DISGRACELAND - Cappadonna (Wu-Tang Clan Chapter 6): Someone Else’s Crack Rocks, Turning State’s Evidence, and a Rat in the Inner Circle

Episode Date: September 28, 2023

Cappadonna may have taught a lot of the guys in Wu-Tang Clan how to rhyme, but he wasn’t around when the group first formed and released their incredible debut album. Because Cappadonna was in Rikers Island, doing time for someone else’s crack rocks. When Cap was released, the Clan welcomed him as the honorary tenth member of the group. But he brought someone else into the fold, too. A shady character who, unbeknownst to Cap and the rest of the guys, wasn’t what he seemed … a federal informant testifying in two major cases, one involving the mob.To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at www.disgracelandpod.com.Sign up for our newsletter and get the inside dirt on events, merch and other awesomeness - GET THE NEWSLETTERSupport our Advertising Partners:Fabric: meetfabric.com/disgracelandFactor: factormeals.com/disgraceland50Code: DISGRACELAND50ZBiotics: ZBiotics.com/DISGRACELAND Code: DISGRACELANDLiquid IV: liquid-iv.com/disgracelandCode: DISGRACELANDFollow Jake and DISGRACELAND:InstagramYouTubeX (formerly Twitter) Facebook Fan GroupTikTok To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is exactly right. Double Elvis. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends.

Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This season on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, we have some fantastic guests like Amelia Clark. When like young people come up to me and they want to be an actor or whatever. My first thing is always, can you think of anything else that you can do? Rather be disappointed in. Do that.

David O'Yellowo. I love this podcast, whether it's therapy or relationships or religion or sex or addiction or you just go straight for the guts. Dennis Leary, Gaten Matarazzo from Stranger Things, Tana Monsu, Camilla Morone, Carrie Kenny Silver, and more. Listen to these episodes of Dear Chelsea on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sometimes a suspect is found guilty before a verdict is ever read in court.

On the Wicked Words podcast, I talk with the writers who dig deep into the cases that changed history, including Marsha Clark, who went from prosecuting one of the most famous murder cases to writing crime fiction. It doesn't matter that you didn't take part in the murder. If you were at the scene at all, you're guilty of murder. Every week, the real story is revealed. Join us every Monday for new episodes of Wicked Words. Listen to Wicked Words on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The stories about Wu-Tang Clan's Capadonna are insane. He was arrested for possession of someone else's crack. He did time at Rikers Island, at the very same time Wutang Clan was being formed without him. He joined Wutang once they were already famous, but he unknowingly brought a rat into their inner circle. He hired a manager with a criminal past, who was actually a federal informant testifying in two cases, one involving the mob. And despite making a question,

questionable hire, Capadonna made great music, some of the greatest hip-hop music on some of the biggest hip-hop albums from the Wu-Tang universe. Unlike that clip I played for you at the top of the show, that wasn't great music. That was a preset loop for my Melotron called Wolf Kisses, MK1. I played you that clip because I can't afford the rights to Maria Maria by Santana, featuring the product G&B. And why would I play you that specific slice of nylon-stringed cheese could I afford it? Because that was the number one song in America on May 23, 2000. And that was the day the village voice ran a bombshell expose

that revealed Capadonna's manager to be a shady Al Capone wannabe who had turned state's evidence and gotten cozy with the feds. On this episode, someone else's crack, doing time, criminal pass, a rap in the inner circle, in Wu-Tang Clan's Capadonna. I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland. The cipher was strong. Not a cipher, as in the final supreme number. The supreme numbers being the guiding philosophy of the 5% nation,

a.k.a. the nation of gods and earths. but a cipher as in a group of rappers standing in a circle making music. A crowd gathered around, and people bobbed their heads, and they cheered on their favorites. The known names and the newcomers alike. Their presence raised the stakes. Higher stakes meant a stronger cipher. The cipher wasn't the only strong thing. The music was strong, too.

