LOS ANGELES — Eugene “Big U” Henley, a Crips leader who helped launch Nipsey Hussle’s career and was dubbed rap’s “godfather,” has been accused of murder, kidnapping, robbery, extortion and fraud, federal authorities announced on Wednesday.

As part of Henley’s purported grip on Los Angeles, his alleged victims “were required to ‘check in’” with Henley before arriving in the city in order to obtain “protection,” according the 107-page federal complaint unveiled Wednesday. Among those Henley allegedly extorted were professional athletes and musicians, the complaint said, whose business interests were not always legitimate.

Federal authorities likened Henley’s “Big U Enterprise” to a “mafia-like organization” that relied on his “stature and long-standing association with the Rollin’ 60s and other street gangs to intimidate businesses and individuals” in L.A. Authorities at a Wednesday press conference said Henley is a fugitive. More than a dozen others are in custody tied to the sprawling criminal case.

Following a years-long FBI investigation, federal authorities have accused Henley of kidnapping and fatally shooting a young rapper in the face and leaving his body in the Las Vegas desert over perceived disrespect and directing the robbery of an unlicensed L.A. marijuana dispensary that had stopped making extortion payments.

Henley also allegedly defrauded companies, donors, athletes and celebrities — including professional basketball player Draymond Green and former NBA MVP Shaquille O’Neal — persuading them to donate to his charities and later allegedly transferring the money to his own personal bank accounts. Authorities have also accused Henley of fraudulently obtaining funding from the Gang Reduction and Youth Development program overseen by the L.A. mayor’s office.

Henley previously served 13 years in prison after trying to rob an undercover sheriff’s deputy of 33 pounds of cocaine in 1991. His son is a linebacker for the Los Angeles Chargers.

Henley, his alleged right-hand man, Sylvester Robinson, and trusted lieutenant, Mark Martin, are accused of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Federal authorities have also charged Termaine Williams, aka “Luce Cannon,” with robbery, Armani Aflleje, aka “Mani,” with transporting an individual to engage in prostitution and Fredrick Blanton Jr. and Tiffany Hines with bank fraud. All of them are in custody, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in L.A.

In an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint, Andrew Roosa, a special agent with the FBI, said members and associates of the Big U Enterprise used Henley’s and the group’s history and reputation to “‘control’ Los Angeles through violence, fear, and intimidation.”

Henley “simultaneously attempted to create an air of legitimacy for the Big U Enterprise by promoting himself as a reformed gang member focused on bettering his community,” Roosa wrote.

Las Vegas killing

Five days before his killing in January 2021, Rayshawn Williams recorded a diss song.

In his affidavit, Roosa said he believed Williams’ diss song was about Henley, whose independent record label Uneek Music was representing the 21-year-old rapper. It’s unclear whether Henley had heard the diss lyrics prior to the killing, according to the complaint.

In the diss song, Williams referred to Henley as the “bro that makes some money,” Roosa wrote. Williams rapped that he himself might get shot in the face “for thinkin’ shit funny.” He mentioned a .38 revolver with “no trace.”

Las Vegas police found Williams’ body in a ditch near a landfill on Jan. 25. He’d been shot in the face with a revolver that left no shell casings.

Williams is identified only by his initials in the complaint, but The Times was able to confirm his name through Las Vegas news reports and social media posts.

Uneek Music paid to fly Williams from California to Las Vegas in January 2021 and put him up in an Airbnb, according to the complaint. His family said Henley had coached the young rapper in football since he was young. Williams was supposed to spend a week at a recording studio and record a song a day. But he missed some days.

When Williams didn’t show up at the studio on Jan. 23, investigators said Henley and Robinson drove from L.A. to Las Vegas to confront him. A friend of Williams, identified only as C.A., recounted that Henley arrived at the Airbnb about 2 a.m. on Jan. 24.

Henley asked why Williams hadn’t shown up to the studio, C.A. told the authorities. Williams claimed he didn’t have a ride.

“I believe that R.W. wasting the time, thereby disparaging HENLEY’s name and the Big U Enterprise’s reputation, and potentially flouting that disrespect with the lyrics of the ‘diss’ song, led to a dispute,” Roosa wrote.

