletproof vests that he said he wore every day for two years because of his dangerous line of work with Rosemond. The bag crackled as Stewart took them out for the jurors to see. He said that he preferred the white vest to the green one because it was longer and offered more protection.
Stewart estimated that he made more than $1 million selling cocaine and crack, and that the music executive's brother Kesner Rosemond offered to show him how to "hustle from West to East." He offered detailed descriptions of setting up fake businesses, sending drugs via FedEx to "catchers" in New York City hotels, and carrying fake IDs to avoid capture for his open warrant.
He said that he decided to move to Atlanta in the summer of 2009 to escape the dangers of his work, though he said that he kept up with the drug trade there as a distributor.
Stewart said that he met with Rosemond's co-defendant Jason Williams at a restaurant in Lower Manhattan's Alphabet City neighborhood shortly after Fletcher's killing.
Williams laughed and smiled when passing him a copy of Fletcher's obituary, Stewart said, adding that Rosemond had been nearby and also looked in good spirits.
Displayed on a screen for jurors, the obituary was dedicated "In Loving Memory" to Fletcher.
Describing his reaction, Stewart said, "It didn't register."
"I'm like, 'Word?'" Stewart said. "[Williams is] like, 'Yeah!"
On cross-examination, defense attorney Bruce Maffeo noted that there has been no corroboration that Stewart had even traveled from Atlanta to Manhattan, let alone participated in the incriminating conversation.
Stewart said that he got there by plane, but he acknowledged that prosecutors never asked him to produce his ticket.
Maffeo's combative questioning had been a multipronged attack on the witness's credibility. The defense attorney took repeated aim at the terms of Stewart's cooperation agreement.
Although Stewart could theoretically spend life in prison for his role in the conspiracy, he confirmed that he has not stayed in jail for a single day so far. Prosecutors called for him to forfeit close to $80,000 found in his car, two guns and a leased car. He has not been made to forfeit any part of the million-plus dollars in drug money he made and has admitted to spending.
When asked if he declared the cash to the Internal Revenue Service, Stewart replied, "At the time, I didn't know we were supposed to report drug money."
At least three jurors stifled laughter after that line.
Later, Maffeo confronted the witness about an alleged barber-shop intrigue. Stewart said that his former shop had been burglarized, and another man opened a rival shop. Maffeo said that the two masked men tied to Stewart killed the rival owner.
Asked if that was true, Stewart responded, "Not that I know of."
Maffeo's sarcastic repetition of that line drew a prosecutor's objection and the judge's rebuke.
Stewart confessed to a list of crimes on the witness stand, including shoplifting, perjury, bribery and domestic violence, often escaping without punishment.
He said that he whisked into his trunk one man he thought had "robbed his girl" and drove him to Staten Island where a group of men beat him with sticks. A kidnapping charge in that case was dismissed when the victim did not testify, he acknowledged.
Though Stewart spoke of Rosemond's alleged bloodlust for payback, he also described the executive's coolheaded reaction to his son's assault.
Under questioning, Stewart agreed that Rosemond had indeed said "no" when someone initially wanted to "do something" to avenge the beating.
Four months later, Stewart said he started feuding with 50 Cent's "muscle," a beef that he says continues to this day because they both live in Georgia. Steward added that he got two threatening phone calls and found a dead rat near his front door.
Stewart said that he secretly taped "under 10" phone calls with Rosemond under his cooperation agreement, but the topic of Fletcher came up during none of them.
Maffeo also pressed him about the topic not coming up for the first few years of his meetings with federal prosecutors in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Stewart said that he did not talk about it initially out of a mixture of love for and fear of Rosemond.
Stewart's cross-examination continues Monday as the third week of trial kicks off. The government's case is expected to rest on Wednesday or Thursday.

