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hen Kenneth" Supreme"M cGriffis led Flashy hustlers like Ronald "Bumps" Bassettw ere becoming neigh- downf rom hisc ellt o a closet-sizceo n- bothood role models, flauntingan alluringlifestyle beyond the reach ferenceroom, his mood shiftsfrom jovial of working-classQ reens. to fierce." Peoplein heret hink I should Soon McGriff formed a small crew of his own, selling retail be very angrywith you," McGriff says, amounts ofcoke in SouthJamaica'sB aisleyP arkH ouses.H e reclris- pulling a chair up. "They sayt hat you tened himselfSupreme in the Five Percenttradition and dubbed his madem el ook-" he'pausesse, archinfgo r crew the Supreme Team. At first the crew was conflicted about the right word-'buffoonish." embracing both the Five Percentersa nd the Qreens underworld. "A Supremeis n ot beingo versensitive. lot of the brothers and sistersd idn't like the idea that we hustled Just before ourJanuary meeting at the Metropolitan Detention becausei twas contrary to the lessons,' remembersc lose childhood Centerin Brooklyn,I had come outwith abo okcalledQyeensR tigns friend Knowledge, who askedu s not to discloseh is government Supreme: Fat Cat,5o Cent,and the Riseofthe HiVHop Hustlnthat chron- name. But the drug money in the early r98osp roved irresistible,a nd icled his stewardshipo f the crack-dealingS upremeT eam during the crew began growing into its grandiosem oniker. the r98os,i ncluding a raid on a stashh ouse in which he was busted Crack's arrival in 1985l eveled the playing field between estab- with blow on his face. "Cocaine on my face, huh?" he sayss ternly. lished hustlers and ambitious NewJacks, throwing the rhythms of It should be a shit-your-pants encounter, but panic subsides when I size McGriff up: His slight five-foot-nine-inch frame is draped in a tan prison jumpsuit, and his graying beard makes him look older than his 45.yearsB. ut then Supreme'sp ower hasn ever been overtly physical; rather, it comes from streetw iles, charis- ma, and the implication of danger.H e jokesw ith guards,l aughing about the rap songs that referenceh im. One guard pokes his head into the room to ask," Are you gonna make him famous?" Too late, I call back. He's already famous. Supreme is a towering street legend, mythologized for his '8os crime exploits by Biggie,N as, and ; he wasa lsoa key figure in the November 2oo5 trial ofMurder Inc.'s Iw and Chris Lofenzo- the Gotti brothers-for laundering McGriff's drug money. (They were acquitted.) Now Supreme is looking at a trial ofhis own: He's accusedo f creating a violent drug:trafficking organization after his releasef rom prison in the mid-r99os. Federalp rosecutors contend that,like the SupremeT eami n the r98os,M cGriffcanied out Mafia- style m.urdersw hile moving kilos of coke. Though McGriffpotentiallyfaces the death penalry the charges against him (to which he pleads not guilty) will be overshadowed in hip hop circlesb y another accusation( forwhich he hasn otbeen indicted): that he ordered the shooting of5o Cent in zooo. Despite Supreme'sf earsomer ep, in person, he seemsf ar from a typical thug. On his cell.tablea re Salman Rushdie'sS halimart he Cloun andJimmy Carter's Our EndangeredValues : Ameica's Moral Cnsr. He's even capableo f self-deprecation,a rare quality in a hus- the streett rade into chaos.I t alsoa ttracteda lot ofheat. Supremew as tler.'!7hen I remind him that said that upon meeting him arrested on state narcotics chargesi n 1985a nd so ceded power to he realizedt hat Supremew asj ust "this little green-eyedm other- his nephew, Gerald "Prince" Miller. Theywere raisedl ike brothers, fucker," Premel aughs." People alwayss ayt hatwhen they meet me," but their leadership stylescouldn't have been more different. McGriff he says," they think I'm gonna be six-feet-eight,z 5o pounds." wasa meticulous organizerwho formed strategica lliancesa nd tend- ed to use force coldly and carefully in or{er to preservep ower. But a stellarr eputation aso ne of Prince, a volatile figure two yearsy ounger than his uncle, took the South Jamaica's best and organizationin a brutal new direction. brightest. He was a talented student, an avid football player, and a One violent summer under Prince'sr eign, SupremeT