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Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
Nail in Diddy’s Coffin? Celebrity Stylist Testifies Cassie Was Hunted and Brutalized | United States vs. Sean Combs Day 11
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Unknown Speaker
Foreign.
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Ashley Banfield
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Drop Dead Serious. I'm Ashley Banfield, and It is day 11 of the federal trafficking and RICO case against Sean Diddy Combs. And today's courtroom was tense. It was tense, it was explosive. And at times it was deeply emotional. And there was a character right out of central casting who. Who may just have nailed Diddy's coffin shut today. A celebrity stylist who sashayed up onto the stand and at times had the courtroom laughing with his colorful personality. But make no mistake, what he said under oath was like a dagger in Diddy's side. And before I launch into the one of the most difficult and painful and frustrating and angering, you know, days of testimony, I want to tell you this. I've heard a lot of people say, I don't get it. Why is this a RICO case? Why isn't it, like, assault? Because I'm hearing all about this, beatings and all the rest. But rico, isn't that what mobsters, you know, went down for? And you are right. And so I started thinking, like, I should probably talk to a couple of, like, former mobsters, you know, guys who faced rico, guys who went down for rico, guys who did time for rico, and ask them whether they think this is the appropriate set of charges for Diddy. Because, I mean, this is a whole different kind of case, Right. And so I was totally shocked at the answers that I got. And a little later on in this episode, I'm going to play you the interview that I did with these two former mobsters who were convicted and jailed for rico. And oh, my God, what they said about Diddy beating up Cassie, because we know that, right? He confirmed it. He admitted to it on tape. That was him doing it in the hotel hallway video. What these mobsters said about that floored me. So make sure you wait for that because it's, like, crazy. As for Puff, Puffy, Puffy was back in the dark blue sweater today. He was wearing that over a crisp white colored shirt. And he was animated all throughout the day, more animated than usual. Reports say he was talking with his legal team a whole lot. He was passing notes back and forth, and he was looking back and laughing with his family. His mom and three sons, Quincy, Justin, and Christian, were all in the gallery. And during breaks, Puffy would turn sideways in his chair with his arm sort of slung over the backrest, and he would chat with his family behind him with the. A big, wide smile. But that behavior in court was grossly juxtaposed with the information that was coming from the witness stand most of the day, we heard a fire investigator testify just how close the rapper Kid Cudi, came to losing more than just his car. We watched a motion for a mistrial threatened to blow up the prosecution's case right before lunch. And we've got a lot to talk about, so let's rewind to the very beginning of the day. LAPD Officer Chris Ignacio was the first witness to take the stand today. And he testified that on December 22, 2011, he and his partner responded to a burglary Call at 8925 Hollywood Hills Road. That's Kid Cuddy's home. And he told the jury that the call came in at 8:20 in the morning and that they responded with a code 3, which is lights and sirens, and they drove through the narrow window, winding hills to Kid Cudi's house. On the way, Officer Ignacio noticed a black Escalade with dark tinted windows that was driving in the opposite direction. The officer told the jury that he could not see who was inside because the tint was so dark, but that there was something about that black Escalade that stood out to him. So his instincts had him lock in the license plate number 6 escape LKN013. He did not run that license plate. He did not stop that car. But he memorized the plate, you know, just in case it came up later. And what do you know? It did. According to Officer Ignacio, when they got to Kid Cudi's property, his partner jumped the fence and opened the gate. They knocked on the front door, and since it was unlocked, they went inside. And he testified that they saw gifts that appeared to be unwrapped, opened all over the kitchen counter, high end handbags and luxury watches all left out there in plain sight. He said there were no signs of forced entry and that nobody was home. Kid Cudi's dog was locked in the bathroom. Later, he said, Kid Cudi pulled up in a black Porsche. Officer Ignacio and his partner walked through the house with Kid, and they filed a standard trespass report. But then, just as they were wrapping up, guess what happened. That same black Escalade, you know, the one they saw that was coming the opposite direction as they were headed to Kid's house. Yeah, that black Escalade came rolling by Kidd's house again back down the hill. Officer Ignacio testified