Henley arrived at the studio about 7 p.m. Williams arrived a couple of hours after and recorded until midnight, witnesses told authorities. About 12:30 a.m., Henley left the studio. The dark gray Lexus that he and Robinson had driven to the studio was no longer there.

Shortly before 1 a.m., Roosa wrote, Henley’s phones stopped reporting location data and didn’t start again until about 2:15 a.m.

Surveillance footage at the Airbnb where Williams was staying captured a dark gray or silver sedan arriving about 1:13 a.m., according to the complaint. Williams got out of the passenger side of the car, went inside and returned a few minutes later with his suitcase, despite the fact that the Airnb was rented for another day and he was not set to leave on a flight until the following day.

About 3 a.m., a witness said, Henley returned to the studio alone. The witness said Henley appeared to be drenched in either sweat or water. Henley told the witness he was coming back from the gym, according to the complaint.

Hours later on Jan. 25, about 9 a.m., Williams’ body was found in a ditch. He had died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Authorities compared DNA collected from Williams’ body to Henley’s DNA profile. The result “was inconclusive,” but Henley “could not be excluded” as a suspect, according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, following the homicide, Henley allegedly arranged for recording equipment from the studio to be removed and surveillance video to be destroyed. Roosa wrote that he believed the footage would have shown an altercation between Henley and Williams the night of the killing “and, at minimum, HENLEY and R.W. leaving the studio together shortly before R.W.’s murder.”

A month after Williams’ death, the FBI L.A. Metropolitan Task Force on Violent Gangs launched an investigation into Big U Enterprise and its association with the Rollin’ 60s.

‘Original gangster’

Henley is an admitted member and “original gangster” or “OG” of the Rollin’ 60s and someone “widely regarded as a leader” within the gang, Roosa wrote in his affidavit.

In “Hip Hop Uncovered,” a six-part documentary series for which Henley was an executive producer, he described himself as a Rollin’ 60s member from the first generation. The series billed itself as examining the “power brokers who operate from the shadows of hip hop.”

Henley said he robbed cars as a juvenile and moved to Chicago after “getting kicked out of California.” When he returned to L.A. in the 1980s, he said, he earned his reputation by beating people up in the parking lot of the World on Wheels Mid-City skating rink.

Throughout the ‘80s, Roosa wrote in his affidavit, Henley fostered a “fierce and earned reputation for violence.” Henley said he made money selling drugs but decided to stop after reading “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.”

“I was ready to do something different,” Henley said in the docuseries. He later started managing the career of hip-hop artist Kurupt.

Then, in 1991, Henley was arrested in a sting operation after he and a friend tried to rob someone they mistakenly thought was a drug dealer. He served 13 years in prison and was released in 2004. Soon after, Henley formed Developing Options, a nonprofit involved in gang intervention that also provided underprivileged children a safe outlet in sports.

Kurupt took Henley to Death Row Records to meet Suge Knight. In the docuseries, Henley said Knight helped him financially and “put me in a position to win.” He met Nipsey Hussle, an up-and-coming rapper and member of the Rollin’ 60s who lived with Henley’s family and recorded some of his first tracks in their downstairs studio, according to a 2023 Times article.

In the docuseries, rapper Wiz Khalifa said he didn’t know anybody “that’s actually touched as many superstars” as Henley has.

“If I was to describe Big U’s role in rap, he would definitely be the godfather,” Khalifa said. “Can’t do nothing without consulting him. He’s the only guy who does move how he moves.”

Check-ins

In 2022, Roosa wrote, the FBI interviewed a cooperating witness, identified only as CW-1, who claimed that rap artists, athletes and other visitors needed to pay Henley a fee when they came to the city.

CW-1 told authorities about a large buy-in dice game in L.A. in June 2019. The game involved a professional boxer, identified only as A.B., A.B.’s associates, and several prominent NBA players. According to CW-1, A.B. and his associates fixed the game, cheating the NBA players out of millions of dollars using “teased” dice.

After that game, Roosa wrote, Henley directed associates to “rough up” A.B., who had not checked in with Henley, “and to get the money back from him on behalf of the cheated NBA players.” Multiple members of the Rollin’ 60s allegedly arrived and were used “to press A.B.”

