Irv Gotti and Ja Rule
Photo: Bryan Mitchell/ Getty Images

As he has for most of his career, Irv Gotti said he's going to have the last laugh very soon. Heck, he's laughing so much right now, he can barely get a whole sentence out.

"God!" he answered recently with a huge laugh about how he came to sign pop singer Vanessa Carlton to his infamous record label, the Inc. (see "Yeah, Irv Gotti Knows Who Vanessa Carlton Is — He Just Signed Her"). "God himself [oversaw] this project. He's executive-producing all of my projects into 2007."

Gotti's laughter has been bolstered with what he called blessings bestowed upon him over the past few months. First, his artist Lloyd almost left his label — which was in limbo without a distribution deal at the time — to go to Atlantic. The R&B singer returned to the Inc with the heat rock "You," featuring Lil Wayne (see "Irv Gotti Rebuilding The Inc. With A Little Help From Lloyd"). Then Gotti inked a new deal with Universal Records and the Universal Music Group, not only getting the millions he wanted, but also a brand-new distribution deal. Then the proven Carlton joined his label — which already has Ja Rule, Ashanti and hitmaking producer 7 Aurelius, who Gotti described as "Prince if he f---ed with hip-hop."

"I'm gonna make a prediction," I.G. said. "Don't be shocked and amazed if at one time, you're looking at the Billboard top 200, and in the top 20, you see four or five Murder Inc. records. You're gonna be like, 'I thought them f---ers was over.' "

The only place Gotti and company have been is in the boardroom making deals and in his studio making music. After Gotti was acquitted of money laundering last year, he severed ties with Def Jam and the Universal Music Group. Although he had nothing but great things to say about Def Jam, he spit what he called justified venom at some of the Universal Music Group executives, namely Jimmy Iovine and Doug Morris. He accused them of sabotaging his project, being ungrateful for the millions of dollars he made for the company and turning their backs on him as friends. Gotti maintains that he never had any beef with executive Zach Horowitz.

A few months ago, Horowitz and Morris contacted Gotti's lawyers about a meeting. "They wanted to sit back down and discuss things with me," Irv said. "At first my lawyer [asked the Universal execs], 'Are you crazy? You're going to get me fired. You know Irv ain't f---ing with y'all.' But then the lawyer said an interesting thing. He [told Universal's lawyers], 'Maybe I can get Irv to the meeting if you offer him his masters.' They were like, 'If you get him to the meeting, we want to talk to him.' "

Gotti said his talk with the two was "quintessential, real talk." "Doug explained the level of what I was getting myself into [with] the federal investigation," Gotti said. "He put it to me like, 'Irv, you put my job at risk. What did you want me to do? ... I'm the chairman. You put me in harm's way.' How he explained it to me, he made a lot of sense. No bullsh--."

Irv accepted Morris' apology — but not before he conveyed one last emotion. "I turned it back to him like, 'I understand, but f---, man, you could have been my man still,' " Gotti said. " 'You could have called me and said, "I'm praying for you, I hope you get through this." ' We went at it. To be honest, after we went at it, I understood where he was coming from. He understood where I was coming from."

With everyone on the same page, all Gotti had to do was turn down an offer from the Warner Brothers Music Group and sign back with Universal — which wasn't too difficult, because Warner underwhelmed him.

"The deal they put on the table wasn't even comparable. It was like night and day," he said. "I remember telling Dame Dash [about the Universal deal]. He said, 'What? Nobody is getting deals like this anymore. Sign that now!' I swear to you."

With the business done, all Gotti has to do is get back to making records. He said Carlton, Lloyd, 7, Ashanti and Ja Rule are all working on their 2007 releases now. Gotti's especially excited for Ja's comeback.

"He has a [song] he did that I made him a $100,000 bet on," Gotti said. "I said, 'We'll put the money in escrow and wait till we're 50 years old and we'll collect on the bet.' I said, 'Rule, you will not make a bigger [song] than this one we just made.' It's called 'Father Forgive Me.'

"Everybody says, 'Can Rule do it? Can he come back?' I say Rule is the best songwriter I have ever been around," Gotti said. "This guy makes big records in his sleep that people would love to have. You better not ever count me and Rule out. It's too much talent. I'm saying that through experience of me being around the best rappers alive."

The working title for Ja's next album is Love Is Pain. "It's a sequel of sorts to Rule's biggest-selling album, Pain Is Love," Gotti said. "Vanessa's album is tentatively called Heroes and Thieves. The title track is about how we don't know who comes in our lives, whether they be good or bad. A lot of her songs sound like they should be title tracks of movie soundtracks.'

Gotti said he and 7 will produce Carlton's project along with Rick Rubin and 3rd Eye Blind's Steven Jenkins. Linda Perry is writing some material too. Carlton also will appear on a sure single from Aurelius' album, Channel 7. "Sixty percent of his album is done," Gotti divulged. "Every song is like the biggest record anyone has ever heard. His first record is gonna be called 'M-A-K-E-L-O-V-E-T-O-M-E.' The record is like a Gwen Stefani 'Hollaback Girl' vibe, and we took the Hall and Oates' 'Method of Modern Love' hook. Instead of 'M-E-T-H-O-D-O-F-L-O-V-E,' Vanessa is singing, 'M-A-K-E-L-O-V-E-T-O-M-E.' "

The only project Gotti didn't give too much info on is Ashanti's next record. The label's princess is recording on her own, unlike her first three albums, which I.G. oversaw.