that was when he decided to run that license plate that he so cleverly remembered. And guess what? The license plate came back registered to Bad Boy Productions. Yes, that's Diddy's company. That's also what you call a bad fact. On cross examination, Diddy's lawyers tried to jump into the gaps. Officer Ignacio admitted that he never stopped the Escalade, never spoke to anyone inside the Escalade, and never got any security footage from Kid Cudi's cameras because apparently they were not turned on. His report. No forced entry, no weapons, no signs of a kidnapping, just a basic trespassing call. He also confirmed that when he spoke to Kid Cudi, he seemed flustered, but never said a word about guns, never said a word about threats, never said a word about Diddy. That's important. So you know, you do what you can, right? On cross examination, the facts did not look good, but you just try to take a chip here and there where you can, and that's what Diddy's lawyers did. Next up on the stand, Lance Jimenez, a veteran arson investigator with the Los Angeles Fire Department. And with more than a thousand fire scenes under his belt. So you know he's been around the block. Firefighter Jimenez told the jury that he was dispatched to Kid Cudi's house on January 9, 2012, just weeks after that alleged break in, the one with the open Christmas gifts and the terrified dog. By the time he got there, he testified, the fire had already been put out. Jimenez testified that Kid Cudi's black Porsche was parked at the very top of the long driveway, close to the garage. There were two other cars behind it, too, but no real damage to the outside of the vehicle, nor to any of the vegetation surrounding the cars. What was noticeable, a foot long slice through the canvas roof of the Porsche. And inside that car, that's where the story shifted. There were burn marks on the seats, the console and on the carpet. There was a 40 ounce bottle of old English malt liquor that was sitting on the front seat. And beside that bottle was a half burned designer looking handkerchief. And on the ground near the car, he said he found a red Bic lighter. Firefighter Jimenez told the jury that he believed somebody had sliced open the roof and dropped in a lit Molotov cocktail. But here is the twist and it's actually kind of comical, but you know, it is arson, so maybe not so funny. The bomb did not explode. According to this firefighter, it was the silk scarf that was the culprit. Apparently it did not function properly, not the way it was supposed to have. But if it had, the Molotov cocktail actually would have exploded and would have sprayed gasoline, fired up gasoline, igniting the rest of the car. And although a serious act of arson Firefighter Jimenez testified that the damage was nowhere near what it could have been. He told the jury that if that device had functioned properly, it could have taken out the car, it could have taken out the driveway and the garage and the house and the as well. So, yeah, big deal. A really big deal. As for forensics, this firefighter testified that DNA was found on the bottle, a partial female profile, but he had no idea where on the bottle that DNA came from or what it meant, just that it was there. And frankly, he's a firefighter, he's not a DNA expert, so that kind of makes sense. Firefighter Jimenez also confirmed something that set off fireworks in the courtroom. Here we go. There were fingerprints on the Porsche, but they couldn't be compared to the burglary from a few weeks prior because prints that were collected after that crime no longer existed. It turns out that two fingerprint cards that the LAPD collected after the burglary had mysteriously been destroyed. Somebody at the LAPD decided to get rid of them. A few months after the break in. In August of 2012, Officer Jimenez told the jury that he did not sign off on that happening. In fact, he didn't even know that those fingerprints had been destroyed until recently. And then came the question that caused ultra chaos in the courtroom. Quote, in your 15 years, has evidence ever been ordered destroyed by someone not on your team? And the defense immediately jumped up with an objection, and the judge had to call a sidebar. And Diddy's lawyer, Mark Ignifolo, exploded. He accused the prosecution of misleading the jury into thinking that Diddy somehow had something to do with ordering the destruction of evidence at the lapd. Diddy's lawyer called this outrageous and unwarranted. And another one of Diddy's lawyers, Danielle Shapiro, formally asked for a mistrial, saying the suggestion played directly into the jury's preconceived fears that Diddy could, quote, buy his way out of criminal responsibility. You know, this is a pretty big deal, right? Taking the questioning along a line that suggests that Diddy has control over the lapd. Right. But the judge was not having it, and he denied that motion. He did, however, have something that was curative. Okay. He did instruct the jury that, quote, questions and answers relating to the fingerprint cards were irrelevant to the case and to the defendant