Old school. Fifteen years old, give or take. The honey drivers impeached the president. A James Brown groove, if James Brown was like the third hardest working man in showbiz, crackled from the 45 on the turntable. And the DJ looped the instrumental section of the song with a second turntable and a duplicate 45. The kick drum, the hi-hat, the snare, popping like a slap in the face. It was funky, lean, the perfect foundation for a rapper to lay down a few bars.

The MCs passed the mic around and did their best to top the guy before them. It was simultaneously nerve-wracking and thrilling. And maybe you go into a rap battle feeling a little self-conscious. Maybe you size up the other guys waiting their turn and get that familiar pang of inadequacy. By the time the groove gets going and the cipher starts to do its thing, though, you're feeding off of that energy. You're confident, and then you're invincible. You are strong, just like the music, just like the cipher. But if you had to fall at him, that was the end.

as soon as he took the mic, you were done. Only took him half a verse to render you irrelevant. There was a reason they no longer called Daryl Hill by his birth name. They called him original, with a capital O, because when you're the neighborhood's OG, you get treated with respect. They called him the slang, Reverend, the Staten Island Slick Rick. They called him Capuchino, and finally, they called him. Capadonna. Because in the world of ciphers and rhymes and impromptu rap battles,

Cap wasn't just the Don. He was the captain of the Don's. Words were pure rhythm in his head. Rhyming one word to the next came as easily to Cap as breathing came to anyone else. No one could touch him. Not Riza. Not Rizza's cousins either. Not old dirty bastard, not Jizzah, aka the genius, a bona fide hip-hop godhead who hailed from Bed Stey. Not that the other MCs didn't try. In fact, many of them were taught how to rap in the first place by Capadonna. Breath control, word choice, the mechanics of a line. Cap knew how to do all of it first and he knew how to do all of it best.

If you wanted a fraction of his ability, you sat at his feet on any given street corner or back staircase on Staten Island, and he did your best to attempt to be cap's equal. Don't try too hard, though. There was no being equal to Capadonna. He was always one step ahead, in his mind and on the mic. Everyone in Park Hill knew this. Yet, not everyone in Staten Island saw him this way.

In fact, some saw Cap as something else. A menace, a part of the problem. And for no other reasons than the music he liked, the clothes he wore, and the color of his skin. Never was that more clear than one day in the early 1990s when Cap, around 20 years old, was chilling on the street corner. There was no cipher today, just words forming rhythms inside his head. Preparation for the next cipher was a constant.

But as Cap prepared, suddenly there was someone else. A guy right there in Cap's peripheral vision. Running, panting, sweating. Cap turned his head to look. Breaks. The air got thick. The guy hauling ass in Cap's direction moved in slow motion. He was gradually getting closer.

Behind him, Cap saw two NYPD officers in close pursuit. Their movements were just as drawn out and pronounced arms, pumping slowly, legs pounding the pavement with giant earth-shattering steps. The guy was close to Cap now, his labored breathing like a slowed down windstorm. And just as he passed by, he dropped something. And the whirl quickly hit the gas. The slow moe splintered into pieces. Cap's head snapped to follow the guy as he tore past him nearly knocking him over in the process.

Cap looked down at the ground and saw a paper bag crumpled there at his feet. He turned his head back to where the guy had come from. And now those two cops were right there. So close he could smell the chocolate glazed on their breath. And the cops paid no mind to the other guy. He was long gone. Didn't matter. They had what they wanted.

They told Cap to put his hands where they could see them. They grabbed Cap like he was Staten Islands most wanted. They made sure it wasn't gentle. One of the cops picked up the bag from the ground. He reached inside and pulled out vials of crack rocks. Cap felt the cuffs go on as he was read his rights. This was his cipher now, a circle of steel locked tight and strong around his wrists. But he didn't belong in police custody.

Not right now he didn't. That wasn't his bag of dope. But this also wasn't a rap battle, so Cap had less of a chance of winning. Instead, Cap lost, big time. The NYPD didn't care if the other guy got away. They were done running, and they took whoever they could get. And who was this guy? Not a rapper dealing out unbeatable rhymes.