New Defense Emerges in Trial Over Hip-Hop Hit
By ADAM KLASFELD

MANHATTAN (CN) - A former hip-hop executive implied, but never explicitly said, that he wanted the 50 Cent's associate dead, a government witness testified in the murder-for-hire trial Tuesday.
That defense seemed to surprise presiding U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon, who commented before afternoon recess that she had previously been "blissfully ignorant" that there could be a defense of a shooting "gone bad," a crime that would typically fall outside a federal court's purview.
"This isn't Bronx Supreme Court," she said.
James "Jimmy the Henchman" Rosemond, who is already is serving life after an unrelated 2012 federal trial in Brooklyn, faces a new jury weighing whether he paid goons drugs and cash to kill Lowell Fletcher, affiliated with 50 Cent's crew G-Unit. The hit allegedly was payback for Fletcher's assault on Rosemond's 14-year-old son.
On Tuesday, a new defense for Rosemond emerged during testimony from cooperating witness Brian McCleod, who testified that the music executive did not say outright that he wanted Fletcher killed when he offered money to harm him.
"I have $30,000 to anyone who can bring him to me," Rosemond said, according to the testimony. "I'm gonna hit him so fast and so swift that no one is ever going to know what happened."
Fletcher said he got separated from the hit men on the night of the Sept. 26, 2009, shootings, and that he did not see the gunfire. Still, he said that he collected a kilogram of cocaine for his part in it. He is testifying pursuant to a cooperating agreement with the government.
Earlier in the day, McCleod said that he thought the bounty was for someone to leave a "scar or mark" on Fletcher.
Rosemond's lawyer Bruce Maffeo seized upon the distinction during cross-examination, getting McCleod to agree that his client never explicitly talked of murder.
Donald Yannella, an attorney for Rosemond's co-defendant Rodney Johnson, took over questioning after the afternoon recess.
He noted that gangsta rappers often try to "cultivate an outlaw image."
McCleod agreed with Yannella's statement that, in the industry, "no publicity is bad publicity."
Prosecutor Santosh Aravind asked McCleod on redirect about the unspoken side of Rosemond's alleged plans.
As more people became involved, McCleod said that it seemed that certain "things had changed [that] I'm not privy to."
"I was never gonna be the gunman," he added.
The prosecutor asked: "As you sit here today, do you have any doubt as to whether it was a murder or a shooting?"
"No," McCleod replied. "It was a murder."
McCleod agreed, when pressed by attorney Maffeo, that he told prosecutors the opposite on two separate occasions, years apart, before taking the stand.
Court recessed after his testimony concluded, and the government's case will resume on Wednesday.

Witnesses Recount Long-Running Feud During Hip-Hop Manager’s Murder Trial
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.MARCH 2, 2014

The outcome of the trial hardly matters: The defendant, a former hip-hop manager for artists like the Game and Gucci Mane, has already been sentenced to life in prison for running a multimillion-dollar cocaine ring.

But the federal murder-for-hire trial of James Rosemond — known in rap circles as Jimmy Henchman — has provided a rare glimpse into a New York hip-hop feud that lasted for more than four years and ended with the fatal shooting of an associate of the rapper Curtis Jackson, better known as 50 Cent. Closing arguments are expected on Monday in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

Four former members of Mr. Rosemond’s drug gang have taken the stand over the last three weeks to describe the long-running conflict between their boss and G-Unit, the rap group founded by 50 Cent and Tony Yayo and managed by Chris Lighty.

Queens Man Charged in Murder of Rap Star’s AssociateFEB. 11, 2014
The feud started in early 2005 when the Game put out a debut solo album, and 50 Cent expelled him from G-Unit during a live radio show on Hot 97. The Game went to the station with a big entourage to confront 50 Cent. Shots were fired. One man was wounded.

It escalated in March 2007, when Tony Yayo and a member of the G-Unit entourage, Lowell Fletcher, assaulted Mr. Rosemond’s 14-year-old son on West 25th Street. Mr. Fletcher, a Bloods gang member whose street name was Lodi Mack, went to prison for the assault and drug possession; Tony Yayo, whose given name is Marvin Bernard, received 10 days of community service.

Not satisfied, Mr. Rosemond, 49, pursued revenge against G-Unit for the next two years, shooting up the homes and torching the cars of his enemies, his former associates testified. Finally, on Sept. 27, 2009, prosecutors say, Mr. Rosemond orchestrated the shooting of Mr. Fletcher on Jerome Avenue in the Bronx, just two weeks after he left prison.

Witnesses said a dispute that began as the usual posturing between hip-hop personas, calculated to excite fans and sell albums as both 50 Cent and the Game released insulting raps about each other, became for Mr. Rosemond a personal vendetta toward anyone connected with G-Unit.

“He said, ‘These dudes ain’t going to be happy until they go to a funeral,’ ” testified Khalil Abdullah, who said he was one of Mr. Rosemond’s managers in the drug ring.

Mr. Abdullah also testified last year, when Mr. Rosemond was convicted in Federal District Court in Brooklyn of running a cocaine ring that pulled in $11 million a year. Prosecutors in Manhattan sought a separate trial on the murder charge for Mr. Rosemond and one of his alleged co-conspirators, Rodney Johnson.

Mr. Rosemond’s lawyer, Bruce J. Maffeo, has hammered away at the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses, who testified on promises of reduced sentences for murder and drug convictions.

In his cross-examinations, Mr. Maffeo also has stressed that Mr. Rosemond was in Miami at the time of the murder and that he never explicitly told his associates he wanted Mr. Fletcher to die.

Mohammed Stewart, 36, told the jury he was one of Mr. Rosemond’s top henchmen until his arrest in April 2010, going by the nickname “Tef.”

Mr. Stewart, who has a long history as a petty drug dealer, described shooting up the entrance of Mr. Lighty’s company, Violator Records, in 2005 in retaliation for the gunfight outside of Hot 97.

As the feud escalated, Mr. Stewart said he was asked by Mr. Rosemond to take part in several tit-for-tat acts of violence. In 2007, he slashed Mr. Lighty’s brother with a razor in the street. He also admitted he had shot up a house on Staten Island belonging to Baja Walters, a road manager for G-Unit.