"She's the captain of her ship," he said. "With her project, I wouldn't even comment on it. I would say get [the info] from her. Bust she's still on Murder Inc., and it's still coming in '07, and it's all good."

• Irv Gotti
• Ja Rule
• The Inc. Records
• Vanessa Carlton
• Lloyd

Irv Gotti and Vanessa Carlton
Photo: MTV News

NEW YORK — A funny thing happened to Irv Gotti on the way to a business meeting.

The multiplatinum hip-hop producer had recently signed a deal with Universal Records for his label, the Inc., and was visiting with the bosses to discuss business matters. (" 'Pinky and the Brain' sh--," he quipped.)

An A&R rep noticed Gotti in the Universal building hallway and prodded him to join another meeting in the adjoining offices where, oddly enough, Vanessa Carlton happened to be working out a deal to join the label's roster. In a twist of fate even he admits is surprising, Gotti ended up signing the pop singer to his company, the one formerly known as Murder Inc. Now, he and Carlton are pushing to finish her new album in time for a spring release.

"I see Vanessa and I say to myself, 'I know her from somewhere,' " Gotti, preparing for a Carlton showcase at the Canal Room, remembered of their initial chance meeting. "I didn't quite know yet to put the name on it, [but I knew] she was an artist. She started playing and her voice, it completely took me over. I start rambling, running my mouth basically. And just going crazy.

"After I calmed down," Gotti continued, "she played 'A Thousand Miles,' and once I heard the piano riff, I spazzed out again.

" 'You're the girl from "White Chicks," ' " Gotti recalled Carlton jumping in, finishing his thought for him. They laughed about the song being parodied in the Wayans brothers' comedy.

With that number, Gotti knew exactly who Carlton was and began wondering if she would be willing to work with him. Gotti learned Carlton had become a free agent after parting ways with A&M Records following her commercially disappointing 2004 album, Harmonium. At first, a hesitant Gotti only offered Carlton his production assistance. He says he was surprised when her enthusiasm matched his.

"He just has this bundle of energy," Carlton said of meeting Irv. "I was so thrilled. I had been waiting for this reaction [to my music] my whole life and [that day] was the beginning of our friendship and our working relationship."

The two exchanged contact information and soon began paging each other. When Carlton signed her first message to Gotti with her first initial — he affectionately calls her "V" — he says he knew the odd pairing was destined to be. As Gotti explains, the V pendent he wears on his necklace is in remembrance of his late grandmother, who would only allow Gotti to call her "V," even though her nickname had nothing to do with her birth name.

Carlton also called their union coincidental. And she was quick to add that Irv, despite recent baggage from a federal court case (see "Gotti Brothers Found Not Guilty Of Money Laundering") and parting ways with his longtime distributor Def Jam, isn't as strange a bedfellow for her as many would think.

"I don't have an opinion on someone until I meet them, and he instantly struck me as a music guy," Carlton said. "It didn't matter what genre he usually works in or what imaging he has for himself. All I was looking for was someone who I would connect with personally, and there was energy there I wanted to be a part of."

The new duo were tightlipped about what to expect from Carlton's forthcoming album. Irv did reveal that a few surprises are possible, but most likely the effort will consist of Carlton continuing to evolve her sound. Gotti noted he wouldn't force her to become more urban nor would he be overbearing in the creative process, as he is notoriously known to be. "This is the first time where I'm gonna be a co-pilot," Irv said, adding that he usually plays the role of "dictator."

Carlton explained that just having Irv around is enough support for her. "What he gives me the most is this cushion," she said. "And I feel now like I'm sitting on the best patch of songs I've ever written. It's like baking bread, and I think this is the best loaf so far."

"Wait till you get a load of that loaf," Gotti finished.

• Irv Gotti
• Vanessa Carlton
• The Inc. Records

• Ja Rule
• Ashanti
• Jay-Z
• The Inc. Records

Irv Gotti
Photo: MTV News

ENCINO, California — What do Prince, Diddy and Irv Gotti all have in common? They've all sold millions of records, and yet they can't get people to listen.

When Prince changed his name to a symbol, people still called him Prince. More people say "Puffy" now than "Diddy," and Irv has heard folks still saying "murder." And that's fine with him.

"It's a funny thing with the name change, because it never changed even when I changed it," a grinning Gotti said, sitting poolside at his California residence. "Everyone still said it was Murder Inc. No one, no one called it the Inc. I had a big press conference [in 2003] and we stood up and said, 'Listen, it's the Inc.' and everyone went, 'Yeah, so Murder Inc. went and tried to change their name.' "

Laughing, he continued, "So I tried to change it, but it didn't change. Am I officially changing it back? I think it officially never left. And I like where it is right now, so you know it's officially the Inc., and if certain people out there don't like saying the word 'murder,' a'ight, well then it's the Inc., but for the streets and most everybody else, it's still Murder Inc. and it's a true testament to me doing pretty good. Once you do something well, that's who you are."