He was a streethood dealing out crack, a pestilence. They'd testify under oath that that was true. Some seven-ish years later, in 1997, this arrest was once again of importance, not just to the NYPD, but to the FBI and the ATF as well. Because in 1997, a man named Robert Johnson, an alleged known associate of Capadonna, was gunned down by two masked men on Staten Island. It looked like a hit.

And at least one of the guns used in the murder could be traced back to a batch of gunspot in Stubanville, Ohio, by other known associates of Cap's hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. But back in the early 90s, when Cap was arrested for the bag of crack dropped at his feet, Wu-Tang Clan weren't yet a thing. They were just about to be. The Riza began to assemble a soon-to-be legendary collective

right around the time the Cap was apprehended. Cap, of course, was a no-brainer for the collective's original lineup. He had style. He had rhymes. He had an unfuck-with-withable flow, and he was one of Staten Island's best. If pushed, several of the other members of Wu-Tang would probably admit that they were not equals when it came to Capadonna's skills.

but equality had nothing to do with it because his Wu-Tang clan took shape and then took off like a shot they did so without the original with a capital low without the slang reverent the Staten Island slick Rick because Capadonna was doing time

at Rikers Island for someone else's drugs there's two golden rules that any man should live by rule one never mess with a country girl you play stupid games you get stupid prizes And Rule 2, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends... Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no.

I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This season on Dear Chelsea, with me, Chelsea Handler,

we have some fantastic guests like Amelia Clark. When, like, young people come up to me and they want to be an actor or whatever, my first thing is always, can you think of anything else that you can do? Rather be disappointed in. Do that. Dennis Leary.

I wake up and I'm hitting him in the head with a water bomb. And Bruce Jenner is on the aisle in a karate stance like he's about to attack me. Like making karate noises. And his entire the Kardashian family over there, everybody's going. And the air marshal is trying to grab my arms and screaming. I immediately know that I've been asleep walking. David O'Yellowo. I love this podcast, whether it's therapy or relationships or relationships or

religion or sex or addiction or you just go straight for the guts. Guy Branham. So anyway, Nicole Kimman broke up with Keith Thurban. Being half of a country couple was always a hat she was going to wear, not like a life she was going to lead. Oh, interesting. I like that. Did you practice that on your way over?

Gaten Matarazzo from Stranger Things. Tena, Monjou, Camilla Morone, Carrie Kenny Silver. And more. Listen to these episodes of 10. Dear Chelsea on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember when you'd walk into your local video rental place and there were always those two employees behind the counter arguing about movies? Well, that's us.

I'm Millie de Cherokee. And I'm Casey O'Brien. And now we're arguing about movies on our podcast, Dear Movies I Love You, from the Exactly Right Network. Can I say something about the Criterion Clause? Go ahead, dude. They're letting too many people in there. Okay.

That's another film. grape I got two. Sadly, that rental place doesn't exist anymore. It's probably a store that sells running shoes. Or an ice cream shop with an extra pee and an E at the end. So consider us your slacker movie clerks in podcast form. I would like to establish a timeline of the moment you figured out who Channing Tatum was. Every Tuesday, we dig into the movies we can't stop obsessing over, from hidden gems to big screen favorites.

New episodes drop every week on the exactly. Right Network. Listen to Deer Movies I Love You on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 1992, New York City. Goldilocks was clean out of ecstasy. He needed a re-up, so he called his guy. Lord Michael wasn't just Goldilocks's E-Connection. Lord Michael introduced all of Staten Island to the drug a few years prior.

Around the same time, he also introduced Manhattan clubs to techno music from the U.K. In New York City in 1992, if you wanted the best new asset house tracks from across the pond, or the best E that money could buy, you called Lord Michael. Goldilocks said he needed 20,000 hits of this stuff. Lord Michael said that would set him back $180,000. No problem. Goldilocks had the cash. His assistant would be right over to make the trade.