and should not be considered, end quote. And then it was on to cross examination of the firefighter. And Diddy's lawyer made a point to clarify that. Officer Jimenez reached out to both Capricorn Clark and Cassie Ventura while trying to further the investigation, Jimenez testified that neither one of those women responded to him, despite multiple attempts to reach them. And I gotta be honest with you, I'm not so sure how that really cuts well for the defense, because to me, if you're a prosecutor, you're thinking, yeah, no kidding. Yeah, they're not going to answer you. They work for Diddy. They can't. He will let you. He. He won't let you call, you know, the LAPD back or the LAFD back. But that's what the defense decided to do with the cross examination. And the next witness was someone who definitely was different and really made heads turn in this courtroom. It was a man named Deontay Nash. Deontay is a celebrity stylist who walked into that courtroom clad in tan denim head to toe. And later, when the room got a little bit cold, he tossed on a brown sport coat, and it looked great. His vibe, totally unfiltered, completely unapologetic, and definitely a character out of central casting. How so? Let me just set the scene for you and give you a couple of examples. When prosecutors showed this witness a photo of himself for identification, Deontay Nash did not miss a beat. He told the court, that's a glamour shot, and I look amazing. Of course, I'm putting the tone on this, but, I mean, he's a stylist. So later, when he was asked what size his jacket was, Deontay deadpanned, not your size. But the light moments ended there, because once the questions started, Deontay made it very clear that he did not want to be there. When asked if he wanted to testify, he said, quote, absolutely not. End quote. But testify he did. And what he described in this day on the stand could really reshape the entire trial and certainly put into perspective a lot of previous testimony before him. Because, let me tell you, if I have one word for it, it is corroboration. And if I have another word for it, it is damning. If I have three words for it is damning as hell. Deontay told the jury that he works as a celebrity stylist and that he started working for Diddy and Cassie ventura back in 2008. At first, he said he was an intern in the finance department at Bad Boy Entertainment. Yawn. He said he got the job after answering an ad on Craigslist. But eventually, he said he worked under longtime stylist Derek Roche and was paid through Diddy's companies. He said he got to know both Cassie and Diddy really well, but his Relationship with Cassie that was especially close. He told the jury that he was around Cassie pretty much every day. And according to Deontay, what he saw and what he heard was horrifying. He testified that Diddy regularly called Cassie names like bitch, ho, and slut, sometimes calmly, sometimes furious, but always with force, Deontay said. And when it came to Diddy using the word to refer to Cassie, Deontay testified, quote, that was his fave. The verbal abuse, he said, was constant, and so were the threats. He told the jury that Diddy regularly threatened to beat Cassie, threatened to kill her music career by refusing to release her records, that he threatened to have her parents fired, and that he threatened to release sex tapes of Cassie more than once. Folks, if you are keeping score, that is a whole lot of evidence right there that goes towards racketeering, force, coercion, control, extortion, all by the head of an enterprise. The man who employed these people. And the threats, Deontay testified, would push Cassie to the brink. He said she'd cry. She would disappear for days. And more than once, he said, she told him that she was scared to go back. But according to Deontay, it did not stop with threats. He told the jury about three separate times that he personally witnessed Diddy physically and attacking Cassie. The first incident that Deontay described to the jury happened at Cassie's apartment in Los Angeles while Cassie was getting ready for the OVO Fest, a massive music festival in Toronto hosted by Drake. Cassie, he said, was asleep on the couch getting some rest. Before the trip, Deontay and a woman named Mia were helping her pack. And incidentally, Mia is a pseudonymous, and Mia is expected to testify tomorrow. Suddenly, Deontay told the court that Diddy showed up and he was angry. Deontay testified Diddy was furious that Cassie hadn't answered one of his phone calls. Deontay said that Diddy walked in, looked straight at her and screamed, quote, didn't I tell you to answer the phone? End quote. Then, according to Deontay, Diddy grabbed Cassie by the hair, yanked her off the couch, and started hitting her. Deontay said that he and Mia tried to stop the attack, but that Diddy threw them off. First Deontay and then Mia. And that Diddy kept going, punching and kicking until, as Deontay put it, Cassie's head slammed into the bed frame, causing a flow of blood from her face. That's when Diddy, according to Deontay, looked around and