Irv's track record over the past 10 years is one of the most storied in the music biz. As an executive, he's had a hand in dozens of hit records and was once a key player in helping Def Jam raking in hundreds of millions of dollars. Well, Gotti is way past his breaking point. He's done with Def Jam and looking for new distribution for his label. Although he insists that there is no bad blood between himself and Def Jam, he feels utterly betrayed by the imprint's parent company, Universal Music Group.

Check out the feature "Irv Gotti: Can't Sink The Inc." for Gotti's take on the label's future.

• Irv Gotti
• The Inc. Records

Irv Gotti speaks with MTV News on December 15
Photo: MTV News

ENCINO, California — Fresh from being exonerated of money-laundering charges, where do you imagine Irving "Irv Gotti" Lorenzo would go? To visit his family in Hollis, Queens? Straight to work at his Manhattan recording studio, the Crackhouse? Maybe even out to Beverly Hills to get some sun and collect his thoughts?

Sure, you could picture any of those things, but that's not where he went. No, we found the hip-hop mogul in a quiet cul-de-sac in Encino, the town made famous by Brendan Fraser's "Encino Man" and where economy cars and minivans line quiet, unglamorous streets. But as the neighbors have come to find out during the five years since Irv and Ja Rule purchased their "Murder Inc. Pad," the serenity can easily turn hyphy.

It's a place where Bloods and Crips have partied in unity, stars like Tyrese have danced with girls so beautiful they make the contestants on "America's Next Top Model" look like scallywags, and it's the spot where Irv and two of his right-hand men, B.J. and Dan Tan, are lounging before going back to NYC.

"The fruits of our labor," Irv said, referring to the home. "This is one of the things that we afforded ourselves to get. It's a nice peaceful home in L.A. where we get away when we want to get away. When we wanna party, we throw a party."

On December 2 — the day he was finally free and clear after being investigated for three years (see "Gotti Brothers Found Not Guilty Of Money Laundering") — Irv definitely partied. His friends rented a yacht and all his loved ones celebrated with Irv and his brother/co-defendant, Chris.

"I'm on cloud nine," Irv said with a grin as he sat next to his heated pool. Given the number of gray hairs now taking residence on his head, however, it's obvious the case got to him. Now that it's over, that stress has been replaced by "a feeling of surrealness," he said. "It's an overall happy feeling for a lot of reasons. It's a happy feeling that my mom and dad ain't gotta worry no more. Just watching them come to court and seeing my mom with the stress, I couldn't help her, I couldn't ease the pain until it was over.

"It's a happiness that the jurors saw through everything and did the right thing," he continued. "It's a happiness that after three years, the cloud the government put over my head is removed. And the sun is now shining. I got my life back and people don't have to be afraid to come near me. People don't have to say, 'Well, if I mess with him, is the government gonna bother me?' "

By raiding his offices and studio, calling into question his friendship to convicted drug dealer Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff and dirtying his name in the media, the government basically put his professional and personal life on halt, Gotti said. He's even been quoted as saying that he thinks the whole case came about because of his "Gotti" nickname and his label's former "Murder Inc." moniker.

"I love this country," he said. "I don't want to live nowhere else. All I'm gonna say is with me they had it wrong. They need to understand hip-hop more. Once they understand us, they would know. I'm nicknamed Irv Gotti, [but] it doesn't mean nothing. There's people nicknamed Noreaga, Fatal Hussein, it's just a nickname. It's not he's Saddam Hussein or wants to be Saddam Hussein. It's a nickname. [Gotti] is a nickname I didn't even give to myself. Hov gave me the nickname and it's stuck."

Gotti said all he wants to do is go back to making music. The last thing he wants is more beef with the government. "They investigated me, and I hope they see they got it wrong and I didn't do anything wrong," he said. "Let me go back to being a great earner. I'll pay my taxes, just leave me alone."

The trial of the Gottis was far from the drawn-out ordeal some had predicted. The trial began November 16 and ended just over two weeks later, with the defense resting after just two hours with only one witness on the stand, a former IRS agent (see "Gotti Defense Team Rests After Only Two Hours").

"We felt the government didn't prove the case and I didn't want to drag my friends ... my witnesses were gonna be a very extensive, a who's who in the business artistwise and executivewise, to explain who I was and where I got my money," Gotti explained. "I didn't want the government to dive into their past, like, 'Yeah, Irv's a good guy but do you know what you did back in '83?' I didn't want them to have to go through that. I made a decision with my attorneys and my brother: 'They didn't prove their case, let's get it over with.' "

If only it were that easy. Gotti tells a tale of an agonizing wait for the jury to deliberate. Since he'd never been to court before, he thought he could go home and wait until the jury came to a verdict. He quickly found out that he had to wait in court during deliberations.

