New documents released by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) confirm longtime allegations that the Jewish Defense League (JDL) attempted to extort rappers Eazy-E and Tupac Shakur.
The FBI released the documents in response to various Freedom of Information requests for the documents, which until this point had been unreleased.
The new documents claim that members associated with the JDL, which has been labeled a right-wing hate organization, targeted Eazy-E, Tupac Shakur and others with an unsophisticated scheme to dupe the rappers out of cash.
According to the FBI documents, unnamed members of the group would call the rappers and make death threats.
“Subjects then intercede by contacting the victims and offering protection for a fee,” the notes read. “The victim and their family are taken to a ‘safe haven,’ usually a private estate, and are protected by gun-toting body guards associated with the Jewish Defense League.”
Former Ruthless Records executive Jerry Heller implied that Eazy-E had respect for JDL in his autobiography, “Ruthless.”
According to Heller, Ruthless Records hired Israeli bodyguards to protect the business from Marion “Suge” Knight, who was also allegedly threatening Eazy-E with violence, after Dr. Dre left the record label around 1990.
In “Ruthless,” Jerry Heller claimed that Eazy-E liked the JDL so much, that he planned on doing a movie on the organization.
During one office visit Suge Knight allegedly paid to Ruthless Records in the Fall of 1990, Knight warned Heller and Eazy-E to get new bodyguards.
Heller said he hired an Israeli named Mike Klein to head up Ruthless Records’ security, since he had a “background in the Israeli security forces.”
“The effect was immediate and extreme,” according to Jerry Heller. “Somehow, the Suge Knight camp had Klein checked out and realized they were now dealing with a Mossad motherf**ker who didn’t fool around. Suge vanished. His crew vanished. An uneasy calm descended.”
According to the FBI, after Eazy-E died from complications related to being infected with the AIDS virus, the death threats continued until at least 1996, against Eazy-E’s wife and family.
The JDL, which has been labeled a domestic terrorist organization, tried the same tactics with Tupac Shakur, but their efforts allegedly failed.