S. Samuel
Incarcerated music executive James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond got more bad news in his current battle on drug charges. Mr. Rosemond has been accused of arranging the murder of hip-hop rival 50 Cent's friend.
Details on the latest Henchman-related news surfaced online Friday (June 22).
They called him Jimmy Henchman — the man with the Teflon reputation, tied for years to the feud that led to the murders of two legends of the hip-hop world. But on Friday, officials in Manhattan said the man, James Rosemond, was being charged with arranging the murder of an associate of the rapper 50 Cent. In an indictment announced on Friday, Mr. Rosemond, 47, was charged with conspiring with five other men to kill the associate, Lowell Fletcher, in 2009. “This has not been a good month for Jimmy the Henchman,” Raymond W. Kelly, the New York police commissioner, said in a statement. He said the murder of Mr. Fletcher had been retaliation for an assault on Mr. Rosemond’s son. (New York Times)
Earlier this month, Henchman got hit with a slew of drug-related charges.
The trial of music industry mogul James “Jimmy Henchman” Rosemond came to a close today in a Brooklyn federal court. A jury found Rosemond guilty of all 13 charges levied against him, for allegedly heading up the “Rosemond Organization.” Federal prosecutors claim the organization shipped hundreds of kilograms on a weekly basis from the West Coast, using various overnight courier services. Rosemond was emotionless when the jurors reached their verdict, while his family friends and supporters showed obvious signs of disappointment. (AHH)
Prior to the verdict, Hollywood actor Michael Williams showed his support at the Brooklyn, New York trial.
The actor who plays a bootlegger to the mob in HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” made a cameo appearance Monday at the real-life drug trial of his former manager James (Jimmy Henchman) Rosemond. Michael Williams said he wanted to buoy the hip-hop impresario’s spirits as the jury began deliberating drug-trafficking and money-laundering charges in Brooklyn Federal Court. “I just wanted him to know I haven’t forgotten him and all the things he did for me,” he said. (New York Daily News)
Henchman’s publicized trial officially kicked off last month in New York City.
Mr. Rosemond’s lawyer, Gerald L. Shargel, said in his opening statement that his client was nothing more than “a perfect scapegoat for accusation.” “James Rosemond never touched a kilo of cocaine,” Mr. Shargel said. “He is not that kingpin that the government says he was.” On Monday afternoon, Carlos Giraldo, a special agent with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, testified that he used UPS shipping labels in August 2009 to track down several kilograms of cocaine believed to be connected to Mr. Rosemond’s organization. Some of the packages, he said, were wrapped in plastic bags covered in “dressing.” Court documents identified the substance as mustard, used to camouflage the contraband from drug-sniffing dogs. As a prosecutor, Soumya Dayananda, showed the jury the cocaine that Mr. Giraldo seized — some of it in plastic bags the size of five-pound packages of rice — Mr. Rosemond rocked in his chair with his hands clasped together touching his lips. (New York Times)
This all comes just weeks after Rosemond allegedly implicated himself in having the late Tupac Shakur shot in the mid-1990’s.
Now, new evidence implicates Rosemond in the crime — facts recently divulged by an unlikely eyewitness, never previously interviewed by police: Rosemond himself. Rosemond secretly admitted to involvement in Tupac’s ambush during one of nine “Queen For A Day” proffer sessions with the government last autumn, court transcripts show. (In such sessions, suspects under investigation choose to enter an agreement with the government to confess knowledge of certain crimes with the agreement that the information won’t be used to prosecute them.) His confession unfolded as he was trying to carve out a cooperation deal that might lead to a reduced sentence, according to federal prosecutors. (Village Voice)
