The Inc.’s CEO, Irv Gotti, turned himself in along with his brother yesterday on charges of laundering more than $1 million dollars of drug money through his label. After both he and his brother were charged, they immediately turned themselves in and were released on $1 million bond. The two pleaded not guilty to the charges. Alleged longtime Inc associate, Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, was also charged with murder and racketeering.
According to the charges, it seems as if the Inc. was part of a drug business run by McGriff. Witnesses have said to authorities that McGriff had confessed to the 2001 murder of rapper E-Money Bags. He was also fingered as being responsible for the shooting of an informant a month later.
“I want to make it very crystal clear that I don’t look [badly] at the government in any way, shape or form for them thinking I’m doing anything wrong,” Irv stated after yesterday’s hearing. “I call myself ‘Gotti,’ I made my label ‘Murder Inc.,’ I grew up poor, from the street. . . . In no way have I done anything wrong except make great music that people seem to love. That’s all I’m guilty of.”
Gotti‘s lawyer Gerald Lefcourt has stated that the Inc. is financed through cash from Island Def Jam. Gotti and his brother face up to twenty years in prison while McGriff is eligible for the death penalty.