Mr. Stewart said he spent many nights with Mr. Rosemond staking out 50 Cent, Tony Yayo or Mr. Lighty, looking for a chance to shoot them.

“He said that, you know, they’re not going to understand what it is until they are carrying a coffin and they’re crying, like ‘I miss my homie,’ ” Mr. Stewart said.


Mr. Abdullah said the tensions between Mr. Rosemond and G-Unit began to heat up in December 2006 during the Mixtape Awards at the Apollo Theater. That night, Tony Yayo accosted Mr. Rosemond and started yelling at him about the Game’s insults.

A member of Tony Yayo’s entourage flashed a gun, and Mr. Rosemond’s group left out a back exit, Mr. Abdullah said. Later that night, Mr. Abdullah said he hired two people to pump several bullets into Tony Yayo’s Bentley as it idled on Madison Avenue in Harlem.

A few days later, Mr. Abdullah said Mr. Rosemond had told him that the rapper Sean Combs, now known as Diddy, tried to broker a truce in his office between Mr. Rosemond and Mr. Lighty. But the two managers started scuffling, and Mr. Combs had to break up the fight.

Brian McCleod, a low-level drug dealer who did errands at Mr. Rosemond’s studio in the early 2000s, described how he lured Mr. Fletcher to Jerome and Mount Eden Avenues in the Bronx by promising to give him money and to introduce him to women.

Mr. McCleod, whose nickname is Slim, said he had gone to prison in 2004 after the police caught him as he carried nine kilograms of cocaine out of a stash house for Mr. Rosemond. While incarcerated, he said, he befriended a Bloods gang member who was close to Mr. Fletcher.

A day after Mr. McCleod was released in August 2009, he met with Mr. Rosemond outside Central Park. “I told him I had a line on the individual who slapped his son,” Mr. McCleod testified.

A few days later, Mr. McCleod said the pair met at the food court in the Whole Foods at Columbus Circle, where Mr. Rosemond offered him $30,000 to lead Mr. Fletcher into an ambush.

At first, Mr. McCleod said, Mr. Rosemond wanted to shoot Mr. Fletcher himself, saying “it’s going to be so fast and so quick no one will know.” But Mr. McCleod persuaded him to hire a mutual friend, Derrick Grant, to pull the trigger. They received a kilo of cocaine as payment.

Mr. Abdullah testified that Mr. Rosemond admitted to hiring the men who shot Mr. Fletcher. They were standing outside Mobay Restaurant in Harlem a few days after the murder when Mr. Rosemond started telling the story. “He said Slim’s man came out of nowhere and clapped the dude up,” Mr. Abdullah said.

Mr. Abdullah said he asked Mr. Rosemond if the murder could be traced back to him. “He said, ‘Nah, dude is a gangbanger,’ ” Mr. Abdullah recalled. “ ‘That [expletive] happen in the Bronx.’ ”

thanks for this

this whole story is a rabbit hole...cant wait for the book, so many unanswered questions
6 degrees of seperation

Stinking rats

This guys been around, his whole story got ties to everyone. When he set up Tupac for the quad robbery he used a guy called randy stretch walker to set pac up because they were friends. Walker himself later was gunned down on orders from supreme mcgriff who was with murder inc who also had beef with 50 cent and was suspected of having something to do with his shooting and attempted murder.

50 cent survived a lot of heavy hitters coming at him. Im surprised he's not been indicted for anything, i don't believe he or his people were playing gandhi during this whole fiasco.

I know the whole story. In depth. Not being a dick just letting you know I know. Randy Walker is Stretch from Live Squad. Nas mentions him quite a bit. So does Big. "Word to Stretch I bet they pussy"
A crazy story.

Appreciate u posting these.

Haitian Jack played a role as well.

stretch was down with springfield crew

Stretch got gunned down by Ronald "Tinard" Washington as far as I know, who was also thought to be involved in some way in the JMJ murder. The whole new york hip hop/drug scene from the late 70's to current time is going to make a wild book one day once all these people are no longer active or around.

thats what i was referring to when I said 6 degrees of separation...its all big rabbit hole and no one knows for sure everything.

#Labrynth

yup...Pop Freeman, Ronnie Bump, Fuertados, Fat Cat, Supreme, Corley, JMJ, 50 Cent, Tupac, Stretch, Biggie, Haitian Jack, Jimmy Hentchman, Zip and lots more....all a big intertwining street story. The streets and prisons know the true story behind all the murder and money...but they arent talking unless you are a part of that life already

50 mentioned them all in ghetto quaran

a lot of cats didnt like that

you forgot to mention Corley who just got popped

http://www.ibtimes.com/james-corley-quee...4-others-699081

plus E money bags, black just

rest in peace

I had Corley in there. JMJ was married to his sister, another strange circle. Crazy he was still doing his thing this much later.