Former Hip-Hop Mogul Jimmy Henchman Gets Second Life Sentence, Plus 20 Years in Prison For Murder-For-Hire Plot

A federal judge in New York sentenced James “Jimmy Henchman” Rosemond — already serving a life sentence for drug trafficking — to a second life term in prison plus 20 years for his December conviction as mastermind of the 2009 Bronx murder of Bloods street gang member Lowell Fletcher.

Judge Colleen McMahon called Rosemond’s crimes “heinous” but lamented to the 50-year-old that “there’s nothing I can do to alter your fate.” Rosemond — who declined to address McMahon before being sentenced — targeted Fletcher for his affiliation with the rap group G-Unit with which Rosemond had been feuding. Rosemond wanted someone to pay for his teen son being slapped by G-Unit co-founder Tony Yayo in 2007, authorities said. The attack on Rosemond’s then-14-year-old son occurred after Yayo, fellow co-founder 50 Cent and others in the G-Unit crew spotted him in Manhattan wearing a shirt that advertised his father’s rival music management company Czar Entertainment, police sources said. Yayo, whose real name is Marvin Bernard, was harassing the kid at the direction of 50 Cent, allegedly showing a gun tucked into his waist. He then pushed the kid up against a wall, started asking him why he was wearing the shirt and smacked him. For two years after the assault, Rosemond tried to make good on his vendetta, prosecutors said. This included organizing at least three failed drive-by shootings aimed at G-Unit associates, including one outside radio station Hot 97’s offices in Manhattan. Prosecutors say Rosemond paid off Brian “Slim” McCleod with a “slab” of cocaine worth $30,000 to lure Fletcher to a Bronx street corner in September 2009 where fellow thug Derrick “D” Grant pumped bullets into Fletcher. Rosemond – who has long been suspected of involvement in the 1994 non-fatal shooting of slain rap icon Tupac Shakur in Manhattan – once mingled with the likes of Jay-Z, Akon and Sean Combs. He was found guilty by a federal jury in Brooklyn in 2013 of using his thriving record label as a front for a coast-to-coast cocaine ring.​

source: NY Post

According to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, Jimmy bragged to an associate after the killing that he would never be caught because Lowell was merely a "gangbanger" who died in the Bronx. While handing down her sentence, Judge McMahon called Jimmy's conduct "heinous," "vile" and "disgusting" before throwing all the books in the New York Public library at him.