said these words. Are you ready for this? I hope you have a drink. Or you're sitting down, because this is what Deontay said. Diddy yelled, quote, look what y' all made me do. Yeah, let's just stop for a moment and let's let that sink in, shall we? You've got. You got Diddy, according to Deontay, beating the shit out of Cassie, drawing blood from her face. And then according to Deontay, under oath on the standard, blaming the other two for this, the other two, you know, who were trying to pull him off of her. Again, like, let's just let that sink in. And if that is not enough, if that doesn't make your skin crawl. And again, guilty or innocent of the crimes he's accused of, what a dirt bag? That he would lay hands on a woman like he did in the hotel video that he confessed to. If this story is true, even if he beats the rap, he will never live this kind of story down. He will always be a filthy dirtbag for doing this kind of thing. Look what you all made me do. Like, it's their fault that he had to beat a woman and cut her face. The next thing he said, according to Deontay, under oath on the stand was, quote, they had plastic surgery for that. I cannot tell you how angry this made me today. Like, I needed to get up from my computer and go into the kitchen and get a really stiff glass of water. You know, I just, like, put myself in that room, and I wanted to cry and I wanted to strangle someone who rhymes with fitty if it's true, right? So far, it's testimony under oath under penalty of perjury. But this is something the jurors are going to have to sort through, too, Right? I don't know how they felt. I don't know if they felt like I did. But if they did, it is not going to bode well for Diddy. He is not going to get the benefit of the doubt. Not if they hate him this much, right? Not if they believe what Deontay was saying. And can I just tell you something? Deontay was really authentic up there. Nobody reported that this guy sounded for a moment like he was in the pocket of the prosecutors. He already said a couple times, I do not want to be here. I don't want to be here. Anyway, Deontay said that he tried to call 91 1, but that somebody told him not to. He doesn't remember who it was. He told the jury that the next day, Cassie FaceTimed him, and guess what? She had stitches above her eyebrow. The second incident that Deontay Nash described on the stand, began in the kitchen of Cassie's Los Angeles apartment. He testified that they were cooking dinner when suddenly. You know who showed up? Diddy, unexpectedly. And demanded to speak to Cassie alone. According to Deontay, things turned physical fast. He told the jury that Diddy grabbed Cassie again by the hair because now this seems to be the preferred method of getting her under control. Allegedly. And Deontay said he shoved her towards the front door. And then, according to this witness, he did the same thing to Deontay, slapping him in the back of the head as he kicked him out of the apartment. And once outside, Deontay said that members of Diddy's security team was blocked him from leaving. He said they told him he needed to wait until Diddy was done. And again, if you are keeping score, being prevented from leaving anywhere is called kidnapping by law. And kidnapping is a predicate act of rico. And this is just one of multiple accusations of kidnapping against Diddy and his enterprise so far in this trial. And what. What do we end week two? We had nine weeks of this. So, yeah, things don't look so good for Diddy anyway. Looks good for the prosecutor so far. But we are in the prosecutor's case, and the defense hasn't even started. They've only had their shot at cross examination. And if you ask me, I've been through a trial or two, and I don't think they're chipping away enough. Eventually, Deontay testified that Cassie came downstairs and that they left together in Deontay's car. But Diddy. Deontay said he wasn't done. Deontay testified that Diddy tracked them down, forced them to pull over, and launched into another tirade. Deontay told the jury that Diddy berated them and then threatened to release sex tapes of Cassie keeping score. Because legally, my friends, that is called extortion. And yes, legally, extortion is another predicate act under rico. So, I mean, it's like a drinking game by this point. Deontay said he tried to calm Cassie down after this, told her not to worry because Diddy was in the tapes too. But of course, Cassie, he testified, corrected him. No, no, Diddy wasn't in the tapes, she said. According to Deontay, Cassie told him Diddy had recorded her with other men in sex acts that she said she didn't want to do, but that Diddy insisted. Later that night, Deontay said he got a call from Drock, one of Diddy's security officers, warning him that Diddy knew where he lived and was on his way. And sure enough, Deontay testified that Diddy showed up at his house with several members of his entourage. He said they searched the entire home for Cassie, and not just casually either. Deontay told the jury they, quote, even checked the oven. I don't know why, end quote. Testified