"You sit and you wait and you're scared like you wouldn't believe," he said. I.G. can laugh and joke about the situation now, but a couple of weeks ago he would cringe each time the jury sent a note to the judge. (" 'Somebody must be saying I'm guilty,' " he remembered telling his lawyer. "Each time a note comes out it's like, 'Oh God, no.' ")

"I was scared to death, but I also wanted it over," he added. "I was tired of waking up with the knots in my stomach and I was like, 'Whatever it is, let it be. If my destiny is to go to jail for 10, 20 years, I'm ready and let's do it. If my destiny is to get my life back, let's do that.' I was ready to face whatever I was gonna face."

And just like that, a little after 6 p.m. on December 2, the Gottis were free men.

"I'd never been in tune with God like how I've been in tune with God [lately]," Gotti said. "It's a clarity."

After the trial, the jurors requested to meet with Irv and his mother. One of the jurors even told him that she wasn't going to let anything happen to him.

There's still a long road to go for the Lorenzos. With the legal problems put aside, they have to get back on track with their record company (see "Ashanti Eager To Put Her Label's Legal Woes Behind Her"). The Collectables by Ashanti remix album and Ja Rule's Exodus greatest-hits LP both went virtually unnoticed in their first week of release, and their 2004 studio albums both failed to reach 1 million in sales.

Gotti blames the Inc's recent sales dip on sabotage from the higher ups at the Universal Music Group. Although he said he has no problems with Jay-Z or L.A. Reid at Def Jam (he still considers Jay a close friend and said his respect for Reid is immense), he and all the artists on his roster have defected from the label and are looking for a new distribution home. Irv said he's gotten calls from plenty of CEOs and he fully expects the Inc. (the "Murder" is still officially dropped from the label name, but Irv said he realizes people will always refer to it as Murder Inc.) to get back on its feet in 2006.

• Irv Gotti
• The Inc. Records

Irv Gotti and his lawyer Gerald Lefcourt
Photo: Soulbrother

NEW YORK — As they strolled up to Brooklyn's federal courthouse Friday morning (December 2), Irv and Chris Gotti faced the prospect of up to two decades behind bars. More than eight hours later, Irv emerged from the very same courthouse pumping his fists in the air in triumph.

"We did it," the rap mogul proclaimed.

On Friday afternoon a jury exonerated the Gotti brothers (born Irving and Christopher Lorenzo) on federal charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. With his arms wrapped around the Gotti defense team, Gerald Shargel and Gerald Lefcourt, Irv vowed to resume business as usual at the Inc. — business that's been in a state of limbo since more than 50 government agents raided the label's offices in early 2003 (see "Drugs, Friends & Allegations: Inside The Murder Inc. Raid").

"Me and my Inc. family, you're going to be hearing some music," he said, sporting a perma-grin as one of his biggest roster talents, a cigar-toting Ja Rule, circled the crush of reporters surrounding Irv. "I'm overjoyed. I am not getting in any more trouble — you can bet your bottom dollar on that one. Not even jaywalking. We never did anything. We were guilty of knowing someone from our neighborhood."

That someone was Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff. In its case against the Gotti brothers, the federal government tried to prove that Irv and Chris had, over several years, accepted shopping bags and shoe boxes overflowing with hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicitly gained cash (see "Irv Gotti Pleads Not Guilty, Released On $1 Million Bond"). The prosecution accused the label heads of cleaning the tainted money by cutting legitimate checks to McGriff, written from the Inc.'s corporate bank accounts.

But, as one of the 12 jurors (eight men, four women) told the rabble of media outside the courthouse, they didn't buy it. The juror, who would not provide his name, said the jury didn't accept the credibility of the government's witnesses: a cab driver, a former Inc. intern and two self-admitted career criminals who specialized in credit-card fraud and narcotics peddling. He added that the presence of celebrities like Jay-Z, Damon Dash, Fat Joe, Ja and Ashanti at the trial (see "Jay-Z, Ja Rule, Ashanti, Fat Joe On Hand For Gotti Trial Closing") didn't impact their final decision. "We were concerned about the facts," he said.

Throughout the trial the defense argued that the Gottis didn't take a penny of McGriff's drug profits but did maintain an association with him because it afforded the moguls added street cred and helped ward off threats to their swelling empire.

An audible gasp resonated throughout Judge Edward Korman's courtroom shortly after 6 p.m. when the announcement was made that the jury had reached a decision after 12 hours of deliberation. After the verdict was read, Irv and Chris buckled and shed tears of relief. Chris hugged his attorneys, Irv mouthed "Thank you" repeatedly to the jurors and the brothers' supporters sobbed. Irv later said he'd recited "about 100" Hail Marys in his head in the minutes before the four not-guilty verdicts were read.

Outside the courthouse the prosecutors — Sean Haran and Carolyn Pokorny — refused to comment on the verdict. Minutes later a celebration erupted, and Irv and Chris hugged the trial's jurors.

