Film Exec Pleads Guilty in Card Scam

An associate of Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, the former drug lord whose ties with Vivendi Universal Inc.’s Murder Inc. label are under federal investigation, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in New York.

Jon Ragin, a convicted drug trafficker, quietly negotiated a plea bargain last week with U.S. authorities in Brooklyn.

Ragin and McGriff are credited as executive producers of “Crime Partners,” a low-budget action drama that the government believes was made solely to launder drug trafficking proceeds. The film was created by Picture Perfect Entertainment, a company owned by Ragin and McGriff’s sister.

Authorities seized Picture Perfect’s bank account in January, contending that “Crime Partners” was a laundering conduit to hide illicit cash. Federal agents also raided Murder Inc.’s Manhattan offices, accusing the label’s founder, Irv “Gotti” Lorenzo, of laundering drug money for McGriff.

Ragin was arrested in January after authorities raided his residence on the suspicion that he was running a large-scale credit card scam through a phony company called Tuxedo Rentals.

Bank records seized by the government indicated that more than $500,000 passed through the company’s account from 1998 to 2001, although Ragin had not filed a tax return those years. During the raid, authorities found no tuxes but did seize 1,000 blank credit cards and numerous pieces of equipment to produce fake cards, as well as several identification documents with Ragin’s picture but different names.

Ragin, 34, pleaded guilty last week to credit card fraud and money laundering and faces 15 to 19 1/2 years in prison at his sentencing Oct. 31.

In June, McGriff, 42, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for illegal possession of a handgun. He had served 10 years in prison for running the Supreme Team drug gang, which dominated the crack cocaine trade in a Queens, N.Y., housing project during the 1980s.