LA hip-hop entrepreneur, accused gang leader 'Big U' denied bail

LOS ANGELES (CN) — A South Los Angeles hip hop entrepreneur and community organizer who federal prosecutors accuse of being a longtime leader of the Rollin’ 60s Crips street gang will remain jailed while awaiting trial on racketeering charges.

Eugene “Big U” Henley Jr. appeared for a detention hearing Tuesday morning in a downtown LA courtroom packed with family and supporters.

U.S. Magistrate Judge A. Joel Richlin acknowledged the unusually large turnout from Henley’s supporters but agreed with the government that there was sufficient evidence that Henley, 58, was a flight risk as well as a danger to the community and rejected Henley’s bid to be released on bail.

“There’s a lot of evidence of obstruction of justice,” the judge noted.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Butler argued at the hearing that Henley, who he described as the “self-professed most dangerous man in LA,” would be a threat to potential witnesses and others whom he blames for his indictment.

The prosecutor cited a video Henley posted on Instagram, after he initially evaded arrest last month and before he self-surrendered, in which he names by their monikers various associates he believes were responsible for his predicament. Soon after, Butler said, another associate of Henley posted on social media calling for those who Henley named in the video to be killed.

In addition, the prosecutor said, anonymous victims of Henley have approached law enforcement but are unwilling to testify if there’s a risk he’ll be let out on bail and can seek them out.

Butler told the judge that one potential witness asked the government, “If you can’t even arrest him, how are you gonna protect me?”

Arturo Hernandez-Melendez, Henley’s attorney, painted a very different picture of the defendant and told judge he was a peaceful gentleman who was working for his neighborhood.

The purported evidence, the lawyer said, was nothing but innuendo and the statements the government claims show Henley was engaged in criminal activity were just the “persona” Henley uses to show youngsters what kind of man he used to be as part of his efforts to steer them away from gang involvement.

Henley is accused of running a criminal enterprise that engaged in murder, extortion and human trafficking. Prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in LA also say he lined his own pockets with government funding and celebrity donations for his nonprofit organization, Developing Options.

According to the government, Henley has been masquerading as a reformed gang member and legitimate businessman while in fact running a criminal operation that ruled the city through violence, fear and intimidation. While his criminal enterprise is separate from the Rollin’ 60s, prosecutors say he uses the gang’s members as part of his extortion schemes.

Among other charges, Henley is accused of kidnapping and murdering aspiring musician Rayshawn Williams four years ago in Las Vegas, purportedly in retaliation for a “diss track” in which he disrespected Henley.

Williams was one of the recording artists for Uneek Music, the independent record label that Henley had co-founded. According to federal investigators, the rapper had made fun of wasting time in the studio and of Henley as the “bro that makes some money.”

Prosecutors also accuse Henley of extorting celebrities and athletes, such as NBA players, that visit LA to party and to gamble. They were required to “check in” with him first to guarantee their protection while in the city.

According to a confidential witness cited by investigators, a large buy-in dice game occurred in Los Angeles in June 2019. The game involved a professional boxer, identified only as “A.B.,” and his associates who fixed the game and cheated some prominent NBA players out of millions of dollars using “teased” dice.

Because “A.B.” hadn’t “checked in” with Henley, he purportedly send some Rollin’ 60s gang members to rough up the boxer and recover the money for the NBA players. They in turn had to pay Henley $100,000 to “negotiate the debt,” according to the government.

Henley made a name for himself as Rollin’ 60s fighter during the 1980s when gang warfare was ravaging South LA. He also began to manage hip hop artists who associated with the gang and helped start the career of Nipsey Hussle. After finishing a long prison sentence for robbery in 2004, he started to portray himself as a reformed man who was focused on helping his community.

This, according to government, was just a facade and he used his standing as an “original gangster,” or OG, to run a criminal enterprise.

According to an intercepted call in 2023, Henley told an associate he was far from retired.

“I’m retired, nigga? Activist? I’ll pull up on your block right now, nigga, and show up and show out, nigga," Henley said on the recorded call. “That’s what happened to the last niggas that thought I was retired.”

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