Ray Scott, member
of the Boston rap group Made Men,
has publicly made it clear that he is a co-owner of The Source
Magazine. Scott, who raps using the moniker "Ray Benzino,"
was busted Tuesday, the day after most of the Hip-Hop crowd had
left the Miami Beach area.
Benzino, who is 36,
performed at the Source Awards. Tuesday he was arrested on charges
that included reckless driving, battery on a law enforcement officer,
resisting arrest with violence, driving with a suspended license
and possession of marijuana. "We did a little check on his
driving record and we pulled up a four-page litany of charges
that really speak of an atrocious driving record. He has been
classified as a habitual traffic offender,” Barreto said.
Police representatives
are now saying that after the arrest, Source CEO David Mays tried
to pressure them to drop the charges against Scott.
“When he saw we weren’t
budging, he started making threats, saying they were going to
tear up the city this weekend, call the NAACP and Jesse Jackson,”
said Detective George Navarro.
According to the official
police reports, a motorcycle officer stopped Scott’s Ferrari after
clocking his vehicle at 64 mph in a 30 mph zone.
Police say Scott told
the police he was CO-owner of The Source Magazine and started
using profanity. When officer Officer Robert Silvagni ordered
him out of the car, Benzino punched and kicked Silvagni as the
officer physically tried to remove him from the car. Silvagni
called for backup and took Benzino and passenger Curtis Williams
into custody. Benzino was released Wednesday on $32,000 bond.
At the time of the
arrest, David Mays was supposed to be at a press conference addressing
the stabbing that took place outside of Club Level, after The
Source Awards. The incident was not related to the Awards and
local authorities suspect that the incident stemmed from local
rivals.
While this is the
official police report, Benzino and others are singing a different
tune. While acknowledging he was driving without a suspended license,
Benzino claims that there was no initial reason that the officer
pulled him over, other than the fact that he is young and black,
and that he was driving a ferrari. According to Benzino, the officer
asked him to step out of the car, and when he questioned the officer
as to why he was being stopped, the officer verbally abused him.
Benzino, who claims that he had both hands on the steering wheel,
was punched in the jaw by the officer, who called for back up.
By the time other officers arrived, Benzino was subdued. While
all of this was taking place, Williams, who was the passenger,
called David Mays’ cell phone. While Mays didn’t answer, his voicemail
did. Williams left his phone on while the alleged beating took
place, and it was all recorded on Mays’ voicemail, which will
be made public shortly.
Benzino was handcuffed
and placed in the Miami Beach Police Department basement for 5
hours, before receiving proper medical attention. "Some of
the police were mad that they had to subjugate themselves to the
FOI (Fruit Of Islam, a security force)," Minister Benjamin
Chavis Muhammad told allhiphop.com. The Minister is helping Scott
and Williams, who both have sought legal representation. "There
were no problems. This is why we established the Hip-Hop Summit
Network. We knew we were going to be victimized," Muhammad
said. "As Hip-Hop grows and the impact begins to alter what
is normally called the mainstream of America, its going to draw
certain attention and praise from certain sectors, but its also
going to draw the vicious attacks of those that don’t want it
to emerge, because they fear the rise of the truth."