Irv Gotti / Murder Inc Aquitted

Pistol_Pete

Damn from all the press and accusations, I thought this was a slam dunk for the prosecution.

faux_rillz

Damn from all the press and accusations, I thought this was a slam dunk for the prosecution.

Have you been following the trial at all?

The case was thin to nonexistent and the Lorenzos were clearly being prosecuted for who they are (young, black, rich, flamboyant, yet friendly with people that have done time) rather than anything they'd actually done.

Pistol_Pete

i had read there was a large amount of documents the FBI had gotten with a lot of evidence of laundering...then again I've been reading about it on and off from on-line articles.

faux_rillz

i had read there was a large amount of documents the FBI had gotten with a lot of evidence of laundering...then again I've been reading about it on and off from on-line articles.

No real documentary evidence of laundering; only evidence of the money going one way, from the Lorenzos to 'Preme.

Bsides

Yeah, it certainly didnt sound like they were laundering anything for preme. Especially as he seemed for the most part pretty broke. It looks more like Irv was just helping him out as a friend with a few legitimate ventures to help him get on his feet.


Why is the government going so hard after rappers? I swear they want them all locked up, its fuckin rediculous.

SouthCrackalack

maybe now they can put "Murder" back into their name?

rootlesscosmo

cuz the fucks think if a black man is paid, gotta be crime related...

(young, black, rich,)

were the defendants black?

faux_rillz

cuz the fucks think if a black man is paid, gotta be crime related...

(young, black, rich,)

were the defendants black?

Yes, the Lorenzos are black--how insulated from popular culture are you?

faux_rillz

Asked whether she was one of the jurors who wanted to hug the Gottis and their parents, Ms. Menzies, 60, who lives on Staten Island and teaches blind children, said: "Oh, yes. From the beginning."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/03/nyregion/03gotti.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

Hip-Hop Producers Get Acquittal, Then Hugs, From Jurors

By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM and MATTHEW SWEENEY
Published: December 3, 2005[/b]

A federal jury acquitted the hip-hop impresario Irv Gotti and his brother of money-laundering charges late yesterday, prompting jubilant cheers and pandemonium in the packed courtroom in Brooklyn. The verdict ended a three-year ordeal for the two men and dealt a stunning blow to federal prosecutors.

Minutes after the verdicts were read at the end of the second day of deliberations, two women on the jury asked that the brothers be brought into the jury room, where they hugged them. Then they asked for the men's parents, and hugged them, too.

When the jury foreman read out the not guilty verdicts on money-laundering and related conspiracy charges in the hushed courtroom, Mr. Gotti, 35, in a light gray suit with a white shirt and gray tie, threw his head back and mouthed "thank you" twice to the jurors, nodding his head, his eyes filling with tears. His brother, Christopher Gotti, 38, standing beside him, began to cry, and several supporters shrieked.

Cheers erupted, despite earlier warnings from Chief Judge Edward R. Korman of United States District Court and his clerk. The two brothers began hugging their lawyers - Gerald L. Shargel and Gerald B. Lefcourt - and their friends and family. Then Irv Gotti jumped up on a bench and reached into the courtroom gallery to hug the rap star Ja Rule.

Then, after returning from his brief meeting with the jurors, a breathless and elated Irv Gotti spoke to reporters from the well of the courtroom.

"They took my life from me for three years," he said, clutching a diamond-encrusted medallion that he described as a tribute to his late mother-in-law, who he said had watched over him. "But it's all good. I'm not mad. I love this country. But from Day 1, they had it wrong with me and my brother. I'm no criminal."

The brothers would have faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted. The three-week trial focused on the friendship between the two brothers, whose actual surname is Lorenzo, and Kenneth McGriff, a convicted drug gang leader who was known as Supreme on the streets of southeast Queens, where his crack and marijuana operation held sway in the 1980's. Prosecutors charged that the men used the record label, then called Murder Inc. and later renamed the Inc., to launder $1 million in drug proceeds.

Irv Gotti defended his support of Mr. McGriff and said the government went after him because he stood by his friend.

Several jurors said the government had failed to present enough evidence, with one, who did not want to give his name, comparing the evidence to "a cartoon" and another, Gloria Menzies, calling it weak.

Asked whether she was one of the jurors who wanted to hug the Gottis and their parents, Ms. Menzies, 60, who lives on Staten Island and teaches blind children, said: "Oh, yes. From the beginning."

