The most outspoken of the three victims of a shooting involving music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and rapper Shyne has come forward with claims that the District Attorney’s office relocated her due to threats on her life.
Natania Reuben, who survived a gunshot wound to the face, spoke out in a recent interview, detailing her harrowing experience and the long-lasting impact it has had on her life.Reuben recounted how the ordeal began after she was shot during an altercation in a New York nightclub in 1999.
Reuben claimed a well-known Brooklyn drug dealer, Matthew “Scar” Allen, sparked off the dispute after an altercation with Diddy and his crew before the shooting incident. Reuben said Diddy and Shyne pulled guns from their waistbands and began firing indiscriminately inside the club.
Shyne was convicted of the shooting, while Diddy and his now-deceased bodyguard, Anthony “Wolf” Jones, were acquitted of weapons charges.
Diddy eventually settled a $130 million civil lawsuit that Reuben and the other victims filed. He paid Reuben an estimated $1.8 million, while the other two victims received $500,000 and $50,000, respectively.
But Reuben has been adamant that Diddy was the one who shot her. She claimed she had to flee Brooklyn because there was a “bag” on her head – meaning a contract to kill her.
“I’m a Brooklyn girl; I was born and raised in Brooklyn,” told The Art of Dialogue in a new interview. “When the District Attorney’s office gets information from one of their confidential informant sources saying that there’s a bag on my head…I had businesses; I was a business owner. Why would I pick up and just leave everything I knew but for the fact that my life depended on it?” Reuben questioned.
Reuben claimed that relocation was a necessary step to ensure her safety.
Faced with the imminent danger, Reuben had no choice but to leave Brooklyn, a place she never intended to abandon. Reuben said Scar was also marked for death.
According to a 2001 report from ABC News, lawyers for Scar and Diddy revealed both men believed the other had placed bounties on their heads.
Diddy’s lawyer Benjamin Brafman told a judge that his client supposedly received a phone call at his office detailing a plot to kill his life. In another incident, an associate of Scar’s was allegedly spotted in front of the courthouse with a walkie-talking describing Diddy’s security movements.
In the same meeting with the judge, prosecutor Matthew Bogdanos claimed a former employee of the Bad Boy boss wanted to bribe Scar with the offer of a $250,000 payment but planned to kill him when he went to collect the money.
Bogdanos said Scar refused to testify out of fear of retaliation. Scar was shot and killed in front of a Brooklyn nightclub in December 2011.
“Scar was on the run after a while because he learned that they had a bag on his head. He eventually got arrested and not too long after he got out of jail, they took him out,” Reuben recounted.
While sensational, Diddy has absolutely nothing to do with Scar’s murder, sources confirmed to AllHipHop. Scar’s murder was ordered by a rival large-scale drug dealer named Roger “Luchie” Key.
The first attempt to kill Scar on November 16, 2011, failed but wounded a bystander named Michael Gonzalez who was hit three times.
“I was standing outside the front entrance of my Brooklyn apartment. Dressed in jeans, black Timberland boots and a hoodie, I thought I was alone. With the hoodie pulled up, my face was obscured as I found my key and stuck it in the lock. It was then when eight shots were suddenly fired. The bullets pierced the metal door, the concrete walls and my soft flesh,” Gonzalez said, recounting the incident with CrimeReads.
Key was eventually sentenced to life plus 30 years for his drug dealing and murderous ways. Still, the gravity of her experience was further stressed when Reuben discussed the ongoing consequences of not holding Diddy accountable.
“Had anybody listened to me 24 years ago and understood my clear and concise statements that said this man shot me in my face, perhaps Cassie would have never had to endure and all those other people that died under alleged suspicious causes at his hand would not have had to endure,” Natania Reuben fumed.
Diddy is facing multiple lawsuits related to sexual assault claims and other allegations. On Wednesday (July 3), Diddy was sued again by a woman who claimed he sexually trafficked her at his now infamous parties. His empire has crumbled since the lawsuits and a damning 2016 video of him assaulting Cassie was released by CNN in May 2024. And while Homeland Security agents raided his Miami and New York homes, Diddy has yet to be charged with a crime although a grand jury has reportedly convened to investigate his actions.