S. Samuel
Philadelphia rapper Tone Trump has offered his thoughts on the eyebrow-raising news of former music executive James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond receiving a life sentence for drug trafficking this weekend.
Although brief with his words, Trump sent condolences to Henchman’s family.
“God bless Jimmy Henchman & his family. I remember having a meeting at CZAR years ago.,” Trump tweeted October 26, referring to Rosemond’s CZAR Entertainment management company. (Tone Trump’s Twitter)
Details of Rosemond’s sentence started to make rounds online this weekend.
James Rosemond, a one-time prominent hip-hop manager who was convicted in 2012 of drug trafficking, was sentenced to life in prison in Brooklyn federal court on Friday. Rosemond was convicted of overseeing what officials said was an $11 million a year bicoastal cocaine trafficking business that used a musical equipment shipping company as cover to transport cocaine and cash. “His image as a music impresario was a cover for the real Jimmy Rosemond, a thug in a suit,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch. (Newsday)
To make matters worse, Henchman still awaits charges for his alleged role in a murder.
A jury found Rosemond guilty last year at a trial in which prosecutors accused him of running a lucrative drug ring. They said the ring smuggled cocaine in music equipment cases slathered with mustard to throw off drug-sniffing dogs. Lawyers for the 48-year-old Rosemond said he was framed by shady cooperators. Rosemond still faces separate charges in Manhattan alleging he arranged a murder as payback for an assault on his son. (Wall Street Journal)
Last year, reports of Henchman being charged for taking part in the murder of rap rival 50 Cent‘s associate emerged.
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)
Back in 2011, West Coast rapper Game spoke on his former manager’s publicized arrest.
“Jimmy’s my brother and it’s ride or die,” Game said. “Unfortunate situation, but we gonna keep our heads up and hope for the best…Sometimes, the government be trapping you and flipping stuff and you never know until the case is all rolled out and everything at the end to see how it plays out. We can’t even see Bin Laden‘s body, so why we believe in something they saying about Jimmy?” (Hot 97)