that once Diddy learned where Cassie was staying, he told Deonti to take him there and that he, Deontay, complied. Driving to the hotel with Drock and Diddy's former chief of staff, Tony Fletcher. Inside the hotel room, Deontay said Cassie looked terrified. He told the jury, quote, she said, oh, no. She said she was going to jump, end quote. Deontay said they managed to calm her down and then sneak her out a side exit. But outside, Deontay told the jury that Diddy was waiting, surrounded by black SUVs and several security guards. Deonti testified that when he told Diddy that Cassie was gone, Diddy turned on him and said, quote, you played me. The third incident Deontay described happened in 2015 in the parking lot of a music studio. He testified that Diddy slapped Cassie right there in the lot in public and then turned to him and said, get this out of here, end quote. Cassie, he said, was in tears. But according to Deontay, that moment was no outlier. It was part of a pattern. And yeah, back to the scorecard. Pattern is something that is critical if you want to prove RICO charges. So pattern. How many witnesses have we heard with the same kind of story, corroborating each other, showing pattern of behavior? Because Deontay seems to be one of them. He testified that he saw Cassie with visible bruises on her arms, her legs, and her neck, quote, quite often, end quote. Once, he said, she FaceTimed him from Las Vegas with two black eyes. Another time, just before the premiere of the Perfect Match, Deontay said she showed him yet another black eye, one she'd covered in heavy makeup. At the event itself, Deontay testified that the bruise was still visible if you were looking for it. Deontay also gave the jury a behind the scenes look at Cassie's career and just how much control he said Diddy had over it. According to Deontay, Diddy made the final call on everything, even down to what Cassie wore.
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Deontay Nash
He.
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Ashley Banfield
He testified that he had to send Diddy photos of every potential outfit and Diddy would choose what she was going to wear. Deonti said he never saw Diddy exercise that kind of control with any other bad boy artists. And as for the music, Deontay told the jury that Cassie's 2013 mixtape, Rockabye Baby was one of the top releases of the year, but that it was never sold, that it was released online for free. That decision, he said, was Diddy's. He also testified that Cassie recorded a full album towards the end of their relationship, but that that album was never released. In total, Deontay estimated that, quote, maybe 10% of all the music that Cassie recorded ever made it out to the public. And when things between them got tense, Deontay said he heard Diddy threaten to kill her music more than one time. Again, if you're keeping score, killing her music to keep her in line, that would be coercive control, forced labor, keeping someone so in fear that they do anything you ask because you're going to ruin their career. And you did, allegedly. And beyond the violence and control Deontay said he witnessed in public, he also described what was happening behind closed doors. Deontay told the jury that behind the scenes, Cassie was constantly trying to get away. He said he helped her hide from Diddy, quote, too many times to count. Hotels, friends, apartments, anywhere they could go to get out of reach. But every time they ran, he said, the phones would start ringing. According to Deontay, Diddy would blow up everybody's phone line. And sometimes it wasn't just him. He testified that Diddy's chief of staff, Christina Coram, would also be calling, saying that it was, quote, safe to come back, that Diddy had calmed down. And as Deontay put it on the stand, he usually had not calmed down. He also testified that Cassie told him she was expected to pack a bag every week filled with sex toys for hotel visits with Diddy. Deontay said Cassie didn't want to go, but went nonetheless. And every time she came back, Deontay said Cassie looked exhausted. He told the jury about her 29th birthday, how she didn't want to take part in a freak off. He said Cassie was high and that Diddy was high, too. And that later that night, Cassie told Deontay, quote, he's making me do that. End quote. And on New year's Eve in 2017, Deontay said he saw it firsthand. He testified that a woman arrived at Cassie's hotel room for a freak off. Cassie, he said, had wanted to stay in that night, but that Diddy had other plans. It was testimony that was searing. It was testimony that was damning. And let me tell you, as an outside observer here, it was very, very bad. Today for Sean Diddy Combs. And so on cross examination, the defense came out swinging, trying to cast Deontay as either unreliable or biased or both. Deontay told the jury, again, he did not want to be there. He did not want to testify that he wasn't suing Diddy, that he hadn't filed a demand letter, but that, yes, he had a lawyer. And when asked why, he said, quote, to protect me. I don't