Die Young: The Infamous....James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond

by Ran Britt

Jimmy Henchman was born James J. Rosemond on February 5, 1965 in Brooklyn, New York. His parents Constantine and Andrea Frazier Rosemond's two-parent home also included James' brothers Mario, Kesner and Lionel and his sister Nadge.

Rosemond's criminal career began at the age of 16 when he was arrested for bike theft. That arrest resulted in his incarceration at Riker's Island in the C-74 juvenile detention center where he would meet other future career criminals such as Kelvin "50 Cent" Martin. While incarcerated together, Rosemond was known by the nickname "Ace" and Martin was given the name "Little Bastard". Years later, after Martin's death, Rosemond would pay for a $9,000 red granite monument to adorn the grave of his former fellow inmate. Less than two years later, Rosemond was charged with criminal possession of a firearm and three months after that arrest he was again charged with a weapons violation. This time, at 18 years old, he was also charged with robbery in the first degree as well as second degree murder. A year later, Rosemond earned his third charge for criminal possession of a firearm.

Eventually, Rosemond's criminal activity extended beyond his native New York when, in February of 1996, he was again charged with criminal possession of a firearm - this time in Los Angeles.

November 5 of the same year slain movie star and rapper, Tupac Shakur's first posthumous album, The Don Killuminat: The 7 Day Theory, was released amidst a fan frenzy and widespread media coverage - owing in no small part to the fact that Shakur had been murdered two months earlier. The album's final track, "Against All Odds", a song in which Shakur addresses his perceived enemies contains accusations that Rosemond was instrumentally involved in the actor's first shooting, which occurred two years earlier. During the incident, which occurred on the night of November 30, 1994, Shakur was confronted by two men wearing military fatigues upon entering the lobby of popular recording studio, Quad Studios. Shakur and his party, which included Randy "Stretch" Walker of the rap group the Live Squad and another man, were held up at gunpoint by the two assailants. Shakur was robbed of $40,000 worth of diamond and gold jewelry. During the robbery, Shakur was shot five times and pistol-whipped. He was wounded once in the hand and thigh, twice in the groin and twice in the head. On November 30, 1995, Walker was shot to death while driving in Queens, New York - exactly one year to the day after Shakur's shooting.

Rosemond and his son, James J. Rosemond, Jr.

In 2000, Rosemond was sentenced to 19 months in prison stemming for a conviction for a weapons violation.

Despite his lengthy arrest record, Rosemond was also an enormously successful music industry executive. Rosemond founded and headed Czar Entertainment, a management company that at one time or another was responsible for guiding the careers of actor Michael K. Williams and several prominent music performers including Brandy, The Game, Shyne, Too Short, Akon, Sean Kingston, Gucci Mane, Salt-N-Pepa, Trillville, Big Gipp (of Goodie Mob), Sheek Louch (of the Lox), Pleasure P. (of Pretty Ricky), Smitty and Yummy Bingham.

On January 21, 2005, Rosemond accompanied his then-client Jayceon "The Game" Taylor to an on-air interview with Richard "DJ Xzulu" Dunkerson of Lanham, Maryland radio station WKYS 93.9. Both Rosemond and Taylor were charged with second-degree assault following an attack on Dunkerson reportedly instigated by his teasing Rosemond about his bluetooth earpiece. While the charges against Taylor were dropped, in February 2006 Rosemond was sentenced to five years suspended and three years of probation following legal proceedings which reportedly included rapper Dana "Queen Latifah" Owens testifying as a character witness on Rosemond's behalf.

In early 2007, Rosemond's son, James Jabulani Rosemond, Jr. (14-years-old at the time) was allegedly slapped by rapper Marvin "Tony Yayo" Bernard and his associate and reputed member of the Bloods street gang Lowell "Lodi Mack" Fletcher. The alleged assault is widely believed to have been connected to the ongoing rap feud (at the time) between Bernard's rap group G-Unit and former member Jayceon "The Game" Taylor - owing to the fact that Taylor was professionally represented by Rosemond's Czar Entertainment. On March 24, Bernard was arrested and charged with assault for the incident. On April 18, 2007, the home of Bernard's mother was targeted in a drive-by shooting in what is believed to be retaliation for the assault of Rosemond's teenaged son. Dave Lighty, brother of late G-Unit manager Chris Lighty, was assaulted in a razor attack, Bernard's Bentley was shot at in Harlem and a bullet-proof vehicle belonging to G-Unit was torched as well in what authorities allege as further retaliation in the feud. In February of 2008, prosecutors dropped the charges against Bernard citing insufficient evidence. Fletcher meanwhile, was shot to death in the Bronx on September 27, 2009, in what authorities believe to be more retaliation for the alleged assault on Rosemond's son.