"They had no case against them, so we were glad," Ms. Menzies said. "I was glad. And a lot of jurors were glad too, that they found them not guilty."

One of the jurors said he voted to convict early during the deliberations, based on the closing argument by Carolyn Pokorny, an assistant United States attorney, but later, after reviewing the evidence, concluded that there was reasonable doubt and voted to acquit. Mr. Shargel said the case "should never have been brought in the first place."

After the verdicts, the trial prosecutors from the office of the United States attorney in Brooklyn, Roslynn R. Mauskopf, remained largely stoic as the victory party in the courtroom gained steam. In a courtroom hallway a few minutes later, they declined to comment, with Sean Haran, an assistant United States attorney, saying only, "We respect the verdict."

The party quickly spilled out of the courthouse, with Mr. Shargel and Mr. Lefcourt nearly carrying Irv Gotti - he had his arms thrown around their shoulders and his feet off the ground - out into a cheering crowd, where the darkened street was illuminated by the lights from several TV cameras.

Both brothers hugged some of the jurors, who joined the raucous crowd in front. Ms. Menzies also hugged Ja Rule, crying out his name and declaring, "I want to give you a hug right now!"

"No," the beaming rapper replied, "I want to give you a hug right now."

The two then posed for photos together.

The brothers' father, Irving Lorenzo, cried when the verdicts were read and a short while later was beaming. "I have my boys, they're back, God bless them," he said. "I'm just very sorry their careers got interrupted the way they did."

Later in the evening, the brothers celebrated on board the Utopia 3, a large boat docked at Chelsea Piers, with relatives, friends and associates.

The crowd of about 50 to 60 on board was mostly male and busy drinking, smoking, eating Ray's pizza and walking around in their socks. Ja Rule was there with his wife, and the rap producer Russell Simmons was just arriving about 8:30 p.m. Christopher Gotti could be overheard on a phone telling someone, "We did it, we did it, man." Irv Gotti was said to be somewhere in the back of the boat.

With the acquittal, Irv Gotti is expected to return to work as a music producer and rekindle his search for a financial partner among the major record corporations. Vivendi Universal, which had been his partner in the Murder Inc. label, severed its ties with Mr. Gotti several months ago, and his talks with other companies - including Warner Music Group - stalled amid the federal inquiry. Executives at various music companies have said privately that they had been leery of allying themselves with him while he remained under a legal cloud.

Lyor Cohen, the former chairman of Vivendi's Island Def Jam unit, which had been Mr. Gotti's partner in Murder Inc., said yesterday, "I'm so happy for Irv and his family that this difficult experience is over. Irv is a true record man with impeccable taste and an undying passion for hip-hop."

Mr. Cohen, now the chief executive of Warner Music's United States operations, said he had great confidence in Mr. Gotti's "ability to continue his exceptional track record."

Steve Gottlieb, who heads the independent label TVT Records and who employed Mr. Gotti in the mid-1990's, said yesterday that "he leaves this not only with a clean bill of health but as someone whose stature has been enhanced by standing his own ground. It's not just that he was acquitted, but the over-hyping of the charges that will cause people to kind of be dismissive of the whole affair."

Still, he may find it difficult to restore his former empire. Mr. Gotti began as a D.J. spinning records at parties in Queens, then enjoyed a rapid ascent from talent scout - he was credited with helping discover the rap stars Jay-Z and DMX - to rap mogul with his own label, where he released platinum-selling hits by Ja Rule and the singer Ashanti. But these days, he faces heavy competition from a crop of other hot producers.

After the verdict, Mr. Gotti said that after his office was searched in the early stages of the investigation, the specter of a criminal enterprise run out of the record label shut down his business.

"They had everybody who loved me in corporate America, who felt I was a good guy, distance themselves from me," he said. "All while I was saying, 'I didn't do this, I didn't do this,' and they was like, 'O.K., we'll wait and see.' "

Yesterday, he said he was eager to get back into the studio.

"I'm never getting into any other trouble though, you can put your bottom dollar on - I'm never - no jaywalking or nothing," he said, quickly adding, "And I was never in trouble in the first place."

The investigation into the brothers and their label began three years ago.

Conducted by a task force of city detectives and federal agents and overseen by Ms. Mauskopf's office, the inquiry led to significant changes in how the label presented itself, from changing its name to the Inc. to overhauling its Web site. The site, which once featured the sound of gunfire and showed images of bullets penetrating its logo and a picture of rappers clad as 1940's-era mob figures, is now far more subdued, with pictures of the label's artists.