"The jury stood up," said Irv, who added two of the female jurors had told him they loved him and weren't going to let anything bad happen to him or his brother. "In this case, the government had it 100 percent wrong. They went after me because of someone I know. I would never have worked this hard, from nothing to having millions of dollars, to jeopardize it with something stupid or illegal. It's not in my make. Everything this case was about was, if you're from the 'hood and you come up and do well, don't help anyone from there — leave 'em. I'm a good guy. They tried to take my life. I didn't do any of that sh--."

[This story originally published at 6:30 p.m. ET]

• Irv Gotti
• The Inc. Records

Ja Rule and Irv Gotti
Photo: Soulbrother

BROOKLYN, New York — A who's who of hip-hop turned out Wednesday (November 30) for closing arguments in the federal money-laundering trial of Inc. principals Irv and Chris Gotti.

Jay-Z, Ja Rule, Ashanti, Russell Simmons, Damon Dash and Fat Joe — as well as professional poker player Phil Ivey — were all on hand in support of the rap moguls. The Gotti brothers are accused of cleaning more than $1 million in illicit drug profits for convicted New York crack kingpin Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff (see "Irv Gotti Pleads Not Guilty, Released On $1 Million Bond"). They face up to 20 years behind bars apiece if convicted (see "Prosecution Rests In Gotti Brothers Trial").

"[They're] my boys, my blood — if they take a hit, I take a hit," Ja Rule told reporters outside the Brooklyn federal courthouse. Simmons characterized the prosecution's case against the Gottis (born Irving and Christopher Lorenzo) as a "tremendous waste of resources." He also questioned the government's motives when, more than three years after the shooting death of Run-DMC DJ Jam Master Jay in Queens, those responsible for the DJ's death remain at large (see "Jam Master Jay, Run-DMC DJ, Killed In Shooting"). "Poverty and ignorance [are] more of a problem in our community than convicting our poets," Simmons added.

The day's proceedings began with prosecutor Carolyn Pokorny's summation, during which she reiterated the government's position: that the Gottis laundered cash for "one of the biggest, baddest, most dangerous drug lords in New York City." Bags stuffed with thousands of dollars, she said, were being toted to the Gottis during the course of several years. "Dirty, filthy dope money came in," she explained, and the brothers, in return, supplied McGriff — who headed his own gang of drug dealers, dubbed "the Supreme Team" — with legitimate checks written on the Inc.'s corporate bank accounts.

The Gottis, Pokorny said, "[had] to know [McGriff's cash] was bad, that it came from some kind of a crime" and "made an effort to hide what was going on. They helped a drug lord hide what he was doing." She added that they paid more than $50,000 for hotel stays and trips McGriff had taken — in effect helping him "masquerade around the country like a music executive."

She further accused the Gottis of covertly cutting sham checks for McGriff that were camouflaged as investments in a straight-to-DVD 2001 film called "Crime Partners," starring Ice-T and Snoop Dogg. A similar cash-for-check ruse, she said, was employed to secure the rights to transform the novel of the same name, penned by Donald Goines, into a film from Goines' estate. Additionally, Pokorny told the jurors that the "cherry on top of the icing on top of the cake" was Irv Gotti's involvement in securing a $1 million soundtrack deal with Island/ Def Jam for the film, "which was made with drug money."

Later, Pokorny said Irv supplied McGriff with free songs for the soundtrack from some of the artists on his label's roster, including Ashanti and Ja Rule.

	Jay-Z, Ashanti, Russell Simmons and Ja Rule in court on Wednesday

"Did they give him millions of dollars [in trips, checks and free songs from platinum artists] for free, or did they take drug money?" she said. "There's overwhelming proof that they did," including text-messaged exchanges between the brothers Gotti and McGriff. She also concentrated on a document appearing to be the Inc.'s overhead budget, which was seized from Chris' Manhattan office when the government raided the label's base of operations in 2003 (see "Drugs, Friends & Allegations: Inside The Murder Inc. Raid"). Several of McGriff's most trusted drug dealers were on the Inc.'s payroll, she pointed out, including Ja's one-time bodyguard and Irv's driver. The latter was busted in 2001 for drug possession, and the Gottis paid $50,000 to bail him out — more evidence that pointed to the brothers' guilt, she insisted.

Pokorny, sensing (correctly) that the defense would focus its attack on the credibility of the government's witnesses, commended them for stepping forward and testifying, considering McGriff was "a street thug" and "the most dangerous man in New York." Before beseeching the jurors to find guilt, she charged that the defense team tried to "distract [the jury] with talk about Ja Rule and Jay-Z," who, conveniently, were seated in the front row.

Chris' lawyer, Gerald Shargel, said the government's entire case was "built on speculation and guesswork" and accused the prosecution of "looking at [all of the evidence obtained via the Inc. raid] through dirty glasses." He said the government didn't have a shred of evidence suggesting the Gottis received money from McGriff.

The government's "pathetic" case is so "weak that it's a shame those two men are sitting there," he said, pointing to Irv and Chris. He told the jurors it didn't matter that McGriff was New York's most lethal drug dealer (a classification Irv's attorney, Gerald Lefcourt, would later question) or that he was a dealer at all. The Gottis committed no crime, Shargel said, and the government was trying to show guilt by association.