Everyone called Goldilocks's assistant, Mr. Purple, on account of the fact that he wore purple clothes and dyed his hair purple. Or maybe it was because Quentin Tarantino's reservoir dogs had just hit theaters. Either way, dude was impossible to miss. When he showed up at Lord Michael's swank Gramercy Park apartment later that day, Lord Michael was waiting for him. So were to undercover cops, who had planted themselves outside the apartment door.

And before Mr. Purple could even step inside, the cops emerged from their hiding place, guns drawn, 100% serious, Purple was 100% fucked. They pushed him inside the apartment, and the door swung shut behind them. The cops told Purple and Lord Michael to hit the floor. They both did. Purple was shaking with fear. One of the cops stared at the bulge in Purple's pants.

Is that nearly $200 grand in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me? Purple wasn't laughing. The cops cuffed him. Then they cuffed Lord Michael, lying next to Purple on the Swank apartment swanky. floor. The cops took the 180 grand for Purple's pocket and left. When Mr. Purple returned to his boss, Goldilocks, empty-handed, and recounted the story about getting ripped off by two cops, Goldilocks didn't think it made sense. In fact, the story stunk. He couldn't help but wonder, was he being played? Was Lord Michael actually behind the rip-off? But Goldilocks's suspicions were

short-lived. Lord Michael's number two came around and told him. Goldilocks to chill. The only thing to be concerned about was crooked cops. New York was crawling with badge wearing degenerates. Lord Michael had nothing to do with the shakedown. This guy, Lord Michael's number two, he was very convincing, so convincing that Goldilocks bought it and then continued to buy drugs from Lord Michael. In reality, though, Goldilocks had every right to be concerned because the whole story was bullshit. The story, the police, the feigned innocence, all of it, the cops who busted purple at Lord Michael's apartment,

they weren't real cops. There were a couple of Lord Michael's thugs pretending to be cops. Lord Michael robbed his own client, and then he paid his number two guy five grand to go bullshit that client into believing he had been robbed. It hadn't always been like this. At first, Lord Michael, aka Michael Caruso, was interested in drugs and music.

Caruso was a major catalyst for rave music in America when he brought a crate of techno 12 inches back to Staten Island from the UK. He was there for the dawn of Disco 2000 at the infamous Limelight Club where party animals like Michael Alec held court. In long before, Alec murdered and dismembered his friend, which you can hear all about in season one of disgrace land, but I digress, the atmosphere at Limelight was all-inclusive, positive, and homicide-free. no matter if you were a punk or a yuppie, straight, or gay, cool, or lame.

Caruso's future shock parties, where MDMA and PCP get gobbled up like tic Tacs and pixie sticks, were the stuff of legend. Michael Caruso was at the forefront of American club culture as it was quickly changing. But Caruso's sudden clout and fame in the New York club scene changed him, too. Soon it was less about music and drugs and more about power grabs, home invasions, robberies, and scams. Like the time he orchestrated the armed theft of $12,000 in a box of ketamine from the apartment of a party promoter they bound with duct tape, during the promoter's birthday party, no less.

As DJ Frankie Bones put it, Caruso wanted to be, quote, the Al Capone of Raves, unquote. And if Caruso was Al Capone, the New York mayor Rudy Giuliani was Elliot Ness. Just like the city was cracking down on drugs sold on the streets, they'd be done. began to crack down on nightclubs, limelight in particular, which Giuliani equated to a drug supermarket. In 1996, Giuliani brought the hammer down after a family blamed limelight's owner, Peter Gation, for the drug overdose death of their son. Gation and New York club culture were put on trial, which meant suddenly Michael Caruso needed a new place to crash. At the same time, Capadonna, a few years out of prison and since welcomed back into the Woutain

Klan family as their unofficial 10th member needed a personal manager. Caruso's reputation preceded him. Wu-Tang were likely well aware of his role in those bat-shit robberies and violent power moves. Caruso's do-or-die lifestyle was endearing to some of them because it reminded them of the times when they had to make their bones in that world. Plus, managing a member of Wu-Tang wasn't exactly a job for just anyone. You had to have some serious life experience in a set of brass balls to survive.

in this particular world. So Cap brought Caruso on board. Caruso tried to blend in, but, like Mr. Purple before him, he was incapable of blending. An Italian guy with gold teeth and cornrows is gonna stick out. It may have been a foolish look, but it was only foolish until Lord Michael menacingly peaked out from behind the elaborate get-up to put the screws to that night's victim. In 1999, at a show at the Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts, The victim was a fledgling concert promotion company.