eamm em- = welcome presencei n his Qreens neighborhood. He came from a bersb utcheredf our Colombian cocained istributors in a BaisleyPark two-parent home (both were transit workers), and by the time he apartment and then stuffed them into garbageb ags.Y et few in the rqachedh igh school in the late '7os, he and his friends were prepar- Supreme Team were worried about the prospect of getting caught; ing for college. law enforcement was preoccupied with Mafiawarfare, and federal Butwhen McGriffdiscovered the teachingsofthe Five Percenters- drug-relatedp rison sentencesw ere still lenient. = an offshoot ofthe Nation oflslam that espousesa black-supremacist All that changedi n 1988,w hen an NYPD rookie named Edward ideology-he began envisioning himselfas a different kind ofleader. Byrne was shot in his patrol car while he guarded the home of a pz vlBe Guyaneseimmigrant who hadcomplained to thepolice about Loren- Supremew ast he menacings treetb oss,w ho movedm illions in zo "FatC at" Nic-hols'hse nchmenC. opsb eganc rackingd own,a nd cocaine". I took a liking to him instantly,"S upremes ayso f Gotti. thef edst argetedQ reens'r eigningh usdersP. residenRt eagansi gned 'TV'e'db eo ut, andh e'db el ike,' Yo,I gotto goa ndp icku p my rnoth- toughn ewf ederadl rugs entencingla ws,a ndO fiicerB yme'sf ather, er.'T hat struckm e asb eingr esponsible-tob e out with your dudes Matthew,a ttendedt he White Houses igningc eremonyB. oth Fat ands topd oingw haty ou'red oinga ndg op icku p your mother." Cat andS upremew erei ndictedb y the fedsf or runninga continu- .Afteryeargsr indingatTVTandt hena tDefJamG, otti scoredh its ing criminal enterprise( the so-calledk ingpin charge)a, nd while withJaRule and DMX andwas rewarded with alabel ofhis own,Mur- FatC atreceive4do y earsS, upremep leadedo ut to a p-yearsentence. derlnc.H is riseo fferedMcGriffthec hanceto applyhish ustlingskills As McGriffsatinprison,t hem yth onlygrewc, elebrateidn songs into a legitimateb usinessA.n d havingS upremea roundg aveM urder like Nas's" MemoryLane( Sittin'in daP ark)":* Somefi endss cream Inc. streeta uthenticitya nd an implied fearf actor." Fundsu nlimit- aboutt he SupremeT eam, aJamaicaQ reenst hing." But the world ed,"JaRule freestyled on aDefJam compilation, "backed by my Preme outsidet hep enitentiaryw allsw asc hangingI.n 1993P rincew ass en- Teamc rimer epresentatives." tencedt o sevenli fe sentencefso r variousc hargesfr om murdert o drugt raffickingA. fewm onthsl aterM cGriffwasr eleaseodn parole, Murder Inc. was grating to facinga dismandedd rugb usinessa ndh ostilityf rom a newg enera- many-and no one found it

tion of hustlers.L iving in his father'sh ousei n SouthJamaicah, e more initatingthan 5o Cent, who, unlike Gotti, spenthis adolbscence tried to subsisbt y sellingpomograpihipci cturest o inmates." I was pitching $5 crackv ials in Supreme'so ld SouthJamaicat erritory. dead broke," McGriff says." And everybodyf rom the original IJ7hetheri twas true animosity or opportunism-a beefwith the label SupremeT eamwahs omew aitinglike,'Supreme,whateverysoauy .' could help him make a name for himself-5o wasn't shy about mak- And I'm like,G oodl uckony'allventure.Iwantedto bea blet owalk ing his feelings known. According to Supreme partner Chaz W"rlliams, just := on the streeto r go to a club by myselfandn ot haves ecurityI. 5o's vendetta originated whenJa Rule brushe{him offbackstage at 3= wantedt o be a regularperson." a Qreens concert featuringJay-Z. Atthatpoitt, Williams claims,5o r> In prisonM cGriffhadi mmersedh imselfint heg rimys treent ov- took offense and deemedM urder Inc. his mortal enemies. ={ nq elso f DonaldG oinesa, ndh is dreamw ast o tum oneo fthem into a The drama escalatedi n early zooo, whenJa Rule was robbed of E: jewelry =H movie.H e figuredh isb este ntr€ein to thef ilm businesws ast hrough his outsideh is Qreens home.5o, who wast hen 24, seiied *; hip hop. His callingc ardw ouldb e hisn otoriety. on the incident as proof that despite their alliance with Supreme, .o Latert hat yearM cGriffhad a friend introduceh im to Irv Gotti Murderlnc. rappersw eren't safei n their own neighborhood.5o even at a videos hoot.G otti, then anA erRr epa t TVT Recordsw, asa dif- clainied that a fi end ofhis wasthe perpeffator. But McGriffcontends ferentbreedT. heywerefr omrivals ectionso fQreensa ndm oret han that it was a young thug who grew up under the SupremeT eam* ho *I a decadea parti n age,a nde achh adc arvedo ut vastlyd ifferentr epu- committed the crime. alwayss eet hesea rticlesw here 5o is say- == tations.G ottiwast heg enia"l DJI w," who soldm ixtapesfo r $ro,a nd ing that his man robbedJa,l Supremes ays." But that's rn1 man.l