do federal court, end quote. They pressed him on his role as stylist, suggesting that Diddy's input on Cassie's wardrobe was. Wasn't controlling. It was branding, just business. They pointed to money spent on Cassie's career, collaborations, performances, recordings. And Deontay agreed there was an investment. But he told the jury that didn't mean that she had creative freedom. Diddy, he said, was still pulling all of the strings. And in a surprisingly tender moment, Deontay confirmed that he texted Cassie just yesterday to congratulate her on the birth of her third baby. The defense wrapped up by pointing to the people around Diddy, highlighting that in the moments Deontay described, security and staff members weren't helping Diddy carry out the abuse. It was them trying to stop it. Their suggestion was that, if anything, those closest to Diddy weren't enabling him. They were pushing back again. If you're asking me if that's a strong cross examination, I'm not feeling it, y' all. I'm not feeling that vibe. Maybe a little, but, man, that was Everest they had to climb. They might have hit a foothill. There was so much damning testimony against Diddy today on day 11, that I'm going to be honest with you. It is hard to remember all of the points that the prosecution scored, but make no mistake, they scored a metric shit ton. But if you're out there just, you know, dabbling in this trial, hearing a little bit here and there and wondering, why on earth are they charging it with rico? Isn't that the thing that they tried to get mobsters with back starting in the 70s? You are right. And so I called a couple of mobsters, a couple of guys who actually sat in Diddy's chair in a federal courtroom facing down the feds and RICO and what it was that took them down and whether they think maybe Diddy is guilty of RICO and maybe the prosecutors are on the right track. Here's my conversation on News Nation.
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Deontay Nash
My next two guests know this law maybe better than anyone and know how.
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Ashley Banfield
Hard it is to beat a federal RICO case because they're both former mobsters and jailed by the feds for rico.
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Deontay Nash
Michael Francise was a captain in New.
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Ashley Banfield
York's Colombo crime family. He served eight years for racketeering and extortion.
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Deontay Nash
And Anthony Ruggiano Jr. Is the son of a Gambino crime captain who was.
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Ashley Banfield
Locked up four different times for robbery, gambling, and yes, rico.
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Deontay Nash
Michael and Anthony, welcome to both of you. And Michael, I said Francise and I think it's Francis. So I will correct myself before we even get started. Thank you both so much for being here. I have so many questions for you. Let me start with this and I'm gonna open it up to the both of you. But Michael, I'm gonna get you to start.
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Ashley Banfield
For a lot of people, RICO is all about the mob.
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Deontay Nash
It's all about what you see on the Sopranos. It's those kinds of crimes. It's not the stuff that they see on tape where Diddy's beating his girlfriend up. But I know that you guys have had a chance to kind of look into this case. You've heard what I just in the opening of this case. So do you think that this is RICO or are you scratching your heads?
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Unknown Speaker
Well, you know, first of all, you can say my name either way, Franzis or Francise. So you're correct. But I will say the RICO statute was definitely created, I think back in 1970, a fellow by the name of DeBakey created it specifically to go after the mob. No question about that. It certainly evolved over the years because the government obviously can use a law in any way they see fit. They've gone after Wall street people with it and a lot of other people. So they'll use it outside of the mob. What's a little bit confusing here is normally there is a criminal enterprise that's involved a group of people. I had three racketeering indictments, two federal and one state. And in each case it was the Francis family, the Francis group as part of an enterprise. And I had a lot of co defendants. I didn't hear the government's opening statement on this to see how they tied this into a racketeering statute. Because as far as I know, it's only Diddy on trial and he's on trial alone. So are they claiming that he is a one man enterprise? You know, that's what's kind of confusing to me because the charges against him can certainly stand alone. I don't think they need to be part of a racketeering indictment. But again, I'd have to know what the opening statement was and how they put that theory together that this could be under the RICO statute.
