Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Suge Knight Makes Shocking Claims About P. Diddy in New Interview

Episode Date: September 26, 2024

Suge Knight, the co-founder of Death Row Records, is serving time in prison in California for hitting and killing a man with his car. But prison walls aren't keeping Knight from talking about the arrest of his former rival, Sean "Diddy" Combs, for sex trafficking and racketeering. Knight spoke to Chris Cuomo on his NewsNation show this week. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy looks at some of what Knight said about Combs and the music industry in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefix and access information about almost anyone!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law & Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Most important thing is there's got to be a solution. Because this has been going on in the industry for a whole bunch of years, for decades. And at the same time, you know, nobody wants it to be true. And it shouldn't have to be true. Suge Knight, the founder of Death Row Records and one-time enemy of Sean Diddy Combs, talks about Combs' arrest by the feds in an interview with News Nation. I look at what the one-time record company owner said about Combs from behind prison walls.

Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Suge Knight doesn't hold back. He might be in prison for killing a man, running him down with a car in Compton, but that doesn't mean he's not sharing what's on his mind, especially when it comes to Sean Combs. Combs, of course, is in a federal prison right now being held without bond following his arrest on sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges. Combs has pleaded not guilty to those charges, which appear at this point to involve one victim, Cassie Ventura, Combs' longtime ex-girlfriend who sued him last November. Combs settled that lawsuit the next day. Then came a flurry of other lawsuits filed by other

accusers, including women and even a man, record producer Rodney Little Rod Jones. The accusers claimed they were drugged and sexually assaulted by Combs. Combs has denied ever sexually assaulting anyone, but a video aired by CNN in May showed that Combs beat Cassie Ventura in a hotel hallway back in 2016. This happened in Los Angeles. Combs apologized a couple of days later on Instagram. So what does Suge Knight have to say about this? And why is anyone interested in what he has to say? Well, Knight and Combs go way back, and it wasn't always pretty. In the mid-90s, there was the so-called East Coast-West Coast feud, where Combs had rapper Biggie Smalls at Bad Boy Records

and Knight had signed Tupac Shakur at his Death Row Records. Shakur was murdered in Vegas in 1996, and Biggie Smalls was shot to death in LA the following spring. But that was a long time ago, almost 30 years ago now, and we're talking about what's going on today and the allegations being made against Sean Combs. Suge Knight is currently doing time in a California prison for running over a man and killing him. He'll be eligible for parole in 2034. Knight might be behind bars, but that doesn't mean he's not doing things or that he's staying quiet. He actually has a lot to say. We just have to really work hard back today.

Suge Knight actually hosts a podcast entitled Collect Call with Suge Knight, where he calls from prison and talks about a lot of things. And this week, he called Chris Cuomo on News Nation, and he had a lot to say about Sean Combs and what's going on with his case and the allegations of sex trafficking being made against him. One thing he talked about is whether or not he believes Sean Combs is safe being in jail. Sean Combs didn't want to be in jail. He wanted to post bail, a bail of $50 million, but the judge denied that request. He's in the MDC and that's a federal prison with a really awful reputation.

Knight was asked whether he thinks Combs is safe behind bars. I don't ever want to say he's in danger, and neither should he say that. Because once he gets to the point where they feel he's going to be suicidal to himself, harmful to himself, once they put him on suicide watch, you have the rights to nothing. No socks, no drawers, no t-shirt, no blanket, no sheets.

You asshole naked in a cell as a crazy man. So he definitely don't want to do that. And the other advice I would tell him, you know,

maybe he should get on the Jewish diet. Because the kosher meals is way better than the food somebody else is making for you. At least they're going to come hot. They're going to come sealed, and you've got to be the one to open them. That's very important.

What about people trying to hurt him? He's got to go to jail. I mean, one of the things is this. I don't care who you are. Prison and jail is a negative environment. If somebody can do something to them and get a name for themselves, they're going to actually do it. Or if they can do whatever they feel they got to do to prove themselves.

But we also got to learn. We got to learn from our mistakes. Everything don't have to be a mistake. You got to better yourself. But we all know what we signed up for in life. But do you want to know more about him, maybe about his criminal and traffic records? I went to Truthfinder to see what I could find. Suge's first name is really Marion. I put in Marion Knight and his criminal and traffic records come up. It shows Suge Knight was charged in 1994 with felony second-degree robbery and a misdemeanor in 2010.

Now he's serving time for killing a man by hitting him with his car. Even if you're not in true crime, Truthfinder can show you things from a person's past and registered sex offenders near you. Also, you can use it to see what's online about yourself. You can get 50% off right now of confidential background reports. Just log on to truthfinder.com slash lccrimefix and start accessing information about almost anyone. Now, I mentioned earlier that there was bad blood between Suge Knight and Sean Combs many years ago, but both Knight and Combs are fathers and what happens to them impacts their children. Knight talked about how Combs being in prison is likely impacting his kids and the accusers in the case, how this might be impacting their children as well.

Well, first of all, I'm not calling you or nobody else to get nobody to believe anything regarding him. Like I said, and I always say, me personally, I don't jump up and down and cheer for no Black man going to prison or any other man, any other human being going to prison. Because people think prison is always the answer. I'm not saying a lot of people don't deserve to do their time and see what's going on. But at the same time, that's not no cheerful thing, because when you look at it, that man has kids.

And whatever affects him definitely affects his kids. And I know there's a lot of victims involved in it. And whatever affects him affects their kids. So it's not a good thing to be talking about any kind of anything about the next person. But it's always, it's not a gray area with me. Now, I think anybody can empathize with children being impacted by their parents' situation and trauma. As the interview went on, talk turned to the freak-offs. Those are, of course, the alleged parties that were described in Cassie Ventura's civil lawsuits and that the U.S. attorney described when announcing the indictment. The indictment alleges that Combs abused and exploited women and other people for years

and in a variety of ways. As alleged, Combs used force, threats of force, and coercion to cause victims to engage in extended sexual performances with male commercial sex workers, some of whom he transported or caused to be transported over state lines. Combs allegedly planned and controlled the sex performances, which he called freak-offs, and he often electronically recorded them. The freak-offs sometimes lasted days at a time, involved multiple commercial sex workers, and often involved a variety of narcoticsotics such as ketamine, ecstasy, and

GHB, which Combs distributed to the victims to keep them obedient and compliant. As alleged, when Combs didn't get his way, he was violent and he subjected victims of physical, emotional, and verbal abuse so that they would participate in the freak-offs, and that Combs hit, kicked, threw objects at, and dragged victims, at times by their hair. On one occasion in March of 2016, that conduct was captured on video and later reported in the media. Specifically, Combs kicked, dragged, and threw a vase at a victim in a Los Angeles hotel when the victim was attempting to flee. As alleged, these assaults often resulted in injuries to the victims, which took days or weeks to heal. In addition to the violence, the indictment alleges that Combs threatened and coerced victims to get them to participate in the freak-offs.

He used the embarrassing and sensitive recordings he made of the freak-offs as collateral against the victims. And the indictment alleges that he maintained control over the victims in several ways, including by giving them drugs, by giving and threatening to take away financial support or housing by promising them career opportunities, by monitoring their whereabouts, and even by dictating their physical appearance. Days-long sex parties with sex workers where participants sometimes needed IVs to recover? It sounds awful. Suge Knight talked about where he thinks Sean Combs came up with this type of thing.

And at the same time, Tuffy didn't react or get what he got or do those things or those allegations by himself. He was taught from people before him and he it to the younger people after him. And we can talk all day and say what's true and what's not true. Only the true part about it is videos, conversations, and people can see what they've done. But for it being happy and proud and saying what do people think, that's irrelevant. So Suge Knight basically claims that Sean Combs learned this behavior from other higher-ups in the record industry based on how he was treated when he was younger.

Is that what you're suggesting about Sean Combs, that he was sexually abused and he now sexually abuses? Yeah, I think that's absolutely right. I think he repeat what was done to him. And like I said, if you look at Russell Simmons, you know the truth. Andre Rell, you know the truth. Clyde Davis, you know the truth. Jimmy Iovine, you know the truth.

It was at a point where it's like a whole sex trade because you take Nicole from the Pussycat Doll, she used to push the line for people to participate. She was messing with Jimmy Iovine when Jimmy Iovine was married

to one of the most incredible women in the world named Vicky, and she used to go around and sing that song and change the lyrics to make it put Vicky down. So there's not certain things that all of a sudden you got this. The industry is a quick business. It's been like that for a long time.

And the casting couch is real, but it's for women and men. But far from all that, I think the most important thing is to I feel like they should let Puffy tell his truth. I'm quite sure he's going to expose a lot of people.

I'm sure he's going to move forward with it. I don't think it should be a situation like the Epstein thing where they found him hanging from the ceiling of debt for the truth to come out. So, first of all, you've got to start with the top. You're starting with the top. Clyde Davis, Russell Simmons, Andrew O'Reilly, Jimmy Iovine. Even if you take Jimmy Iovine, he had an allegation from him, same thing, he went away. You take Jimmy Iovine. They told me a universal telescope. I said, you know what? We can't deal with artists that gets in trouble. Your artist gets in trouble, they talk crazy.