It cost AP Daddy productions an arm and a leg to put on a show featuring Cap and inspected deck. In fact, the Harvard undergrads behind AP Daddy were already hemorrhaging cash before the show even started. Why? Because Wu-Tang took what they wanted and stuck AP Daddy with the bill. Room service at the hotel, pants and shirts straight off the rack during a fan meet and greet at a hip-hop clothing store.

Caruso didn't need to flash a show. a piece or tie anyone up with duct tape for this particular scam to work out. These Ivy League Herbs were green as hell. All it took was a few members of Wu-Tang's entourage selling tickets and VIP passes on the download of people waiting in line outside the venue. Cap, Deck, and Caruso left Worcester with cash lining their pockets while AP Daddy were left begging their daddies for a bailout. That same year, at a show with Cap and Ghostface Killa in Washington, D.C., things took a more

violent turn. The concert promoter, an adult this time, offered Cap and Ghosts, a Ford Explorer to get them back and forth from the venue to the hotel. Caruso was pissed. He wanted something bigger. Where's the van? He asked the promoter. If I don't get a fucking van, I want a thousand dollars right now. The promoter looked at Caruso like he was from outer space. A what? A van? This was it, man. A Ford Explorer. Take it or leave it. Caruso made sure everyone could see the handgun. He stuffed in the waistband of his jeans. It's about to get real in here, he said. I'm about to come up with some heat. Caruso never followed through with this threat, and he never got what he wanted either, but he made a lasting impression. The concert was incredible, except for having to deal with Caruso,

which was a nightmare, and that's what the promoter later said anyway, adding that in this business, you run into a lot of assholes, but Caruso was the biggest dickhead I've ever had to deal with. The concert promoter's candid opinion was not news to Capadonna. a ghost face or anyone in Wu-Tang. They all knew that Caruso was a dickhead, but he was their dickhead. Know what I mean? Here's the thing, though. Okay, here's multiple things. One, Michael Caruso, aka Lord Michael, wasn't supposed to be messing with dudes in D.C. Two, he wasn't supposed to be outside the state of New York. Three, he wasn't supposed to be associated with known criminals, which technically cap and ghost most certainly were. And four, he definitely wasn't supposed to be

carrying a gun. Why? because Michael Caruso was a cooperating witness for the federal government. Some in law enforcement thought he had something to do with the death of his housekeeper, which supposedly was a suicide. And in order to save his own ass, he turned state's evidence during the trial of Peter Gation and Limelight. He was an informant, a rat, maybe even worse if what they said about his housekeeper was true.

But just like Goldilocks before them, Cap and Ghost and Wu-Tang only knew part of the Michael Caruso's story. And it was only a matter of time before they knew the whole thing. We'll be right back after this world, word, word. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either.

We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield. And in this new season of the girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care.

So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This season on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler,

we have some fantastic guests like Amelia Clark. When like young people come up to me and they want to be an actor or whatever. My first thing is always, can you think of anything else that you can do? Rather be disappointed in. Do that. Dennis Leary. I wake up and I'm hitting him in the head with a water bomb. And Bruce Jenner is on the aisle in a karate stance like he's about to attack me.

You're like, making karate noises. And here's the entire the Kardashian family over there. Everybody's going, and the air marshal is trying to grab my arms and screaming. I immediately know that I've been a sleepwalk. David O'Yellowo. I love this podcast, whether it's therapy or relationships

or religion or sex or addiction or you just go straight for the guts. Guy Branham. So anyway, Nicole Kidman broke up with Keith Thurban. Being half of a country couple was always a hat she was going to wear, not like a life she was going to lead. Oh, interesting. I like that. Did you practice that on your way over? Gaten Matarazzo from Stranger Things. Tena Monsu. Camilla Morone. Carrie Kenny Silver. And more.

