Accused Crips leader indicted: A Grammy-winning witness, NBA all-star's $3-million debt
A federal grand jury indictment returned this week against accused gang leader Eugene "Big U" Henley revealed new details about the reach of his alleged 'mafia-like organization' and the celebrities who were entangled in it.
Henley, who helped launch Nipsey Hussle's career, was previously charged in a 107-page criminal complaint and eventually arrested last week. The 43-count indictment returned Wednesday means a grand jury believes there's enough evidence to charge Henley.
The grand jury indicted Henley, 58, on charges including fraud, robbery, extortion, tax evasion, embezzlement of donations to his charity, which receives public money, and running a racketeering conspiracy in which he allegedly murdered an aspiring rapper, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in L.A.
Henley's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
'As the indictment alleges, Mr. Henley led a criminal enterprise whose conduct ranged from murder to sophisticated fraud that included stealing from taxpayers and a charity,' said Acting U.S. Atty. Joseph McNally. 'Eradicating gangs and organized crime is the Department of Justice's top priority."
Before turning himself in, Henley made videos denying the accusations against him saying, 'I ain't did nothing."
'I ain't been nothing but a help to our community,' Henley said on the videos. 'This the price of being Black and trying to help somebody, trying to help your community and do what you can. You just guilty because somebody else don't like you."
In the indictment, prosecutors referenced those videos, calling them "an attempt to poison the jury pool." They also accused Henley of fleeing from law enforcement and obstructing the investigation.
Read more: L.A. Crips leader turned gang interventionist ran 'mafia-like' enterprise, feds allege
According to the indictment, Henley's phones stopped reporting location data around 12:30 a.m. on March 19, hours before law enforcement executed arrests tied to the case. Before allegedly fleeing his home in South L.A., authorities said Henley left a subpoena related to the investigation on a table near a hat for the Seattle Mariners, a sports team adopted by Rollin' 60s Neighborhood Crips members as a symbol of the gang.
Federal authorities said Henley is an admitted member and "original gangster" or "OG" of the Rollin' 60s. More than a dozen alleged members or associates of the Rollin' 60s Crips — including Henley — have been charged in the sprawling criminal case.
The indictment further expanded on Henley's purported grip on L.A. and the alleged victims who 'were required to 'check in'' with Henley in order to obtain "protection" before arriving in the city.
According to the indictment, Henley recorded video of a film crew in Hyde Park in about 2017 and said on the recording, "Anytime you want to do movies in the hood, just check it in . . . , but if you don't check it in, we going to check you in alright . . . . We going to check in all your equipment."
That video has also made the rounds on social media in recent days.
The indictment also provided more information on the circumstances surrounding the Las Vegas murder of Rayshawn Williams, an aspiring rapper. Authorities have accused Henley of kidnapping and fatally shooting Williams in the face and leaving his body in the Las Vegas desert in 2021.
According to prosecutors, Henley had arranged for Williams to record music at a studio owned by a Grammy-winning producer in Las Vegas. That producer, identified as Witness-2 in the criminal complaint, told authorities that Henley was using his studio for free "based on the fear and power dynamic imposed over Witness-2 by the Big U Enterprise for years."
In an affidavit filed with the complaint, Andrew Roosa, a special agent with the FBI, said that before Williams' death, the young rapper recorded a diss song that Roosa believed was about Henley.
In addition, according to the indictment, Henley allegedly arranged for a co-conspirator to collect an illegal debt in November 2022 from a current NBA All-Star player who purportedly owed $3 million to a Big U Enterprise associate.
Henley, in multiple wiretapped calls, allegedly recounted sending the co-conspirator to Minnesota to collect several hundred thousand dollars on behalf of someone he referred to as "Jew Boy." Henley allegedly took a portion of the debt owed as a fee for collecting it.
The indictment also included details from wiretapped calls in which Henley allegedly said he was 'bigger' than Nipsey Hussle and that he had disciplined Hussle before the rapper's murder in 2019.
In 'Hip Hop Uncovered,' a six-part documentary series for which Henley was an executive producer, he said Hussle made a "diss" song about him after the two had a falling out over music equipment.
Read more: Rappers, murder and City Hall fraud: Inside the 'Big U' charges rocking L.A.
"I ain't no rapper, I'm a scrapper," Henley said.
On the show, Henley said he attempted to pick Hussle up to get 'disciplined," but that Hussle's brother intervened and wouldn't let him go. According to the complaint, LAPD reports documented that violence erupted and when police officers arrived on the scene, a firearm was present and discharged.
Henley said he and Hussle talked that night "and it was never nothing after that."
In 2023, Eric Holder Jr. was sentenced to at least 60 years in prison for killing Hussle.
Although social media posts have tried to blame Henley for Hussle's death, authorities have not linked him to the murder. "Hip Hop Uncovered" also referenced the conspiracy theories, which Henley called "the dumbest s— in the world."
"All these weirdos pop up out of nowhere with different stories to sell this," Henley said.
On a wiretapped call in January 2023, Henley confirmed that he wasn't feuding with Hussle, according to the indictment. He allegedly added that no one could "beef" with him because if they did, 'I'ma kill him. Period. I. Am. Going. To. Murder. Him.'
Henley is in federal custody and his arraignment is scheduled for April 8. His detention hearing is scheduled for April 10.
Also charged in the indictment are Sylvester Robinson, 59, a.k.a. 'Vey,' of Northridge; Mark Martin, 50, a.k.a. 'Bear Claw,' of the Beverlywood area of Los Angeles; Termaine Ashley Williams, 42, a.k.a. 'Luce Cannon,' of Las Vegas; Armani Aflleje, 38, a.k.a. 'Mani,' of the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles; Fredrick Blanton Jr., 43, of South Los Angeles; and Tiffany Shanrika Hines, 51, of Yorba Linda.
If convicted on all counts, Henley would be in prison for life.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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