A reputed Los Angeles gang leader passed himself off as a community activist while running a “mafia-like organization” and committing a number of offenses, including the murder of an aspiring rapper, officials said Wednesday.
Eugene “Big U” Henley Jr., 58, was still at large by late Wednesday morning and will eventually face charges of extortion, human trafficking, fraud and murder, federal authorities said.
Read also:
- America Is Aggravating the World’s Worst Humanitarian Crisis
- Live Updates: Citing Tariffs and Uncertainty, Fed Sees Higher Inflation and Lower Growth
- Donald Trump Jr. Mixes Business and Politics in Serbia, as Protests There Rage
- Cowboys’ plan for the future revealed amid rumors of ‘tanking’ for Arch Manning
- Parents facing rip-off travel prices in school holidays given hope by Labour
Sylvester “Vey” Robinson, 59, Mark “Bear Claw” Martin, 50, and Henley were among 19 people accused in the wide-ranging charges, authorities said.
While Henley assumed the role of community peacemaker, officials said he was really an active member of the Rollin’ 60s Crips street gang, officials said.
“He (Henley) has maintained the image of an entertainment industry entrepreneur running a music label, of somebody who gives back to the community here in Los Angeles, funding a South L.A.-based charity, Developing Options, which purports to help at-risk youth escape gang life and escape the perils of gangs in high-crime areas,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally told reporters.
“The facts alleged in the complaint paint a very different picture. It is one of a murderer, a thief, a liar and a cheat,” McNally continued.
The defendant’s Big U Enterprises was a “mafia-like organization that utilized Mr. Henley’s stature and long-standing association with the Crips criminal street gang and other gangs here in Los Angeles to intimidate businesses and individuals,” McNally added.
Henley fatally shot an aspiring rapper, called “R.W.” in court documents, in North Las Vegas and dumped the victim’s body in a ditch near Interstate 15 in January 2021, after the musician recorded a diss track about the defendant, authorities said.
Henley passed himself off as a community activist interested in bringing peace to South L.A. but it was really just a vehicle to scam “celebrities, professional athletes and businesses” for donations that were embezzled, McNally said.
Henley “fraudulently obtained funding from the City of Los Angeles’s Mayor’s Office through the Gang Reduction Youth Development Foundation,” according to the complaint.
That city fund awarded Developing Options $2.352 million between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2023, and Henley drew hundreds of thousands of dollars in purported salary, prosecutors said.
He also “defrauded and attempted to defraud the Small Business Administration for loans that benefited the Big U Enterprise,” the complaint added.
“Henley used this charity as a front,” McNally said. “He used it to conceal his fraudulent activities, his criminal enterprise activities and to evade detection from law enforcement.”
Henley also did not take well to disrespect and had a simmering beef with popular L.A. rapper Nipsey Hussle, according to the criminal complaint filed against him.
Nipsey Hussle recorded a diss track about Henley, saying he’s “a scrapper, not a rapper.” Even after they allegedly squashed that beef, Henley believed the young rapper needed to be “disciplined.”
“Nipsey Hussle’s brother intervened” but not before “violence erupted, and when LAPD officers arrived on the scene, a firearm was present and discharged,” according to the complaint.
Nipsey Hussle was murdered in 2019 by a member of the Rollin’ 60s, the complaint said.
The arrests also netted 49 weapons, 5 pounds of meth, 10,000 fentanyl pills and “large amounts of cash,” said Ted Docks, the FBI special agent in charge of the bureau’s Los Angeles office.
Andrew Blankstein is an investigative reporter for NBC News. He covers the Western U.S., specializing in crime, courts and homeland security.
Senior Reporter