Henley stepped in, CW-1 told authorities, “because he was involved in and/or would approve of any dice games or similar events, such as parties, involving large sums of money and prominent NBA players and celebrities” in the city.

According to the complaint, CW-1 knew of other times in which NBA players or celebrities would need to get approval in advance from Henley to ensure their safety at events such as parties, games or advertising shoots. CW-1 said the celebrities would have to pay Henley for protection and approval “or face retaliation from the Big U Enterprise.”

In a monitored meeting between Henley and someone identified only as “Victim-1,” Henley recounted that he “got into it,” with A.B after A.B. cheated a current NBA All-Star out of $1.5 million and a former NBA All-Star out of $5 million. Henley also talked about charging the players $100,000 to get their money back.

In a podcast Henley hosted called “Checcin-In,” he said every city he goes to, “I check in with somebody.” But he has denied charging fees for those coming to L.A.

“I never made no athlete, no rapper give me nothing,” Henley said in an interview with Genius, a digital media company. “They reach out to me because they feel a connection to me and my neighborhood for whatever reason.”

‘How you rob yourself’

The complaint laid out various robberies allegedy carried out by Big U Enterprise, including one at an unlicensed marijuana dispensary in L.A. on July 5, 2021.

In that case, the victim told authorities he’d been paying the enterprise up to $25,000 per month in extortion fees. After he stopped paying, he said, nearly a dozen of the Big U Enterprise’s members and associates, along with Rollin’ 60s members, rushed into the dispensary armed with firearms. They were not wearing masks to obscure their identities. They allegedly stole cash and marijuana from the store before fleeing.

That same day, Henley allegedly invited the victim to his home, where he laid out what had been stolen from the dispensary.

“That’s how you rob yourself,” Henley allegedly said.

Roosa wrote that throughout the investigation, the FBI obtained recordings of Big U Enterprise members and associates discussing robberies that they were doing or planned to do.

In one case, Roosa said he heard Henley on a wiretap planning a robbery of people who had stolen equipment from a celebrity rapper. Using an Apple AirTag that was purportedly with the equipment, Henley, Mitchell and others got guns and began to stage the robbery. They called it off after spotting police arrive at the location, Roosa wrote.

According to the complaint, Henley organized a birthday party at Déjà Vu for himself in December 2021. He allegedly negotiated to receive roughly 33% of the bar proceeds and promised that famous rappers, including Khalifa and T.I., would attend.

The night of the birthday party, Henley, Robinson, Martin and other associates turned up at the club. A victim told authorities he watched as Robinson, Martin and three other associates took a different victim into a backroom and extorted $30,000 from him.

None of the promised celebrity rappers arrived, according to the complaint.

Alleged fraud

Authorities also accused Henley of fraudulently obtaining funding from the L.A. mayor’s office through the Gang Reduction Youth Development program.

Since around 2015, Roosa wrote, Henley’s nonprofit, Developing Options, has received $550,000 annually as part of the program. The nonprofit was allotted $2.35 million from the city from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2023. From that, Roosa wrote, Henley “has drawn hundreds of thousands of dollars, purportedly in salary.”

According to the complaint, the GRYD program “has an extensive mandatory handbook that is appended to each contract and that Developing Options (like every other GRYD contractor) must comply with.” Among the many requirements are extensive criminal background checks, compliance, training, approval of employees, attendance at meetings, logging activity and cooperating with local law enforcement.

“Based on my review of documents in the course of this investigation, Developing Options appears to have failed to comply with some — or potentially all — of those requirements,” Roosa wrote.

Henley also allegedly fraudulently applied for federal pandemic-relief loans for Developing Options, Uneek Music, and other businesses.

Finally, authorities accused Henley of committing wire fraud by embezzling more than $100,000 in donations to Developing Options. Although none of the donors were identified in the complaint, The Times was able to confirm their names through federal sources and public interviews.

Among them was Draymond Green, who made a $20,000 donation to Developing Options in August 2019. Henley allegedly embezzled the entire donation, transferring the funds to his personal checking account.

Another was Shaquille O’Neal, who wrote a $20,000 check intended to support Developing Options and the Crenshaw Rams youth sports team. Henley allegedly transferred most of the money to his bank account.

Henley faces up to 20 years for the RICO charge but could get life if a jury finds that he agreed to commit the murder specifically.

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