NY Daily News Reports
Cops investigating the murder of a Bronx man are looking back at a 2007 assault case in which he took the rap for one of 50 Cent's sidekicks.
Lowell Fletcher, 32, was killed on Jerome Ave. Sept. 27, just two weeks after making parole, and cops are looking to the rap world for a possible motive.
Fletcher, who used the rap name Lodi Mack, was employed by G-Unit rapper Tony Yayo, who was busted two years ago for smacking the 14-year-old son of rival music producer Jimmy (Henchman) Rosemond of Czar Entertainment.
Lil Henchman
The boy was wearing a T-shirt with the name of his father's company, which reps rapper The Game - a rival to Yayo and his famous patron, 50 Cent.
Police said Fletcher, who was a lieutenant in the Bloods as well as a member of Yayo's posse, flashed a handgun at the teen and Yayo backhanded him in the face.
Jimmy Henchman
Later, after his drug arrest, Fletcher told police that he - not Yayo - had hit the boy, and assault charges against Yayo were dropped.
Fletcher pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and served nine months concurrently with a 2 1/2-year sentence for drug possession.
"He pled guilty for another guy, for Yayo," said a police source.
"And the kid's father is a pretty big guy in the music industry. So the case might be connected to him, or to 50 Cent and his boys, to get the heat off of them."
Another source said there were more theories than facts: "On Jerome Ave., it could be lots of reasons - or no reason."
In April 2008, the mother of Rosemond's son filed a multimillion-dollar civil suit against Fletcher, Yayo, 50 Cent, G-Unit Records and Interscope Records. It charges her son was attacked to promote a violent "gangsta image."
Yayo's lawyer, Scott Leemon, said complaints against the companies and 50 Cent - who wasn't even there - were thrown out, leaving Fletcher and Yayo as the sole defendants in the ongoing civil case.
"Based on Fletcher's death, I have no idea what is going to happen now," Leemon said.
Fletcher was shot around 9:30 p.m. at Jerome Ave. and Goble Place, a quiet block surrounded by shuttered auto-body shops. Investigators believe several men ambushed him that Sunday night.
A day after the shooting, Yayo twittered: "R.I.P TO LODI MACK. GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN."
He later deleted the message.
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