Murder, Gun Trafficking and Rap Robberies: In Depth with Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Surreal FBI File

Since he passed away in 2004, the result of an accidental overdose, the exploits of erratic, perhaps insane 90s rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard — a landmark arrest for wearing a bulletproof vest, his paranoia that the FBI and CIA were out to kill him, his time as a fugitive whose escape may have been helped by Mariah Carey — has become the stuff of Internet legend. Now we can add a new entry to the proceedings: the FBI's version of events.

The 94-page FBI file on ODB, born Russell Jones, comes via a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Rich Jones through Muckrock.com. While the release focuses specifically on ODB, much of the narrative concerns the FBI's investigation into the Wu Tang Clan – an investigation that had been requested by the NYPD after that organization deemed Wu Tang a mafia-like criminal enterprise.

The case file was apparently started because the NYPD forwarded information "about criminal activity being conducted by members of the WU TANG CLAN (WTC) Organization on Staten Island, NY." The NYPD detectives had already "documented, in their case files, that the WTC is heavily involved in the sale of drugs, illegal guns, weapons possession, murder, car jackings, and other types of violent crimes," (page 5 of the PDF). Receipt of the NYPD's request was noted by the FBI in August 1999, eight months after the New York Post first reported Wu Tang's alleged involvement in widespread criminal activities, which at that point had allegedly been going on for several years.

ODB's FBI file opens with a 10-page narrative describing the NYPD's investigation into the group. Detectives discovered information that suggested Wu Tang was buying guns from contacts in Steubenville, Ohio, a small town which was home to a Wu affiliate. Arrested sellers of the guns identified Wu Tang members as purchasers via photo spreads. One of the Steubenville guns was identified as the murder weapon in the killing of Robert "Pooh" Johnson, a Wu affiliate killed in Staten Island on December 30, 1997. The files state that detectives believed the murder was ordered by someone within Wu Tang. (The case remains unsolved.)

In describing Wu Tang's alleged criminal enterprise, the NYPD stated that only once someone proved themselves a "good and loyal" member of the Wu were they offered "record contracts to record rap type music." The Wu recording enterprise provided access to numerous business bank accounts, allowing "legitimate monies to flow into these accounts." Wu Tang's clothing label Wu Wear is also mentioned.

According to its original request, the NYPD forwarded its Wu Tang case files to the FBI to "further their case along as to package the numerous crimes committed by the WTC Organization in the form of Federal charges and a RICO prosecution." RICO charges are designed to tackle organized crime; one bonus to prosecutors is that it allows officials to charge leaders of a criminal organization with any crime ordered, but not carried out, by them, rather than just arresting lower-level affiliates. In Wu Tang's case, the NYPD's pursuit of RICO charges meant the NYPD considered Wu Tang a criminal enterprise similar in structure to the Mafia.

In a heavily-redacted file describing the aforementioned murder of Robert Johnson, ODB is noted as having been the victim of a gunshot wound on July 1, 1998, seven months after Johnson's murder. It is at this point that the released FBI file breaks away from the larger Wu Tang investigation to focus on a series of robberies aimed at rap stars in the late 90s.

On page 45 of the file, notes from an interview with ODB start, taken by FBI and NYPD investigators in early November 1999 while ODB was in rehab in Pasadena, California.

ODB, whose other monikers included Big Baby Jesus, Dirt McGirt, and Osirus (chosen, he said, as a way to avoid an FBI investigation and/or assassination), told police that he was in his bedroom, asleep, when he was woken up with a gun in his face that he later identified as a "grey gun," either a .357 or .45. He jumped up and wrestled with the assailant, and ODB was shot in the arm and back. The unknown assailant tried to run out of the house, and then came back and stole $10,000 of ODB's jewelry after a second unknown man asked the first if he "got the shit." ODB's cousin apparently ran out of the house after the robber, and saw a Range Rover parked and two men with masks on.

ODB's sister apparently heard that he was going to be "hit" whenever he came back to the projects. He said that he thought his sister, cousin and/or little cousin knew who committed the robbery, but never investigated it himself because he didn't want to cause problems for his family still living in the projects, although he never returned. He also described another incident two years prior in the Kingston projects in which he was also robbed and shot.

The FBI investigation file picks up again on July 9, 1999. Ishamael "Hoody" Kourma received six fatal gunshot wounds in Steubenville. That same day, at 8:40 pm, Ohio State Police pulled over a car with New Jersey plates near Steubenville that was occupied by ODB (other names redacted). A shotgun, ammo, and gun holster were recovered from the vehicles. The name of who was handed weapons charges is redacted, but all occupants were detained for several hours.

The file becomes unclear right here because of the redacted names, but someone told detectives that Kourma was killed because he owed [redacted] money for drugs. That informant named a shooter as well, whose name is also redacted. In any case, it likely related to Wu Tang, because the detectives in Ohio updated the Johnson murder file with data about the car stop and Kourma murder. Those two murders are what provided the basis for the Staten Island – Steubenville connection.

The rest of 1998 is redacted in ODB's file, but on January 1, 1999 ODB surfaced again. Following a car stop, ODB was allegedly involved in a shoot out with NYPD officers. According to an arrest reporte dated 1/30/99, ODB fired two shots at officers while wearing a bulletproof vest. Jones was charged with attempted murder, and was acquitted by a Brooklyn grand jury.

The rest of January takes up almost a page of redacted notes, suggesting it was a busy time in the investigation. Then, on 2/17/99, NYPD detectives received an information request from the LAPD about ODB, who'd been arrested for possession of body armor (illegal for felons) during a routine traffic stop. On 2/19 the LA district attorney formally charged ODB and requested from the NYPD copies of ODB's May 1992 arrest report, fingerprints, arrest photo and disposition.

The NYPD FedExed everything to the LAPD, where he was charged with "Convicted Felon in Possession of Body Armor" and held on $115,000 bail.

Later in 1999, a travel request (page 48) filed by the FBI indicates that the Bureau's investigation has switched from a focus on Wu Tang as an organized crime unit towards tracking a group of robbers who targeted rappers. (Oddly enough, this might be the explanation for the inclusion in the file of a series of newspaper articles, starting on page 31 of the PDF, outlining the arrest of Sean "Puffy" Combs for felony gun charges, in which Jennifer Lopez was also detained and later freed.) According to the request, the FBI/NYPD investigation discovered an active robbery gang that, as mentioned by a member of the gang to numerous people, was involved in the robberies of several rap stars, including ODB.

This travel request was approved, and led to the interview noted earlier. It was prompted by the fact that ODB was in a six-month court-ordered rehab stint in Los Angeles following his felony arrest.

The FBI's query into the rapper robberies thus may have spun off of the original Wu Tang organized crime investigation because of ODB's involvement — although, as far as ODB's file is concerned, the Wu investigation doesn't receive any mention following the Kourma murder. The robbery investigation ostensibly came to an end in May 2005 when the investigators involved formally filed to close the investigation (page 76). An individual purportedly involved with the robberies sold stolen jewelry to an undercover officer on three occasions. The seller presented the jewelry as stolen. Despite this, the U.S. Attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York declined prosecution, citing "a lack of investigative merit." That case accordingly has "no outstanding issues remaining," prompting the request for closure.