Rap mogul calls arrest bogus

Rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight said Thursday that his arrest for parole violations two days before Christmas is a misguided effort by authorities to force him to talk about homicides he knows nothing about.

Characterizing the parole violations as bogus, he denied allegations of involvement with gang members, except in the course of music label business.

“I ain’t no gangster. I’m too damn old. I’m a grown man trying to run a business,” Knight said. “The guys who work for me ain’t out wearing rags and gangbanging in the streets. We got families. We got bills. Why don’t they just leave us alone?”

In his first interview from County Jail, Knight said his arrest in Van Nuys on Monday was a last-ditch attempt by authorities to salvage a high-profile raid by 175 sheriff’s deputies last month that has yielded no charges and little evidence regarding a string of gang homicides this year.

“My parole officer asked me to stop by before the holidays, but as I opened the door to his office, this gang investigator was standing there who tells me they plan to put me away for a real long time if I don’t start talking,” said Knight, shackled and dressed in an orange inmate jumpsuit. “I told him, ‘You better handcuff me right now. Because I don’t know a thing about it.’ ”

Sheriff’s Det. Mike Caouette, who arrested Knight, agreed that he approached him for information about the investigation but said Knight refused to help.

Authorities said Knight’s parole violations stem from his alleged association with gang members who police believe are connected to a series of retaliatory shootings. Under conditions of his parole, Knight is not allowed to associate with gang members.

“I ain’t trying to start a war with the police, but they know this ain’t right,” Knight said. “My mom’s sick. My family’s worried. Why do this to them on Christmas Eve?”

During the 1990s, Knight built a successful rap label, now called Tha Row, that hired talented ex-convicts from Compton, his hometown, and other tough neighborhoods. At one time, the company generated $100 million a year in album sales on the strength of rap stars who emerged from the gang culture.

In 1992, Knight was convicted of assault and federal weapons violations and was placed on probation. In 1996, he was jailed for five years for violating probation after he and several associates, including rap star Tupac Shakur, were recorded on videotape beating a gang rival in the lobby of a Las Vegas hotel. Three hours later, Shakur was fatally shot on the Las Vegas Strip. Knight was wounded.

Since his release from prison last year, Knight has continued to focus his company on rap music -- a musical genre, he said Thursday, that requires him to associate with individuals from crime-ridden neighborhoods. Knight said he consulted the parole office last December and was assured that hiring former gang members did not pose a problem -- as long as he didn’t hang out with them after work.

“I told parole that if I had to stop dealing with people from the ‘hood, I might as well shut down my business,” Knight said. “I can’t just turn my back on the people I came up with. Rap comes from the same place that I did -- the ghetto. I’ve had the same employees since I got out of prison and the parole office never said nothing. Why, all of sudden, on Christmas Eve, do they decide to violate me and haul me away?”

State parole official Fernando Rios said Knight is behind bars because he violated the strict conditions of his parole by attending social events with gang members listed in the California gangs identification system. During the Nov. 14 raid on Knight’s homes and business, sheriff’s deputies confiscated photographs of Knight at parties in several states with active gang members. Sheriff’s investigators said they have a photograph of Knight making a gang sign.

“They think anything with fingers up in the air is a gang sign,” Knight said. “That picture is a still shot from a music video rehearsal. One of my acts, Crooked I, was performing a song that he wrote in honor of my best friend, Buntry, who got killed.”

Authorities said one of Knight’s alleged parole violations is connected to the day eight months ago when his best friend and former employee, Alton “Buntry” McDonald, was shot to death in Compton.

Sheriff’s investigators stopped Knight’s car hours after the April 3 shooting and found him with McDonald’s brother, Tim “Timmy Ru” McDonald, an alleged member of the Mob Town Pirus.

“I was in a business meeting when I got the call that my best friend had got shot, so I rushed to the hospital with his brother, who worked for me, in my car,” Knight said. “Listen, I’ve known these guys since I was 5 years old. I know their moms. I know their families. What was I supposed to do? By the time we got there, Buntry was dead. They pulled me over right after I left the hospital.”

Last month, sheriff’s investigators obtained an arrest warrant for Tim McDonald as part of a probe into a string of retaliatory shootings linked to Alton McDonald’s murder.

Tim McDonald, who is being sought by authorities, allegedly tried to shoot a man Oct. 22 in retaliation for the slaying of Knight associate Henry “Hendog” Smith.

Lt. Bob Rifkin of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s anti-gang unit said the probe into the “conspiracy to commit murder” is ongoing. Rifkin said Knight is not a suspect at this time.

Knight said he wonders why investigators have spent so much energy investigating alleged retaliatory shootings tied to Alton McDonald’s murder and so little time searching for his killer.

“I gave five years of my life to the system,” Knight said. “Ain’t that enough?”