Listen to these episodes of Dear Chelsea on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Kate Winkler Dawson, host of the Wicked Words Podcast. Each week I sit down with the true crime writers behind some of the most compelling true crime stories and discuss their years spent investigating and why it still matters. He sees his father coming out of the woods with his hands over his face, and he knows something happened. His father just grabs him and says she's gone. She's gone. These are the cases that leave survivors, families, and the journalists who cover them changed forever. Working in national television, it'll push you to your limits, and you'll end up doing things you never thought you do.

You know, you look back at it and you're like, I can't believe that really happened. Join me and step inside the investigation. New episodes drop every Monday on the exactly right network. Listen to wicked words on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Don't believe anything you read about me in the papers. It's all bullshit. Michael Caruso was running that smoke. folk screen again. He told Capadonna and the guys in Wooten clan whatever he had to in order to convince

him that he wasn't the guy they were beginning to think that he was. Just like he convinced Goldilocks that he didn't rob him, even though he actually had. But unlike that business with Goldilocks, Caruso no longer had a number two to deliver the message for him. He did his own dirty work now. Have any read stuff about yourself that isn't true? Cap knew better than to believe everything he read in the papers. The times, the posts, the whatever. the fuck if you believe the papers and you believe that Wu-Tang were gun runners or gangbangers, that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms had reason to launch a probe into those dubious claims, or that the FBI had reason to investigate the group not as a musical

collective, but as a criminal organization. Cap knew what it was like to be seen as something you weren't. Case in point, the time he was arrested for someone else's drugs when they were thrown at his feet. It was his word against the NYPDs. He had no other choice. But he didn't bitch and moan about taking the heat. He did his time at Rikers for a crime he didn't commit. And let's say, for argument's sake, there were other crimes he committed in his lifetime. That was beside the point. The point was that he was innocent of this particular crime.

And this crime was the only one that got him sent away. It didn't give him much faith in the justice system. It reinforced something that he already knew, that he was not equal in the eyes of the law. But as a 5%er, he had to strive to be equal in the way he lived his life. Deal equally with all people. That's what Supreme Number 6 was all about. Equality.

Six was also the number of the devil, because the devil has the power to be equal to man. But Wu-Tang had strength in numbers to keep the devil at bay. And when Kapp emerged from his prison stay a free man, he was welcomed into the Wu-Tang family with open arms. His first appearance as part of the clan was the 1995 single Ice Cream, a track from Rayquan's only built for Cuban Links album. The next year, he traded verses on Ghostface's solo debut, Iron Man,

and even made the cover too. And then the year after that, Kapp made his official Wutang debut on the Wutang Forever album, most notably on the hit single Triumph. At first, Kapp was a featured performer rather than an official full-time member, but that was just on paper, In spirit, he was a member.

These other nine guys were the only guys he could trust. The guys he came up with. The guys he mopped the floor with at rap battles back in the day. Lovingly mop the floor with, of course. Because that was a big part of their rapport, then and now. Giving each other shit. Your verse was tight, no doubt, but I'm going to fucking destroy you on this next go-round. One-upsmanship raised the stakes.

