The manhunt for Hip-Hop music exec James “Jimmy Henchmen” Rosemond is now over. The DEA has confirmed that Jimmy was arrested and charged with heading a cocaine trafficking ring in New York City Tuesday afternoon (Jun 21).
Jimmy Henchmen, best known as rapper Game’s manager and the now former owner of Czar Entertainment management company, has been on the run since May 17th when warrants for his arrest were issued. However, on Tuesday afternoon, the one-time music manager ran into federal agents on his way out of the W Hotel in Union Square, NYC.
He then proceeded to lead the US Marshals and DEA agents on a quarter-mile chase on foot before being apprehended and arrested a few blocks down the street on 21st Street and Park Avenue South. He was later arraigned in a Brooklyn court on conspiracy to distribute in excess of 5 kg of cocaine.
As Rosemond, who also manages Brandy and Akon, is currently being held without bail, his lawyer Jeffery Lichtman maintains his client’s innocence. “These charges obviously aren’t surprising, we’ve been anticipating them for years now,” Lichtman told MTV News on Tuesday. “But they’re built on the backs of people that have lied and cheated, have been threatened, have been bribed by the government. Anything to get Jimmy Rosemond, but all of this is going to be exposed. We’ve been waiting a long time for our day in court — we finally have it.”
Through the DEA, MTV News has obtained a copy of the complaint and affidavit stemming from Rosemond’s arrest warrant. In it, there are details of Henchmen’s alleged drug ring, which is said to have shipped cocaine under accounts belonging to Czar Entertainment from California to New York in “road cases” typically used to transport musical equipment. Vacuum-sealed bags and mustard were also used to conceal the smell from drug-sniffing dogs.
Two “high-ranking members” of Rosemond’s alleged organization (referred to in the complaint as “CW-1” and “CW-2”) helped the DEA in their investigation. The document does confirm that both men agreed to cooperate with the government after their respective arrests in the “hope of receiving a reduced sentence.”
It is also noted in the complaint that while on the run, Henchmen avoided the use of cell phones and suggested to one of the members of his organization that he should go into hiding. “N—-r stay low, move like you on the run right now ’cause that is what I’m doing n—-r, trying to get some ID, some new paperwork, all that sh– right now,” Rosemond said during a telephone conversation recorded by agents.
Dexter Isaac, who is believed to be cooperating with the government in its case against Henchmen, told AllHipHop.com that he was paid $2,500 by Rosemond to rob Tupac Shakur at Quad Studios in a November 1994 incident that resulted in the near-fatal shooting of the rapper, two years before his death in 1996. Lichtman told the New York Daily News that Isaac’s claim was a “flat-out lie.”
“When you got witnesses like that against you, it can make anybody paranoid and believe that they won’t be getting a fair trial,” Lichtman said about his client. “When the case starts, we’ll be ready to go.”
