You should read have gun will travel by ronin ro.
Yeah, I second that book. One of the best true crime books Ive ever read
Ill have to keep an eye out for it.
Did you catch the file on Christopher Wallace/Biggie Smalls? It alleges a link between his camp and certain Genovese elements. Parts are heavily redacted, and in no way am I stating it as complete fact, but its an interesting aside.
my theory on this is that it's kind of B.S. - there was a rapper out of Yonkers named 'Genovese' (an Italian kid who's real last name is Genovese) who was in the Yonkers rap scene. In the later part of his career Biggie Smalls was working with a group from Yonkers (The LOX) who had just signed to the same label Biggie was on. The Lox would bring Genovese the rapper around Biggie sometimes. I honestly think that was the actual link but it's just speculation on my part
If you're interested in the rap industry and its ties to crime you should check out this book "Notorious C.O.P." by Derrick Parker. Parker was a NYPD guy who doubled as a rap party promoter and lead the NYPD's "rap crime task force". It's horribly written and theres probably a lot of bullshit (has a lot on the 2pac, Biggie, Jam Master Jay murders peppered with Parker's opinions, theories, and what happened from "sources") - but theres some really interesting stuff regarding how intertwined street crime was with the rap scene, especially in the 1980 and early 90s
Thanks, thats quite interesting, and may very well be possible. The files are heavily redacted after all, and its easy to assume that Genovese would be a reference to the crime family. Ill definitely read up more on that.
I haven't read the book you mentioned, but one I have read and enjoyed I think was called "Fat Cat, 50 Cent and the Rise of the Hip Hop Hustler". It covers a lot of the stuff you talked about, including 50 Cents early 'blacklisting' in the rap industry, the Jam Master Jay murder and the links between Supreme McGriff and Murder Inc. It too cites the parellels between early crack kingpins like Fat Cat and latter day "gangsta" persona rappers.
As an aside, one thing thats always amused me is the irony in so many rappers taking on Gotti's name, who was a virulent racist in reality. He's probably turning in his grave. As if his grandkids weren't bad enough.