"There is nothing illegal about giving financial backing for a movie. It's not illegal to be friends with a criminal," he said. "It's not illegal to talk to a criminal. It's not illegal to pay for someone's trips. It's not illegal to post bail for someone. Knowing criminals and doing business with criminals doesn't make you a criminal."

He reiterated the basis for his entire defense, saying the association between McGriff and the Gottis afforded the music moguls added street credibility and helped ward off threats to their empire and their lives. As for those trips? Shargel said money was no object to the Gottis, what with "money flowing [into the label] like a mighty stream."

He also attacked the government's witnesses, saying some of them were self-admitted criminals and liars and that their testimonies seem contradictory.

"This is a case that has not been proven," said Shargel, who has represented several high-profile clients in the past, including reputed mobster John Gotti. "This has gone on long enough. Irv and Chris are not guilty."

In his closing, Lefcourt said the government spent years trying to find evidence of money-laundering that wasn't there and was desperate for a conviction — prosecutors "had their eyes on the prize," as he put it. And Lefcourt, like Simmons, wondered if there was something beneath the surface that fueled the investigation.

"There's a cultural divide between these tables," Lefcourt said. "The prosecution doesn't like rap music. They don't like the way they talk. They don't like the lifestyle. They don't like the name Murder Inc. They don't like the name Irv Gotti. Well, too bad. In this country, they have no business making [the Gottis] the prize."

The jury will begin deliberations Thursday morning, and a verdict is expected before the weekend.

• Irv Gotti
• Ja Rule
• Ashanti
• Jay-Z
• Fat Joe

An artist's rendering of Irv and Chris Gotti in court
Photo: Andrea/Shirley Shepard

BROOKLYN, New York — It took the federal government five days and a handful of witnesses to present its case against Irv and Christopher Gotti — the brothers behind the Inc., the label home of Ja Rule and Ashanti — who're accused of laundering more than $1 million in drug proceeds for Queens crack kingpin Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff. On Tuesday (November 29), the Gottis' attorneys called a single witness, forensic accountant John Ryan, and two hours later, rested.

On Wednesday morning, both the prosecution and the defense will offer their closing arguments inside Brooklyn's federal courthouse. Then Judge Edward Korman will hand it over to the trial's 16 jurors, who could start deciding the fate of the Gottis (born Irving and Christopher Lorenzo) before court is adjourned that same evening. If convicted, the Gottis could be sentenced to up to 20 years behind bars (see "Prosecution Rests In Gotti Brothers Trial").

Before Ryan took the stand, defense attorneys Gerald Lefcourt and Gerald Shargel sought Korman's go-ahead to grill Internal Revenue Service agent Francis Mace about statements he'd made both during his grand-jury testimony and in the search-warrant applications that led to the government's raiding the Inc.'s Manhattan offices back in 2003 (see "Drugs, Friends & Allegations: Inside The Murder Inc. Raid"). More specifically, Lefcourt claims Mace had said McGriff supplied Irv Gotti the capital he'd needed to launch Murder Inc. back in 1999. Lefcourt argued that Mace's assertions were based on rumors cultivated on the streets.

"Drug dealing was intimately involved with your clients," Korman said, in his denial. "That's a fact. [The government] didn't make that up."

Ryan, a former IRS special agent, was hired by the defense to examine the Gottis' financial records and bank statements, as well as those for the Gottis' various business ventures — Murder Inc. Records, the affiliated IG Records, Top Dawg Productions and Murda Management. Together, Lefcourt and Ryan pored over cash and check deposits made to Irv's own accounts and those of Murder Inc. and Top Dawg.

Next, Ryan provided an analysis of Chris' finances — including a history of ATM withdrawals made between January 2000 and the end of December 2002, which totaled more than $852,000. Shargel — who has represented many high-profile clients over the course of his career, including reputed mobster John Gotti — told jurors a large number of those ATM transactions were conducted inside casinos in Las Vegas; Atlantic City, New Jersey; and Mashantucket, Connecticut; Gotti's uninhibited gambling habit was discussed at length in Korman's courtroom last week, as part of the prosecution's case against the rap moguls.

Although Ryan was the defense's witness, most of his morning was spent answering prosecutor Carolyn Pokorny's questions during cross-examination. She got Ryan to admit that he didn't conduct a comprehensive review of the Gottis' finances — only the records the defense assigned him to. He didn't concentrate on cash that was coming in, but mostly trailed cash that left, he said.

"The bottom line is you did not analyze every single deposit of cash," Pokorny said, before asking Ryan whether he noticed strange patterns in Chris' account deposits. He acknowledged that Chris' financial records revealed that hundreds of third-party checks (those cut to one individual, but then signed over to another) were deposited into Chris' account.

"Did you not see notations in their own books to the effect that Chris was cashing checks?" she asked Ryan. He said he had; over the course of three years, Pokorny said Chris cashed, on average, more than $100,000 in third-party checks, using his accounts.

Chris' tax returns were also scrutinized. The prosecution showed that in 2000 Gotti declared about $110,000 in total income — the same year he'd withdrawn more than $153,000 from ATMs.