YTEG 123 raised him." Supreme got him to return the jewelry. ening the Murder Inc. franchise just as Supreme had begun to see The incident becamea flash point for tensions between Murder his movie dreams come true: Gotti had agreedt o help finance.his Inc. and 5o, and it was alsoc ited to support the FBI's theory that next project, a straight-to-DVD version of Goines's Crim:eP artncrs. McGriffserved asprotection for the label in exchangefor funding his But on March 24, zooo, Chris Gotti and a possea mbushed 5o Cent movie; the feds said he threatenedt he robber into submission. at the Hit Factory recording studios. During the melee Murder Inc. Supremea dmits to retrieving the piecef orJa but saysi t tookno more rapper Ramell "" Gill stabbed him. Later that night 5o than a stem lecturet o do so. "It didn'ttake intimidation," he says." It was treated at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital for a laceration of the didn't take threats for me to say,W hat's wrong with you, man? You chesta nd a partially collapsedl ung. gotta give it back." A few months later McGrifftried to quash the beefwith 5o. "I sat as 50 sat in his car downwith5o and said,t isten, man, thisisnonsense,'Preme remem- outside his grand- bers," but5o lovest o keept hings going. Hewould say Yeah, all right, mothels home in SouthJamaica,he wasattacked again-only this time Supreme,I respecty ou, man,' and then tum around and go totally by a barrageo fbullets. He recuperatedb ut refusedt o cooperatew ith contrary to what we talked about. And I would just scratdrm y head.1 police in theirinvestigation, tlough he wasm ore forthcomingin his During the Murder Inc. trial prosecutorsa llegedt hat McGrifl acting lyrics. On one mixtape trad<,titled "FuckYou," he rhymed: "5o, who

asmuscle forthe label, issueddeath th'reatsto5o duringthese sitdowns. shot ya? You think it was Preme, Freeze,or Tahllah?" "Iwas threatening him?" Supreme asksi ncredulously. "V?'eu sed to The U.S. Attomey's Office believesM cGriffwas responsible,a nd talk all the time. As a matter of fact, I told him, I want you to be in it is set to present evidence at his trial in Brooklyn (in support of this movie I'm getting readyto do. And this is when he wasn't nobody." other chargesit 's bringing). In court documents, the office contends 6 Supreme saysh e abandoned peacemakinge fforts when he real- the shooting was ordered by Supreme in retaliation for "Ghetto ized that 50 was an "agent provocateur,o a billing 5o would live up Qr'ran." This theory was given a boost wheq[nvestigators asked 5o ; *agents to in zooz with the song "Ghetto Qr'ran (Forgive Me Pt. r)," which who'd shot him and he replied that should read his lyrics," vividly chronicled "It f the SouthJamaica crack trade. was factual," according to a searchwarrant affidavit. McGriffreacts angrily when = McGriffsays. "He said'Supremewas the businessman,a nd Prince 5o's rhymes arem entioned. 'This dude sensationalizese verything," = was the killer."'But he still feels shouldn't have aired the dirry he says." All his statements govemment 5o arei ncendiary. The believes 3 *When f laundry. we was coming up, there was a code of conduct," every lyric. And then he says,' Readm y lyrics.'Where I come from, Supreme.explains." You didn't speaka bout dudes who may still be that'sd ry snitching." 9 in the streets."H e alsos coffsa t5o's posingasa true rival. "Kid, you've But prosecutors aren't relying solely on 5o's songst o implicate = neverbeen through nothing," Supreme says." Iwas aroundwolves, McGriff. At the Murder Inc. trial a credit card fraudster and former man. I walked among giants." Supreme associatenamedJon Ragin claimed thathe metwith McGriff Meanwhile the beefcontinued. and itwas clearthat io wasw eak- the day of the 5o shooting and that Supreme declared," I got him."

