James “Jimmy Henchman” Rosemond never admitted to the set up and shooting of Tupac Shakur at New York’s Quad Recording Studios in 1994 – until now.
STORY: Damn Homie! Hip Hop Mogul James Rosemond Indicted On Murder Charge!
After 20 years, new evidence implicates Rosemond in the crime, and the facts have come from an unlikely source: Rosemond himself.
According to the Village Voice:
Rosemond secretly admitted to involvement in Tupac’s ambush during one of nine “Queen For A Day” proffer sessions with the government last autumn, court transcripts show. (In such sessions, suspects under investigation choose to enter an agreement with the government to confess knowledge of certain crimes with the agreement that the information won’t be used to prosecute them.) His confession unfolded as he was trying to carve out a cooperation deal that might lead to a reduced sentence, according to federal prosecutors.
“If [Rosemond’s attorney] is going to argue that this was a fabricated article, it’s the government’s position that we can put in the defendant’s own admission about that particular shooting,” the prosecutor said. “In saying it is not true, when in fact it is true, the government should be able to rebut that argument that he’s making, [and introduce] that the defendant actually admitted to this 1994 shooting.”
The revelation surfaced May 14 during a sidebar in the same Brooklyn federal court where Rosemond was later convicted of operating a multimillion-dollar crack ring that moved thousands of kilos of drugs and dirty cash between Los Angeles and New York. Twelve jurors took only two days to issue a unanimous verdict, convicting him of all 13 counts with which he was charged.
Before he was killed, Tupac recorded a song called “Against All Odds,” in which he blamed Rosemond for orchestrating the assault at the Quad. He spit:
“Jimmy Henchman. . .
[You] set me up, wet me up… stuck me up.
But you never shut me up.”
The Tupac shooting has been a staple in hip-hop lore, as it triggered the East Coast vs. West Coast war that waged through songs and videos.
Rosemond will never be charged for his role in the 1994 ambush on Shakur, which was classified by NYPD as a robbery.
In New York, the statute of limitations on robbery is seven years, which means the time to prosecute anyone for the Quad case expired 11 years ago. No one will ever go to jail for attacking Tupac: Not Jimmy or anyone who was implicated in the shooting.