Ryan, who admitted he was being paid between $50,000 and $60,000 for his expertise by the defense, was eventually asked by Pokorny whether it was true "poor people only commit crimes." Shargel and Lefcourt successfully objected to the question, and soon after, rested their case.

Ashanti, former Island/ Def Jam CEO and current Warner Music Group CEO Lyor Cohen and onetime Island/ Def Jam CEO and current Warner Music Group Executive Vice President Kevin Liles were present in the courtroom for Tuesday's proceedings.

• Irv Gotti
• The Inc. Records

Irv Gotti (file)
Photo: Newscom

NEW YORK — And on the fifth day in the federal money-laundering trial of Inc. heads Irv and Christopher Gotti, the government rested. But not before combing through page after page of carefully selected text-message exchanges between convicted crack dealer Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff and the Gotti brothers (real names Irving and Christopher Lorenzo) with New York Police Detective William Courtney — all within Judge Edward Korman's courtroom in Brooklyn on Monday afternoon (November 28).

Before Korman allowed the evidence, and away from the ears and eyes of the jury, both sides butted heads over the two-way transmissions. Defense attorney Gerald Shargel blasted the prosecution for drawing inappropriate inferences from the abbreviated text-message records provided by the Gottis' pager service. The company maintains transcripts of all text messages up to 80 characters, which means several of the messages read for the jury Monday afternoon weren't complete transmissions, but were short and often cut off in mid-sentence. It was also difficult — based on those records — to determine exactly who sent some of the messages or who they were intended for.

"The government's making assumptions," Shargel challenged, adding that some of the transmissions could be misconstrued even further because jurors — as opposed to listening to a recorded conversation — wouldn't be able to "tell inflection, so they won't be able to tell if these messages are jokes or not."

The frequent, intimate messages, according to prosecutor Carolyn Pokorny, lent added credence to the government's well-established position that the Gottis and Supreme were tight. In fact, with Courtney's assistance, Pokorny tallied up some of Supreme's travel expenses from 2002, and then connected more than $54,000 in trips the dealer had taken to Miami, Houston and Beverly Hills, California — as well as the hotel tabs associated with those trips — to Chris Gotti's American Express Business Platinum card. A number of the trips were financed by Universal Music Group, documents showed.

On cross-examination, Shargel attempted to fill in the gaps left by the prosecution's text-messaging review. He provided context to the messages for the jurors by introducing text messages that both preceded and followed the ones read aloud in court by Pokorny.

The prosecution then enumerated several cash deposits that were made to the Gottis' personal and business checking accounts during the course of seven months in 2000, totaling $82,000: $27,000 to Irv's, $33,000 to Chris' and $22,000 to the checking account for Chris' Murda Management.

The Gotti brothers are accused of cleaning more than $1 million in Supreme's drug-peddling profits via an elaborate check-for-cash scheme that involved various Inc.-related music and film endeavors (see "Irv Gotti Pleads Not Guilty, Released On $1 Million Bond").

After the prosecution rested, Shargel informed the judge he planned on recalling government witness Donnell Nichols, a former Inc. employee who previously testified to seeing Supreme deposit a bag of cash at Chris Gotti's desk (see "Witness Links Gotti Brothers To Attempted Murder Of 50 Cent"). Shargel said new evidence surfaced last weekend that contradicts Nichols' testimony as well as his credibility. He also said he plans to use statements Internal Revenue Service agent Francis Mace made during his grand jury testimony — about moneys that were either owed to the Inc. by Supreme or vice versa — to attack the prosecution's case.

"This investigation was conducted on inaccurate information," Shargel said. "All the witnesses were obtained after [the Inc. offices were] searched. The government was on a mission to make this case they started and flubbed — to rescue this failed investigation that started with false statements. You will hear me use [the word speculation] over and over again in my summation."

The defense will present its case on Tuesday and should rest the same day, Shargel said. Summations are tentatively set for Wednesday.

• Irv Gotti
• The Inc. Records

Irv Gotti leaves Brooklyn federal court after his indictment in January
Photo: Newscom

NEW YORK — What does the attempted murder of 50 Cent have to do with the allegations of money laundering brothers-in-business Irv and Christopher Gotti are being tried for? It's a question defense attorney Gerald Shargel wanted answered Monday afternoon (November 21) during the trial's third full day of testimony.

Dozens of supporters and journalists packed into Judge Edward Korman's courtroom in Brooklyn federal court — Ja Rule, who appeared last week, was a no-show, but, bizarrely, the recently bat mitzvahed Amber Ridinger (see "Ja Rule, Ashanti Torah The Roof Off At Girl's Bat Mitzvah") and her parents were there. And they got an earful of 50 from government witness Jon Ragin.

The Gotti brothers, whose real names are Irving and Christopher Lorenzo, were the subject of a years-long federal investigation that concluded earlier this year with their arrests on money-laundering charges (see "Irv Gotti Pleads Not Guilty, Released On $1 Million Bond"). On Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Haran accused them of running a covert money-laundering operation via hip-hop label the Inc., and prosecutors contended that the brothers routinely accepted cash from convicted crack dealer Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff's drug-dealing enterprises and then cleaned the illegal profits through film and music projects (see "Prosecutor Alleges Drug Ties To The Inc. In Gotti Trial Opening").