So that's a really bold claim being made against other record executives, some really big names. Clive Davis vehemently denied the allegation in a statement to Cuomo saying, this is a completely fabricated thread being trafficked by an incarcerated felon. Mr. Knight's assertions about Clive Davis are 100% false as nothing of the sort ever happened. But what is interesting is Suge Knight is not the first person to suggest Sean Combs learned this behavior. Listen to what Combs' former bodyguard Gene Deal told the Art of Dialogue podcast recently. When they get down to all the facts and all what happened, he may belong in jail, bro. And that's not my doing. That's not Cassie doing. That's his doing and his learned behavior

from the people that mentored him. You gotta realize, man, you gotta, he learned from Andre Harrell. He learned from Russell Simmons. He learned from Clyde Davis. You understand? When those people are, are, are, are telling you that they were in heavy into the drugs. They was heavy into beating women

and doing things at that age, at that crazy stage. That's going to make him think that he could get away with the same thing that they was getting away with back then. You understand? The things that he was saying, you know, the touchy-feely between two men and all that stuff like that, man. All that, he learned that from them dudes. So those are two people who knew Sean Combs saying that Sean Combs learned this behavior, behavior which Sean Combs' attorney at this point has called consensual. Knight then offered his thoughts on the freak-offs. industry, right? And the sad thing about it, I don't like mentioning Usher. I don't like mentioning Justin Beaver. I don't like mentioning all these people that everybody knows what time it is. So at the same time,

they have a joke. They never played this joke with me. And they used to walk in the interscope office. They'd go back there and they'd be like, hey, we passed the test. I said, we haven't did the test. One dude said, well, don't say that in front of Mr. Knight

because he's going to take an offensive and hurt somebody. I said, well, whatever it is, I probably will take an offensive when somebody will get their ass whooped. You know, that was me in those days. They used to have these guys, they used to call it the boiled egg test. They used to take a boiled egg, a raw boiled egg, and have those guys

put their pants down and bend over and they're sticking their face out. The eggs break, they say they're not ready yet. They ain't put enough work in. This is Hollywood. So everybody want to go act like they don't know what's going on. Hold on a second. But if you just look, that's all you gotta do. I have never heard

of anything like that. So if I haven't heard about it, just assume a lot of people haven't heard that before. But you think it's on video? Let's stop for a second. Go ahead, Shook. Listen, also, have you ever been to any puppy parties? No. You sure they had a long time to think about it. But if you haven't been in those butt naked parties, even some of the preachers have been in those parties,

and they're one on their knees praying for God. See, they're praying for somebody to have come real quick or something. But I wasn't there for this proof of it. At the same time, everybody want to look around and act like something going on that wasn't right. It's the facts of life in the industry. So that was kind of graphic, but this is what Suge Knight is saying. And at one point, he ran in these circles. Knight also talked about Sean Combs, who he calls Puffy, because that's how he knew him in the 90s, as Puffy, being violent with Cassie Ventura and a woman he called Capricorn. Jimmy, security, and Puffy pulled up on Capricorn and started telling her that she got to settle with him. She got to take this money. She got to take this money. She got to do this deal.

And whooping her ass was doing all the shit they took her to. And guess what? She settled. She took the money. And the money didn't come from Puffy. It didn't come from Jimmy. It came from Interscope and Universal. And they paid her to do it like she was getting a paycheck for working there.

And then they made the girl, I think she had to pay taxes on it. So that's even more crazy. So when you look at all these things and everybody want to say, Puffy, Puffy, Puffy, don't get me wrong. Yeah, Puffy stepped in this shit. And even if you wipe the shit off his shoe, it still stinks. But he's not the only one. They got all the tapes.

So there you have Suge Knight saying that Sean Combs is not the only one. He's making these bold claims about the music industry. Sean Combs has pleaded not guilty, as I've told you. Here's his lawyer, Mark Agnifilo. His resolve is the same. He believes he's innocent. I believe he's innocent. And we're going to fight this case with all of our might until we don't have to fight any longer. The fight continues.

We're not giving up by a long shot. I told Mr. Combs I'm going to try and get his case to trial as quickly as possible. I'm going to try and minimize the amount of time he spends in very, very difficult and I believe inhumane housing conditions in the special housing unit of the Metropolitan Detention Facility. And I'm going to do everything that I can to move his case as quickly as possible. And Mark Agnifilo told a TMZ documentary that Combs plans to testify at his trial whenever it's scheduled. So this trial will certainly be a he said, she said, and likely what the tape shows type of event. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.