It made a strong bond even stronger. Strong, like a cipher. Strong. in the way only 10 equally worthy MCs can be. Michael Caruso, though, Cap was beginning to wonder if that dude was equal to the rest of them. From the jump, Caruso trafficked not just in party drugs, but in deception. He used a friend who taped thousands of pills to her body under her large flowing sundress

as to move ecstasy from London to New York without drawing suspicion. The punch that he served at future shock nights, a club night, was spiked with MDMA. And what about the death of Caruso's housekeeper in his apartment? The guy had his brains blown out, but Caruso swore was a suicide. And when the cops first showed up to the crime scene, Caruso was holding the 32 in his hand, and the housekeeper had something like 100 pills worth of volume in his bloodstream. If you're that fucked up on volume,

how could you hold a gun to your own head, let alone squeeze the trigger? Then there was the facts. 30 pages sent to Wu-Tang's offices from a village voice reporter. The fax was full of legal documents. Village Voice articles. Iron-clad proved that the group had a rat in their midst. Still, it's unclear if anyone in the Wu-Tang camp even put eyes on this fax. When Ghost-Faced Killow was approached by someone from the voice to comment on Caruso

and the allegations surrounding him, Ghost got defensive. How could you say that about Mike? Ghost replied, he's a good guy. Michael Caruso, meanwhile, doubled down on defending himself. He swore to Wu-Tang that he never told the feds anything about them. In fact, he said he never informed on anyone, period. Whether Ghost or Cap or any of them knew it at the time, they weren't being told the whole truth.

And when the truth did come out, it shipped Wu-Tang Clan to their core. On May 23, 2000, the Village Voice published an article that went deep into Mike Michael Caruso's crimes and transgressions. The article made it very clear that Caruso had managed to con just about everyone he associated with, including Wu-Tang Clan. It outed Caruso as a rat in the Peter Gation case. It labeled him a federal informant, but there was more. The article shed light on Caruso's latest role as a cooperating witness in a case against

a former business partner who had ties to the New York Mafia's five families. Caruso was set to testify against this wise guy in just a few months' time. Just three days after the voice article hit stands, a headline in Rolling Stone magazine read, Wu-Tang Clan fires manager after Village Voice expose. A spokesperson for Wu-Tang issued a statement that the group was distancing themselves from Caruso. The timing could not have been worse. This was the moment that the ATF and the FBI were beginning to watch every little move

the Wu-Tang made in preparation for a RICO prosecution case that labeled the hip-hop group a major criminal organization. Associating with a guy who associated with guys connected to the mafia? Not a good look. What's more, learning that someone in your camp was a snitch, and not just a snitch, but a snitch working to aid the federal government, was enough to turn even the most minor paranoia into full-blown delusion. And so, just as Wu-Tang were distancing themselves from Michael Korn.

Caruso, Wu-Tang distanced themselves from Capadonna, or at least some in Wu-Tang did. Rayquan, for one, called in the New York Hip-Hop Station Hot 97 to say that Cap was never an original member. Just look at the back of the Wu-Tang Forever CD. Those tracks say, featuring Capadana. But the splintering of Wu-Tang didn't stop there. It was the year 2000, the millennium. Big change was on the horizon. Hip-hop was continuing to evolve. Jay Z, Outcast, Diddy, Lil Wayne, and Eminem dominated the airwaves. It was also the year of Wu Tang's third studio album, the W, another number one hip-hop and R&B album, another platinum seller.

And their clothing line, Woo Ware, was just as successful. From a business perspective, looking from the outside in, Wu-Tang had never been stronger. But from the inside looking out, things weren't so stable. Doubt had been introduced into the group's own private shop. But with that doubt came the question of equality. Were they all being treated equally and fairly? Was one guy making more than the rest?

Egos started to call the shots. One by one guys began to ask Rizza to release them from their contracts. These were the contracts that Rizza set up with each member eight years earlier in 92 when the group first signed with loud records. Contracts had split their earnings 50-50 with Rizza in Wutang Clan Productions. All the guys in Wu Tang had one of these contracts, all except Jizza, who didn't do written contracts with his brothers. Jizza did handshakes. But this wasn't 1992 anymore, and Wu Tang wasn't just a group of neighborhood guys looking to lift themselves off the streets and into a better life.

It was the year 2000. They had the better life, and the better life felt different. It didn't feel personal anymore. It felt like business. Just what Wu-Tang's business was at this particular moment in time depended on who you asked. Federal Bureau of Investigation Memo. Date. 4-5-2000.

