LA hip-hop entrepreneur, accused gang leader ‘Big U’ hit with new charges

The longtime member of the Rollin' 60s Neighborhood Crips is accused of chasing a Grammy-winning recording artist through LAX to collect money for a Detroit associate.LOS ANGELES (CN) — A South Los Angeles hip-hop entrepreneur and community organizer who is awaiting trial on charges he ran a criminal organization was hit on Wednesday by new accusations, including trying to have a potential government witness killed.A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment against Eugene “Big U” Henley Jr. that charges him with soliciting a crime of violence, tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant, as well as with interstate sex trafficking and wire fraud, the U.S. attorney’s office in LA said in a statement.Prosecutors claim that just last month Henley offered to pay two inmates at an unspecified facility to kill or harm an individual only identified as “Victim-1” to prevent this person from testifying against him and his associates at trial.The prosecutors say Henley extorted Victim 1, purportedly a music and club promoter who was involved with an unlicensed cannabis dispensary in LA, for years. When Victim 1 started to ignore Henley’s extortion demands, his business was robbed and he was invited to Henley’s home where the stolen goods were reportedly on display.“That’s how you rob yourself,” Henley told Victim 1, according to the prosecution.The superseding indictment also includes claims that in 2014, as part of his racketeering enterprise, Henley sought to collect money from a Grammy-winning recording artist, identified as N.D.C., on behalf of a Detroit associate.When this artist refused to pay and stopped answering Henley’s calls, he was “stomped out” by Henley and his associates. Days after, Henley and his cronies chased N.D.C. through Los Angeles International Airport in a further attempt to collect the money and intimidate him, prosecutors claim.Henley’s attorneys didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the new charges.Henley, 59, is a a long-time member of the Rollin’ 60s Neighborhood Crips street gang, according to the Justice Department.He was arrested in 2025 on charges he ran a criminal enterprise that engaged in murder, extortion and human trafficking. Federal prosecutors also accuse him of lining his own pockets with government funding and celebrity donations for his nonprofit organization, Developing Options.According to the government’s initial indictment, 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 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 rapper 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, n—-? Activist? I’ll pull up on your block right now, n—-, and show up and show out, n—-," Henley said on the recorded call. “That’s what happened to the last n—– that thought I was retired.”Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads