LA Crips leader and music exec Big U arrested by the feds for slew of Mafia-like crimes

A music executive bigwig who helped launch Nipsey Hussle’s career and was lauded as rap’s “godfather” has been accused of running a “Mafia-like” criminal enterprise involving murder, human trafficking, robbery and extortion on the streets of Los Angeles.Eugene Henley Jr.— known as “Big U” in the entertainment world — was one of 18 members of the Rollin’ 60s Neighborhood Crips street gang charged in a sprawling federal racketeering complaint, the US attorney’s office said Wednesday.Henley has “maintained the image of an entertainment industry entrepreneur running a music label and of somebody who gives back to the community here in Los Angeles,” US attorney Joseph T.

McNally said while announcing the indictment.“The facts alleged in the complaint paint a very different picture.It is one of a murderer, a thief, a liar and a cheat and the criminals that enabled him.”The 58-year-old, an alleged longtime leader of the notorious Crips gang, is accused of running the vast criminal operation — dubbed the “Big U Enterprise” — like a mob boss, the complaint charges.Henley, who turned himself in late Wednesday after initially being listed by the feds as a fugitive, posted a video on Instagram before his surrender slamming the charges as “bull crap” and “straight trash.” He is suspected of being behind the 2021 slaying of aspiring rapper, Rayshawn Williams, who was signed to his recording company, Uneek Music, the feds said.

Williams was allegedly shot and killed by Henley after the budding rapper recorded a diss track about him at a Las Vegas studio, prosecutors said.The victim’s body was later found dumped in a ditch off Interstate 15 in the Nevada desert.Henley also allegedly used his stature and long-standing association with the Rollin’ 60s and other street gangs to intimidate businesses and high-profile individuals dating back to 2010, according to prosecutors.“Not only did the enterprise expand its power through v...