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Deontay Nash
So you know what? I'll throw this in here and Anthony, you can jump in. From the way I see things, what the prosecutors have tried to determine is that here's Diddy at the top of Bad Boy Records and the enterprise that he's created, the big businesses that he's created, he's got employees that he, that he has, he's paying as security. He's got employees like Cassie, who is supposed to be releasing music. He's got employees like assistance who he tells you go and set up the free coughs and you go and get my drugs. And, you know, you grab Cassie and bring her to this vacant building and threaten her with a lie detector test. So I think what they're trying to say is that he used his business and he used his corporate card from Bad Boy Enterprises, and he used cash from the business, plus assistants and employees to carry out a lot of the crimes that they're alleging one after the other, you know, with these witnesses. So if I lay it out that way, Anthony, what do you think? Do you think this lines up with the RICO that, you know, I feel.
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D
A lot like Michael. You know, I'm struggling with it too, because my rico's also. There was co defendants. I read his indictment. I started reading his indictment today. And his business is the enterprise and the people that worked for him were part of the conspiracy. So maybe they're unindicted co conspirators and they got immunity because like Michael said, on my indictment, it said the United States of America first is. And then there was eight names and we all conspired to commit crimes. Did he alone. Who did he conspire with? Did he conspire by himself? Did he extort people? Yes, he did. Did he kidnap people? He held them against his will? Yes, he did. He brought people across state lines, which is a federal offense. But to be a RICO just on him, it's hard for me to understand how that happens.
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Deontay Nash
Yeah, and I do think that, I mean, listen, we got weeks and weeks left of just the prosecutor's case, but already we've seen one of the assistants who said he got immunity. And my feeling is that his second in command, Christina Coram, either she's going to plead the fifth or she's going to have been offered immunity or use immunity for her testimony. I do think you're right. It's kind of confusing without the conspirators. But my feeling is that right now to get the Testimony against the guy at the top. They may be offering them immunity, but like I said, we still have to find that out.
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Ashley Banfield
I got this question for you, Michael.
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Deontay Nash
I opened the show by saying that I felt sad by sitting through a lot of today's testimony, because this stylist, he just went over instance after instance of just vicious, vicious beating and control that Diddy had allegedly over Cassie. Things he saw firsthand, things that he even tried to step in and stop by jumping on Diddy's back, You know, blood coming down Cassie's face during one of the beatings that Diddy allegedly turns around and says, look what you all made me do.
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Ashley Banfield
And I wondered about a guy like that.
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Deontay Nash
Now that this is all coming out in the public, if Diddy's convicted, this is not the kind of behavior that I used to hear about with the mob. They beat up and kill guys, but they didn't beat up and kill girls all the time. Do you see a big difference here with the kind of behavior Diddy's accused of doing compared to the behavior of mobsters?
- [38:10]
Unknown Speaker
Oh, absolutely. Let me say this. I always take the position, you know, someone's innocent until proven guilty. That's just my position all the time. However, we have seen certain things. I think everybody has seen the hotel video where he was obviously beating her up. And the testimony has been absolutely despicable. And nobody in my former life would ever approve of something like that. And I think Anthony will vouch for that. We didn't beat up women. We didn't do things like that. We were taught to respect women in a big way, especially our families. So in our life, if you violated another made man's wife, daughter, sister, mother, you're in a lot of trouble. So we didn't stand for that in any way, shape or form. And like I said, the acts that are being described here are disgusting, despicable. You know, if somebody like that was in our former life, he wouldn't last, you know, quite honestly. So, you know, and again, I would love to hear. I believe that the defense is going to attack the RICO statute here. You said, you know, possibly there are witnesses that have been given immunity, not possibly 100%. I mean, that's how government builds cases. They go after people, they get them to cooperate, and they give them immunity. So like Anthony said, there's probably several unintended indicted co conspirators here that all decided, hey, we're not gonna take the fall. We're gonna cooperate. We're gonna testify. And that's why they weren't indicted. So I would believe that when Anthony said that, you know, they're gonna use the theory that you said that the whole, you know, bad boy records was a criminal enterprise. He was at the top of it. He used these other people to implement his criminal schemes, and that's how they charged him with rico. But these acts are just, you know, you know, the real question is, how did this go on for 20 years? 20 years this was going on. A guy as high profile as that, and I've said this before, and nobody gets charged for it. It's allowed to continue for 20 years. There's no question that people knew that this was going on. There were high profile people involved. How does something like this go on for 20 years, Anthony? You know, in our former life, this wouldn't last a year. You know, people would be dominant.