Ragin, a self-admitted pimp, is testifying as part of a plea deal he orchestrated with the federal government in exchange for leniency at the time of his sentencing on money-laundering and credit card fraud charges. He's pleaded guilty to both charges and, according to the prosecution, bilked banks, credit card companies and retail stores out of more than $1 million. During a round of questioning that occurred without the jury present, Ragin, a friend and former business associate of McGriff's, told the court he'd had several conversations with McGriff about 50 Cent.

Ragin said the conversations initially revolved around 50 being a problem — a nuisance who, before his 2000 shooting, made a habit of disrespecting the Inc.'s biggest name, Ja Rule, on mixtapes. McGriff had told Ragin he'd had several meetings with 50 and told the rising rap star to stop targeting Ja and the Inc. in his rhymes. Several verbal agreements were made between the two, but 50 never held up his end of the bargain, Ragin recalled.

On May 24, 2000, Ragin — who's in the Federal Witness Protection Program for reasons not related to the Gotti trial — said he received a call from McGriff, who said he had "hurt 50." McGriff wanted to speak with Ragin, and a meeting was set up in a Brooklyn garage. Ragin told the court McGriff sounded "rushed" on the phone, and when he asked him "what was up," McGriff told him, "We got him" — a reference to 50 Cent, Ragin later learned.

"He described how he caught him coming out of his grandma's house," said Ragin; 50 got in a car, "and they shot him many times at close range. They thought he was dead, because there was lots of blood."

Ragin said McGriff wasn't the gunman, but that one of his two underlings, who had ties to the Inc., was. The witness recalled seeing them in the garage during the meeting, scrubbing their hands with rubbing alcohol to remove any traces of gun powder. Ragin then said that, years later, the attempted murder of 50 Cent would serve as fodder for jokes around the Inc. offices.

"They'd joke about the way 50 was squirming [in pain] in his car and putting up his hands to stop the bullets" that kept coming, one after the other, he explained. The year before 50's shooting, his track "How To Rob ..." was a huge radio hit; the song was to appear on 50's Power of the Dollar, an album he recorded for Columbia that has never been released. The shooting occurred two months after 50 was stabbed at New York's Hit Factory recording studio — also something the prosecution tried to show, via text messages they claim were exchanged between Irv Gotti and McGriff, was Inc.-related.

One message, which the prosecution said was authored by Irv, said "F--- half a dollar. Me and my n----s kill for fun. Got that? Murder for fun." Another exchange, sent soon after the 50 shooting, claimed the label heads got 50 twice, with the stabbing and then the shooting. Yet another followed just hours later; Irv Gotti, according to the prosecution, text messaged someone to "turn on the radio" to listen to the news of 50's shooting.

"Why wouldn't anybody in the hip-hop world be interested in 50 Cent being shot?" asked Shargel, who said 50's shooting has nothing to do with the trial. Bringing the issue up before the jury, he surmised, "could be outcome determinative. 50 Cent is at the height of his popularity. This is an explosive issue. The jurors will know 50 Cent," and hence, might be prejudiced against the Gottis when determining their verdict. Korman refused to allow jurors to hear such testimony. For his part, 50 Cent has long maintained that a man named Darryl "Hommo" Baum was the gunman; Baum was killed three weeks after the 50 shooting.

Haran had argued that testimony about the shooting would help prove motive in the money-laundering case.

Ragin also discussed his business dealings with McGriff. The two produced a straight-to-DVD 2001 film called "Crime Partners," starring Ice-T and Snoop; the Inc. and Ruff Ryders helped finance the film, and Irv Gotti orchestrated a $1 million distribution deal with Island/ Def Jam for the soundtrack. The rest of the film was largely funded by McGriff, who once paid crew members and some of the actors with cash — all small bills, Ragin explained.

Before the courtroom action took a turn toward 50, the prosecution welcomed New York Detective Anthony Castiglia, who tried to counter the cross-examination damage left last week in Shargel's wake. The defense attorney referenced the grand jury testimony of Thursday's witness Donnell Nichols, a former Murder Inc. intern, who had said he once saw $70,000 in small bills delivered to the Gottis' offices in a shoebox; Shargel then produced a shoebox with 7,000 fake bills. He asked the witness to fit them into the shoebox, but Nichols couldn't.

On Monday Castiglia said he carried out an experiment over the weekend to determine if $70,000 in cash could fit in a shoebox. He had more success, cramming $74,000 into an Adidas box. Castiglia used $1 bills, with $2,400 from his own account and the rest on loan from the Federal Reserve. Shargel was quick to point out that no one has testified just how big the alleged shoeboxes, filled with money, were. "We're all guessing," he said.

• Irv Gotti
• The Inc. Records
• 50 Cent

Ja Rule's 'Clap Back' Video Shoot

• Ja Rule
• The Inc. Records