Harlem rapper Max B and his attorney Gerald Saluti have released a videotaped statement [watch the video HERE] in which Saluti offers previously unreleased details about an ongoing New Jersey murder trial, in which his client has been implicated.
The statement comes one week after the rapper’s ex-girlfriend and co-defendant pleaded guilty to lesser charges, in exchange for her testimony against Max and a third co-defendant.
Gina Conway entered her plea agreement on the day she was to stand trial for her involvement in the September 2006 murder of David Taylor at a Holiday Inn along Route 4 in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Conway says she helped carry out the plan that lead to Taylor’s death.
She accepted the charges of aggravated manslaughter and robbery and agreed to testify against Max B, born Charly Wingate, and Kelvin Leerdam.
Both charges are first degree crimes in the state of New Jersey, for which she will receive a minimum concurrent sentence of ten years, as opposed to the possible maximum of eighteen years in prison.
“So instead of going to jail for the rest of her life, based on a 160-page confession that she gave to the police department, she’s chosen to testify in what I say, and I tell you right now and I’ll tell her in court, is gonna be in some untruthful fashion about my client’s role in her dirt, basically,” Saluti said in a videotaped statement.
“She’s pointing the finger at other people when she should be pointing the finger at herself. “[She’s] pointing the finger at other individuals, and quite frankly, pointing the finger at a man who basically kicker her out of his house,” Saluti stated.
In her original statement, Conway alleged that she overheard Max B and a man she identified as “Sims” planning to rob Taylor and his friend Allan “Jay” Plowden, after she had revealed that the two men drove flashy cars and carried a lot of cash.
Prosecutors say that shortly after her arrest, Conway described the crime, which she said was carried out by her and Leerdam, whom she alleges ultimately shot Taylor.
The video insinuates that Saluti plans on making the case that Conway is a jilted lover who has implicated Max B out of spite, because of the failure of their relationship shortly before the crime in question.
According to the attorney, she has maintained constant contact with his client in the two years since, writing Max B incessantly from her jail cell to profess her undying love.
The rapper adds that Conway has gone so far as to say she wishes the mother of his son, with whom he is currently in a relationship, was dead.
“I just leave it up to God, my lawyer Gerald Saluti, [and] everything will work out,” said Max B, who allowed Saluti to speak on his behalf for the majority of the six minute recording. “I just let him do his job. I’m here on time, I’m at every court appearance,” Max B. told said. “I’m just here. People, stay strong for me and keep your support up.”
The two surprisingly also took the opportunity to thank Jim Jones for his role in getting Max out of jail in July 2007, when Max was still part of the Dipset offshoot crew, Byrd Gang.
“Max is a gentleman, Jim is a gentleman. I know they have their differences, but we do thank him for what he did for Max,” Saluti stated. “It’s one of the reasons he’s here, it’s one of the reasons he’s able to assist me in building a defense for him, and it’s an integral part of Max’s freedom. We look forward to being vindicated in April when this case is gonna go to trial.”
Gina Conway will be sentenced in Bergen County Superior Court on March 21.
