Wiz
03-15-2003, 09:20 PM
Article from Rolling Stone Magazine
A federal probe into whether money from convicted drug kingpin Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff funded Irv Gotti's Murder Inc. record label suggests that it may be. According to a source close to the case, investigators are looking at whether Jay's killing can be tied to a long-standing feud between Murder Inc. and 50 Cent.
If these suspicions are true, the fuse was probably lit by the beef between 50 and Murder Inc.'s Ja Rule. Several record-company executives, who asked to remain anonymous, say they were threatened not to sign 50 Cent. "It's just like the drug business," says the source with ties to the investigation. "They're using fear and intimidation to keep competitors at bay."
One theory is that Jay, who worked with 50 early in his career, warned the rapper to stay away from McGriff. Asked about this allegation, 50 says simply, "Jay told me to stay focused." But he admits to a long-running beef with McGriff. "Me and 'Preme had a relationship," he says. "At one point, we would speak to each other, and we would kick it. But we have so much in common, we can't get along. He's just not gonna like me, and I'm not gonna like him."
In the 1980s, McGriff ruled the streets of southeast Queens, New York, with a group of fellow hustlers. "I think some people looked up to them," says 50, whose "Ghetto Qua Ran" provides a family tree of Queens drug kingpins. "They had the neighborhood, they had influence. Pappy [Mason] was more dangerous, in my eyes. Prince [Miller] was a killer. The other guy," 50 says, referring to McGriff, "he's not that special. Finances made him serious. Without finances, I've seen him in situations where he was compromised, where he didn't look so tough."
McGriff's finances are at the center of the investigation into Murder Inc.: Namely, did McGriff and his 100-member-strong "Supreme Team" provide the seed money for Murder Inc.? "The idea that my client would use illegal funds to fund Murder Inc. is absurd," McGriff attorney Robert Simels says. A representative of Island Def Jam, the parent company of Murder Inc., refused comment.
But according to the source close to the case, McGriff, currently jailed on an unrelated weapons charge, is "being kept on ice" as the feds prepare a larger case against him. "I wouldn't thumb my nose at these guys," the source says, adding that Jam Master Jay "may have made a mistake in thinking that he was such a prominent person that he was safe. He made a serious mistake. It cost him his life."
A federal probe into whether money from convicted drug kingpin Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff funded Irv Gotti's Murder Inc. record label suggests that it may be. According to a source close to the case, investigators are looking at whether Jay's killing can be tied to a long-standing feud between Murder Inc. and 50 Cent.
If these suspicions are true, the fuse was probably lit by the beef between 50 and Murder Inc.'s Ja Rule. Several record-company executives, who asked to remain anonymous, say they were threatened not to sign 50 Cent. "It's just like the drug business," says the source with ties to the investigation. "They're using fear and intimidation to keep competitors at bay."
One theory is that Jay, who worked with 50 early in his career, warned the rapper to stay away from McGriff. Asked about this allegation, 50 says simply, "Jay told me to stay focused." But he admits to a long-running beef with McGriff. "Me and 'Preme had a relationship," he says. "At one point, we would speak to each other, and we would kick it. But we have so much in common, we can't get along. He's just not gonna like me, and I'm not gonna like him."
In the 1980s, McGriff ruled the streets of southeast Queens, New York, with a group of fellow hustlers. "I think some people looked up to them," says 50, whose "Ghetto Qua Ran" provides a family tree of Queens drug kingpins. "They had the neighborhood, they had influence. Pappy [Mason] was more dangerous, in my eyes. Prince [Miller] was a killer. The other guy," 50 says, referring to McGriff, "he's not that special. Finances made him serious. Without finances, I've seen him in situations where he was compromised, where he didn't look so tough."
McGriff's finances are at the center of the investigation into Murder Inc.: Namely, did McGriff and his 100-member-strong "Supreme Team" provide the seed money for Murder Inc.? "The idea that my client would use illegal funds to fund Murder Inc. is absurd," McGriff attorney Robert Simels says. A representative of Island Def Jam, the parent company of Murder Inc., refused comment.
But according to the source close to the case, McGriff, currently jailed on an unrelated weapons charge, is "being kept on ice" as the feds prepare a larger case against him. "I wouldn't thumb my nose at these guys," the source says, adding that Jam Master Jay "may have made a mistake in thinking that he was such a prominent person that he was safe. He made a serious mistake. It cost him his life."