How The FBI Destroyed Murder Inc

In January 2003, federal agents raided the hottest label in hip-hop. Murder Inc. had Ja Rule and Ashanti topping the charts, but the feds were chasing something else: Irv Gotti’s ties to Queens drug lord Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff. Prosecutors accused Irv and his brother Chris of laundering over $1 million in drug money through the label. A jury cleared them in 2005, but the damage was done. Supreme got life without parole. The label lost its name and its momentum. This is how one federal case took down an empire.