- [40:20]
Deontay Nash
Yeah, you know what, Anthony? I'm going to get you to dovetail on that because I want to know, if Diddy's convicted and he ends up spending the rest of his life in a federal prison, given what we know now, the filth of his behavior, the absolute filth of his behavior when it came to how he treats women. One woman, absolutely. The others, so far, it's just an accusation. How will he fare behind bars?
- [40:49]
D
Well, I have two scenarios. If the BoP buries him in like a Marion or, you know, the supermax in Colorado, he'll do a terrible bit. But if he goes to my opinion, if he goes to a regular federal prison, he's going to be fine because the kids there, the people there, he has a lot of money. He still, you know, he's in the music business. Everybody wants to be a hip hop artist. He's gonna do fine in prison. He's. He's gonna do a good bit. He's got a ton of money and he's gonna do fine in prison. Unless the BOP buries him in a supermax, that's the only way he's gonna have issues. Other than that, I don't think he's gonna have a problem with certain, A certain group of people. Maybe mob guys might shun him. I'm sure people might throw innuendos at him. He might have a fight or two. But overall, I think he's going to do fine in there because of who he is and all his money, just like Madoff did. Find all these other criminals.
- [41:54]
Deontay Nash
Tell me why you think he would have a tougher time at a supermax. What would be the difference and what would that tougher time look like?
- [42:01]
D
He'll Be isolated. You get an hour a day. You know, he'll be locked in a show 23 hours a day. He'll have no rep, will have no contact to the outside world. He'll have nobody to talk to. He'll be just alone, isolated. And that's, you know, that's hard on a person to be isolated like that.
- [42:19]
Deontay Nash
But you know what? Maybe if you got a target on your back because of the way you allegedly used women as punching bags for 20 years, maybe it would be better.
- [42:29]
Ashley Banfield
To be isolated than the alternative. Can't.
- [42:32]
Deontay Nash
Thank you, you both, more for being so candid about your past and helping us to sort of understand what's at stake in this federal courtroom. I'd love to have you both back. Michael Francis and Anthony Ruggiano, thank you so much.
- [42:46]
D
Thank you.
- [42:46]
Unknown Speaker
Thank you.
- [42:47]
Ashley Banfield
Deontay Nash is expected back tomorrow to finish his cross examination. And after that, buckle up again and pour a drink or a milk or whatever it is that gets you through the day because all eyes are going to turn to a woman known as Mia. That's a pseudonym. It's not her real name. She is a witness who, according to prosecutors, was in the room the night Diddy allegedly beat Cassie unconscious in her apartment. She's also, you know, one of the people in the room with Deontay, as he said, Diddy beat Cassie into kneading stitches. She's going to take the stand, and she's likely going to stay there throughout the end of the week. Prosecutors have now indicated they may streamline their remaining witnesses, and they say they hope to rest their case by the second week of June. Wow. I mean, today is May 28th, so second week of June. I mean, when I say parade of horribles, there's still a lot still to come, y' all. We're not there yet, though. We are still firmly, you know, in the heart of the government's case. And if Deontay and Nash's any preview of what's still ahead, man, I don't think Diddy's sleeping well in the federal lockup in southern Manhattan because I think things are going to get a lot worse for Diddy before they get better. If they get better. And full disclosure, I, among other people, are being sued by Diddy for the coverage of our case. And those cases are yet unresolved. Hey, y' all, thank you so much for listening. I'm Ashley Banfield. I so appreciate having you here in this community. Please remember to subscribe and, you know, leave me a review. I love hearing what you have to say, good or bad, I'm doing these recaps every single day on this trial, and then I'm moving on to the University of Idaho quadruple murder case. So I hope you'll join our little group for sure and. And hit that, you know, subscribe button and, you know, stay with me when you can. Also, you won't miss any of the. The bonus episodes that I'm dropping every so often, and. And they're worth it. In the meantime, remember, the truth isn't just serious, it's drop dead. Seriously.