124 VaAg Supreme "explained to me that they caught him coming out ofhis had eamed the SupremeTeam's wrath for killing two men in the creds grandmothels house,"R agint estified," andhe gotinto acar,a nd thaCs territory in 1995,w asc ut down in a hail ofbullets outside a sportsb ar when he gotshot." Ragin,w howas cooperatingforareduceds entence, in Qreens. (Though McGriffwon'tdiscuss the cases pecificallytoday, alsoc laimed that McGriffshared detailsa bout the shooting, such as he doess a5 "It's like a desperationg rab. I've never been known asa drivingawayfrom the scenea nd believing5o wasd eadb ecause" there murderer,a nd all ofa sudden I'm this psychotic killer.") wasa lot ofblood." But ast he 5o shootingwas quickly thrown out of Supreme'sb ad run continued. In the fall ofzooz, just weela after the Murderlnc. trial, Raginw asn ot cross-examineds, oh e wass pared he had signeda $r million deal with DefJam to distribute the Cime having his credibility challenged. Partnerssoundttack, he *as ar.sted for visiting a Baltimore shooting In "Many Men (Wish Death)," offzoo3's GetR icho r Die Tryini 5o range-verboten for a felon. And then, just after McGrifflanded back fingers someone named Hommo ash is would-be assassina, n accu- in prison, the FBI raided Murder Inc.'s Manhattan offices,s etting sation later corroboratedb y severasl ourcesH. ommo wasa BrooHyn offits three-yeari nvestigation of the label. Supreme'sr eversalo ffor- stickup kid named Darryl Baum. He had no known relationship with tune wass o sudden,h e barelyhad time to make a dentin his $5oo,ooo Supreme,a ndhewas murdered soon afterthe attaclon5o. (The Cash advance.T he label and McGriffwere all indicted together in zoo5. Money Brothers, led by Lil Kim's ex-boyfriend Damion "World" Though the Lorenzo brothersw erea cquitted onmoney-launder- Hardy, are now awaiting trial for the killing ofBaum.) During an inter- ing chargesl ast Deceinber, the odds are that McGriff:now on trial in the samec ourthouse-will not sees ucha happy ending. He is being chargedn ot only for the murders of Singleton and Smith, but also for.the attempted murder of a woman who was carrying his baby, allegedly for not terminating the pregnancy. Even still, these accu- sationsn eed to be proved in court. "I feel it's a caset hat can be won- there werem anypeoplewho had amotivation to kill E-MoneyBags and Troy Singleton," saysR obert Simels, a longtime McGriff attor- neywho's not representingh im in this case.E -Money Bags,i n par- ticular, wask nown for fomenting beefso n the streetsa nd in the hip hop world. (He supposedlyt hreatenedJa y-Z for signinga rapper named H MoneyBags.) Even ifhe is acquitted ofthe most seriouso ffenses,M cGriffs past felonyconvictions nearlyguaranteea lifetime in prison. Buthe seems to embraceh is fate. "You can put the death penalty on me," he says. "I've lived my life already.I 've done everything I wanted to do." Perhapso nly death will liberate Supremef rom his notorious past and from 5o's onslaught. 5o's preoccupation with the older husder infectsh is lyics and hislife story:H iszoo5 biopic,GetRichorDieTryin', revolved around the rapper battling a Supreme-esquer ival named Majestic who shootsh im. Majestic is even implicated in the murder ofthe rappeCsm otfier. Supremec laims 5o's insults don't faze him. "I've nevet been fascinated by someone who got money," he says. 'qilVhatf ascinatesm e is Nelson Mandela on Robben Island breaking stones,e ating bread, and drinking water. Nat Tumer being in a cell, captured after he led the slaverevolt, and the thoughts that were going view on New York's Hot 97 radio station last year, 5o revealedt hat through his mind. MuhammadAli,when he stood up andwent against othersourcesh ad confirmed the Hommo-as-shootertheoryandvague- the govemment for his beliefs.T hat's what fascinatesm e-the strug- Iy confirmed it himself: "Now that they done said it-yeah," 5o said. gle.N ot somed ude gettin' money.T he stdggle isw hat defin esa man." '!7hen a prison guard taps the glass,i ndicating the time is up, Supreme's dream of Supremes uddenlys lumpst owardh is cell and becomesr eflective." I'm producing Crime Part- gonna sticikto my values"-by which he geans not snitching on any- F nerswasa boutto come true, thanks to Irv Gotti's assistancein land- one, ever-"and facec ertaind eath;"h e laments." Everyshooting, they ingSnoop Doggand Ice{ to starin the film. Butbefore a singlef rame point the finger at me, the bad guy." was shot, Supreme'sB MW'was pulled over in Harlem. A search Maybe Kenneth McGriffhas finally grown tired oflife asP ublic turned up a.4o-caliberpistol and $u,ooo in cash,a nd hewas cuffed. Enemy No. r. To both law enforcement and a generation ofrappers = \Vhile he awaiteds entencing,t wo grisly homicides took place in and hustlers, Supremei s a blackJohn Gotti, a larger-than-lifef igure Qreens for which McGriffwas immediately under suspiciona nd has whose underworld reach seemsl imitless. But for today, at least, nowbeen charged.I nJulyzoor aspiringr apperEric "E-Money Bags" Supremew ould rather be anything but the bad guy. tr Smith was murdered execution style. Smith had allegedlyk illed SupremeT eam associateC olbert "BlackJust"Johnson in 1999.A nd Can'tgetenougdhi rt on SupremeG? ot o yibr,{omtoseeexclusivceo urtd ocumentus sed inh isu pcomingtrial. in October zoor, Troy Singleton, a hustler who prosecutorss uspect

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