Precedents, routine. Case ID number 281F-NY-NY-272747. Title, Wooten Klan. Synopsis. Request the assistance of the fast unit to be involved in the above-captioned case. Details. The Wu-Tang Clan is a well-known musical group from the Staten Island, New York area that specializes in rap-type music. The Wu-Tang Clan was started in the early 1990s and was founded by...

It is primarily made up of the above-case-captioned individuals who are more widely known by their street names in the music industry. Now, the guns purchased by the Wu-Tang Clan have been traced to the Steubenville, Ohio area. Once individuals have proven themselves as good and loyal members of associates, they are offered car. contracts to record rap music under one of the Wu-Tang Clan's record labels. Numerous recording companies were incorporated in bank accounts established. Some of the legitimate businesses operated by the Wu-Tang Clan include record companies, record labels, albums, real estate, a car leasing company, a clothing line, and a production company.

This case is being worked in conjunction with Squad C-30 Violent Crime Slag Gang Squad, the U.S. Attorney's Office Eastern District of New York, the 120 precinct detectives, unit NYPD, Staten Island in the Richmond County District Attorney's Office, Staten Island. It is anticipated that the RCDAO forfeiture unit will also be involved in this case. It is requested that the NYFBI's Fast Unit become involved with this matter also. It has been assigned to the task of identifying the flow of monies through the assets and entities controlled by the Wu-Tang Clan and will work in conjunction with the Fast Unit. The Fast Unit, or Financial Analysis Strategic Targeting,

was a top secret unit developed as part of the FBI's anti-money laundering investigations and intelligence strategy. The team was made up of customs agents, FBI agents, the DEA, the Brooklyn DA's office, the Manhattan DA's office, and New York State Police, in order to identify targets, gather intelligence, and then pass that information along the cooperating agencies. The FBI was undeterred.

in its pursuit of equality, specifically in that important value in American society, where everyone has equal justice under the law. The law was there to be obeyed. No one was above it. Not the Gambino family and not Woutang Clan clan. Agents at the FBI's New York field office dug through old arrest records, courtesy of their NYPD colleagues, to find some more dirt on the hip-hop group. They planned to turn this ant-hill into a mountain. drug deals, robbery, shootings, stints at Rikers. Whatever they could get to build their case and through blood, sweat, and tears

earned the justice that they craved. They were close. They just needed a little more time and a few more pieces of hard evidence. They'd get there. And when they did, Wutang Clan, as the world knew them, would come crashing to the ground, all the way back to the streets from where they came.

I'm Jake Brennan. And this episode of Disgraceland is to be continued. Disgraceland was created by yours truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be found on the show notes page at disgracelandpod.com. If you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, thank you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it. And if not, you can become a member right now by going to disgracelandpod.com slash membership. Members can listen to every episode of Disgraceland ad free. Plus, you'll get one brand new

exclusive episode every month. Weekly unscripted bonus episodes, special audio collections, and early access to merchandise and events. Visit disgracelampod.com slash membership for details. Rate and review the show and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook at Disgracelandpod, and on YouTube at YouTube.com slash at Disgraceland Pod Rocka Rolla. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. They take matters into their own hands.

I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. This season on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, we have some fantastic guests like Amelia Clark. When like young people come up to me and they want to be an actor or whatever. My first thing is always, can you think of anything else that you can do? Rather be disappointed in. Do that. David O'Yellowo.

I love this podcast, whether it's therapy or relationships or religion or sex or addiction or you just go straight for the guts. Dennis Leary, Gaten Moderato from Stranger Things, Tana Monsu, Camilla Morone, Carrie Kenny Silver, and more. Listen to these episodes of Dear Chelsea on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Movies can make you feel, make you dream. Sometimes they even make you appreciate architecture. Is there anybody who's been hotter in a doorway then Elizabeth Taylor. That's the kind of analysis you'll find every week on Dear Movies I Love You, the new podcast from the Exactly Right Network. Every Tuesday, we break down the films we're crushing on,

from blockbusters to deep cuts. Listen to Dear Movies I Love You on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.