A 2010 article by Alison Gendar in the New York Daily News alleged that Rosemond had acted as a cooperating witness with authorities on more than one occasion. In 1996, while serving time for narcotics and weapons charges in North Carolina, Rosemond reportedly notified authorities that four of his fellow inmates had invited him to participate in a planned escape attempt. In 1997, Rosemond reportedly cooperated with authorities in order to gain leniency for bail-jumping charges back in New York. Allegedly, he described how staff members at the correctional facility in which he'd been detained altered official documents so that he could appear to post bail legally. Rosemond and his current attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, who has also served as defense counsel for John Gotti, Jr., have since denied accusations that he ever acted as an informant and point out that he never signed a cooperation agreement. Lichtman has stated, "He met with [federal prosecutors] for a single session, but there are plenty of reasons people meet with prosecutors. His lawyer at the time inflated what happened in an attempt to get a better sentence, and it didn't work...The fact is that prosecutors later claimed he flat-out lied to them, and they weren't happy about it."

Game and James "Jimmy Henchman"

Rosemond

In June 2010, the DEA concluded it's investigation of Rosemond by issuing a warrant for his arrest on drug trafficking charges. After going into hiding for a month, Rosemond was trailed to the W hotel in Manhattan by authorities and arrested after a brief chase on foot during which he chipped a tooth after being wrestled to the ground by federal marshals.
On October 6, 2011, Rosemond's older brother, Kesnar Rosemond, was sentenced to 12 years for drug trafficking offenses connected to the organization headed by his younger brother.

In 2011, Dexter Isaac, a convicted felon sentenced to life for murder began cooperating with agents for the Drug Enforcement Agency and prosecutors investigating Rosemond for drug trafficking. Isaac, who is currently serving his life sentence at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, confessed to prosecutors that he was in fact the triggerman during Tupac Shakur's 1994 shooting. Isaac informed investigators that he and an accomplice perpetrated the robbery and shooting of Shakur at the behest of Rosemond for a $2500 cash payment and all of the jewelry on the rapper's person - save one of two diamond rings. According to Isaac, Rosemond wanted to present one of Shakur's diamonds to his longtime girlfriend, Cynthia Reed - albeit in a new setting. It's worth noting that by the time Isaac came forward, the statute of limitations for the crime had expired.

In May 2012, Rosemond was put on trial for operating a multi-million, bi-coastal drug trafficking network following a lengthy investigation by federal and state agencies. Rosemond was represented in court by attorney Gerald Shargel, who also represented Mafia don John Gotti; John Gotti, Jr.; mobster Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano; actress Amanda Bynes; and James "Jimmy C" Coonan, leader of the Hell's Kitchen-based Irish-American organized crime organization, the Westies. During the trial, prosecutors asserted that Rosemond generated in excess of $11 million each year since 2007 in drug proceeds. Prosecutors alleged that Rosemond's organization routinely shipped narcotics concealed in packages covered in mustard to throw off drug-sniffing dogs, in music equipment cases from Los Angeles to New York City and in turn shipped the cash proceeds from cocaine sales back to California.

On June 5, 2012 Rosemond was found guilty on all 13 charges brought by prosecutors in his federal trial for drug trafficking. He was convicted of cocaine distribution, conspiracy, money laundering, witness tampering and criminal possession of a firearm. On June 22, Rosemond was formally charged with the murder of Lowell "Lodi Mack" Fletcher.

On Friday, October 25, 2013, Rosemond was sentenced to life in prison in Brooklyn Federal Court. He was also ordered to forfeit cash and assets totaling $14 million.

In November 2013, it was revealed that a federal informant, listed as "CW-3" on federal documents to protect the witness' identity, confessed to being the triggerman behind the 2005 shooting of music mogul, Suge Knight. The informant told investigators that he shot Knight, head of the Death Row Records music label, on orders from Rosemond for a $10,000 payment. The informant stated that Rosemond personally supplied him with the gun used in the shooting and that the two of them fled the scene together immediately after the assault. At 12:42 a.m., August 28, 2005, Knight was shot once in the leg while seated at a table in the Red Room VIP section of the Shore Club in Miami Beach, Florida. Knight was in attendance as a guest at a party being hosted by rapper Kanye West in celebration of the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards held the following night. Witnesses at the party, who did not identify the shooter, stated that at least six shots were fired.

Rosemond's federal trial for the shooting death of Lowell "Lodi Mack" Fletcher began on February 10, 2014 and concluded March 4, 2014, resulting in a hung jury. Rosemond's retrial began December 2, 2014, at which United States attorney, Preet Bharara, presented 35 prosecution witnesses including former Rosemond associates Khalil Abdullah, Mohammed "Tef" Stewart and Brian "Slim" McCleod to testify against him. On December 11, 2014, he and co-defendant Rodney Johnson were convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and murder-for-hire. Rosemond was sentenced to life plus 20 years on March 23, 2015.

On November 1, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals' Second Circuit vacated Rosemond's March 2015 conviction for murder for hire. The appellate court cited that the district court (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York) "incorrectly applied the waiver provision in defendant's proffer agreement, and erred in precluding defense counsel from making certain arguments at trial."

On the evening of November 28, at about 8 p.m., Rosemond was convicted of four counts of murder-for-hire. During the two-week trial, prosecution witness Brian "Slim" McCleod testified that he participated in luring Fletcher to the Bronx to be murdered. Rosemond's attorney, David Touger, failed to convince the federal jury that his client had merely intended for his triggermen to shoot at Fletcher as opposed to killing him.