Feds Outline Case Against The Inc.

As the impending Oct. 24 money laundering and racketeering trial looms over The Inc (formerly The Inc.) and the Gotti brothers (Irv and Chris Lorenzo), the Federal government slowly begins to reveal its case against the once powerful label. In response to a motion by the Gotti brothers’ lawyer to declare the search of Irv’s […]

As the impending

Oct. 24 money laundering and racketeering trial looms over The Inc (formerly

The Inc.) and the Gotti brothers (Irv and Chris Lorenzo), the Federal government

slowly begins to reveal its case against the once powerful label.

In response to a motion

by the Gotti brothers’ lawyer to declare the search of Irv’s offices unconstitutional,

the Federal government filed a 50-page memorandum in opposition to suppress

the evidence.

The memorandum

outlines for the very first time, the case against Irv and Chris Gotti in great

detail.

The document was submitted

to the US District Court after Gerald Lefcourt, attorney for Irv Gotti, filed

a motion to declare the search of Irv’s offices unconstitutional.

Lefcourt also sought to

discredit affidavits from IRS criminal agent Francis Mace who claimed the label

was funded by Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff and that Supreme and Irv

put chart topping rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson under surveillance.

Filed on September

26 by Roslynn Mauskopf, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, the

document contends that the defendants’ motions are meritless and should

be denied without a hearing based on the fact that there is no basis to suppress

the text pager records, which were obtained with a search warrant.

The memorandum also addresses

the issue of claims by Francis Mace by documenting that “any alleged inaccuracies

were not material to the finding of probable cause, given that the defendants

did not dispute that probable cause existed to search for evidence of the McGriff’s

use of false identification documents to travel, which Murder, Inc. arranged

for and paid.”

Further, the memorandum

also states that, “the defendants have no standing to suppress a search

of a storage office containing bookkeeping records that agents learned of through

bookkeeper Cynthia Brent.”

Cynthia Brent, The Inc.’s

former bookkeeper, was also indicted and charged with laundering over $1 million

in drug money and structuring cash to avoid federal reporting conditions.

Brent pleaded guilty on

September 21 and as part of her plea bargain; she revealed how she structured

financial transactions to avoid currency reporting requirements – breaking down

cash deposits for the label in amounts less than $10,000 so the bank wouldn’t

report them.

The memorandum also provides

a first-hand look into the secret world of Murder Inc and their ties to McGriff.

While the Gotti brothers

asserted that McGriff played an insignificant role in Murda Inc., the Federal

documents painted a very different picture and revealed that he had a noteworthy

yet largely secret position at Murder, Inc.

A review of the documents

shows that:

* In 2001, McGriff

told arresting officers on the 2001 state gun charge that he worked for Def

Jam.

* Text messages

reflected that McGriff regularly was present at the offices of Murder, Inc.,

and that he instructed his associates to call him there.

*Text messages

and subpoenaed records proved that Murder, Inc. employees made travel arrangements,

including flight and hotel accommodations, for McGriff using aliases, and that

Murder, Inc. paid for these trips.

* Text messages

showed that McGriff had reviewed business contracts on behalf of Murder, Inc.

rap artist Ja Rule.

In addition to the money

laundering and racketeering charges, the Gotti brothers are also the subject

of a federal investigation into the beating death of a New York drug dealer.

As AllHipHop.com reported

earlier this year, the Federal government is investigating the 1993 beating

of a man named Anthony Sylvester, who was beaten with a two-by-four “embedded

with nails.”

Sylvester’s body was

dumped in a vacant lot in Manhattan. He survived his wounds, but was comatose

for eight months.

Sylvester survived ten

years with 24-hour medical attention and succumbed to his wounds in October

of 2003.

The Inc. became the subject

of Federal investigation when it was alleged that the successful music label

was bankrolled McGriff, a notorious drug dealer who also allegedly involved

in the shooting of hip-hop superstar 50 Cent.

McGriff, a longtime friend

Irv Gotti, allegedly provided proceeds from drug trafficking in New York and

Maryland as "start-up money" for the powerhouse music label, which

is home to Ja Rule and Grammy Award winner Ashanti.

The Federal trial

is set to begin on Oct. 24. Previously unreleased details from both Irv and

Chris Gotti are expected to surface in "Queens

Reigns Supreme," a new book by Ethan Brown, which reveals the

history of Queens drug dealers and the music industry.