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For more many years it has been alleged that James Rosemond aka Jimmy Henchman was Hip-Hop’s true super villain. Filmmaker Don Sikorski begs to differ with his new documentary film series Unjust Justice – The Jimmy Rosemond Tapes

It has long been rumored that the former record executive had a fondness for resolving his issues in the streets. The CZAR Entertainment honcho was allegedly connected to the infamous 1994 robbing of Tupac Shakur at Quad Studios. Additionally his name has been tied to several acts of violence against other Rap crews.

In 2011, a federal warrant was issued for Rosemond’s arrest for his supposed involvement in a cocaine distribution network. After a month long manhunt, he was apprehended in Manhattan. During his multiple trials it was widely reported that Rosemond confessed to setting up Tupac and implicated himself as a drug kingpin during several proffer sessions.

However, director Don Sikorski claims that is all false and brings evidence to prove it; including never heard before Fab 5 Freddy interviews of The Notorious B.I.G., Randy “Stretch” Walker and more.

In an exclusive interview with HipHopWired.com, Don Sikorski discusses getting Jimmy’s side of story, the truth about ‘Pac getting shot, wire tappings and more.

HipHopWired.com: You are not new to covering Hip-Hop culture and its criminal underbelly with your films.

Don Sikorski: I graduated from NYU and I was working at a magazine called Blackbook. I was trying to figure out if I wanted to write. I wanted to be a storyteller but when you are young you are still trying to figure things out. At the time I heard this rumor going around about a small task force in New York called the Hip-Hop police. I thought it was an interesting story for many reasons. So I bought a camera and I sort of learned on my feet with that story in trying to make a documentary. That was my first film and Universal picked it up.

From doing that I always heard about B.M.F. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to do another film within Hip-Hop but I felt their story and the access I got from the DEA made it an easy choice for me. That was a very difficult film to do as I didn’t have much money and I had only one investor. I had to spend a lot of time in Atlanta so it was costing me a lot of money but I thought it came out okay.

 

HHW: What drew you to Jimmy Henchman’s story?

Sikorski: How I was able to come across Jimmy’s story was interesting because before he got mixed up in his federal case, there was a guy named Tone Boots that I became good friends with. Tone worked for Jimmy. One day he reached out to me and said Jimmy wanted to do a documentary about people who were incarcerated and got out of jail and went on to be successful.

I met Jimmy and spoke to him a couple times. He was very hands off and respected what I did so he secured the money [for] that film. During that midpoint of that film Jimmy fell off the map. I had heard rumors he was being investigated but the thing is with the DEA, they have the luxury of time in investigating you. It’s not like the feds are investigating you and you know it right away. He was investigated for five to six years. It wasn’t until I opened the New York Post where he was on the run and he was arrested that I ultimately knew the narrative. After that I didn’t think anything of it.

Four or five months ago another party reached out to me who was handling some of Jimmy’s affairs and she asked to take a meeting. At that meeting she asked me how I felt about doing a documentary about Jimmy’s story. She put me on the phone and he said, “I really want to tell my story”.

“The government tapped Jimmy’s phone for almost two years and not once did they record a conversation with anyone that discussed drugs or money.”

HHW: Based on the first episode of this film, it seems that Jimmy is pleading innocence. But it was alleged that he sat in several proffer sessions with federal investigators where he implicated himself as a co-conspirator in a drug ring.

Sikorski: I will preface everything [in this interview] with that I am still in the middle of going through everything with this piece of evidence and documentation. The government wanted Jimmy to come in under the guise of discussing his financial gains from his clients and businesses. From what I gather these nine proffer sessions is that Jimmy never admitted to anything. He would come down to do the proffer and they would ask him about Puffy, Tupac and stuff from 15-20 years ago. He flat out said to them, “I’m not talking about this, if you want to discuss my finances that’s fine”.

His lawyer Gerald Shargel wrote a letter to the judge on Jimmy’s case outlining the fact Jimmy did not talk about these things in the proffer session. So the idea that these proffer sessions is some place that Jimmy admitted wrongdoing; I can’t find that proof anywhere.

 

HHW: Where was this narrative created?

Sikorski: False information about the proffer sessions was leaked to a writer I believe who was at the New York Post and the writer did not factcheck or source that article. I think that’s where this idea that he admitted to all these things in proffer sessions comes from. If three months from now a DEA agent who sat in those sessions can provide audio or transcripts of Jimmy confessing; then that’s different. But to date all I have to go on is what I found out. Lastly if Jimmy gave up all this information in these proffer sessions, where are these convictions on the information he gave? I believe these proffer sessions were done under the guise of fishing for information they wanted to give up.

I have had at least three people tell me who were involved in the drug dealing, one guy being Ali “Zoe” Adam, [told] by the government that they could set free from prison if they gave up Jimmy Henchman. Ali was facing a 30-year sentence. Todd Kaminsky, New York State Assembly, told people “as long you say Jimmy did it, you can go home”. And if you look at the case, the people who took the stand in Jimmy’s case are now home.

 

HHW: So in terms of the evidence you had access to was it just limited to the court documents?

Sikorski: I am talking everything that the government has ever collected on Jimmy. That includes GPS coordinates of his Blackberry, wiretaps and hidden cameras. The government tapped Jimmy’s phone for almost two years and not once did they record a conversation with anyone that discussed drugs or money.

 

HHW: The first episode also featured never before heard audio footage of Fab 5 Freddy interviewing Jimmy, Notorious B.I.G. and Randy “Stretch” Walker shortly after the infamous Quad Studio robbery. Why was that stuff never published?

Sikorski: I asked Freddy that question and I don’t have that answer and I don’t think he does either. He did the interviews right after when it all happened. He put these interviews in a closet and never had a reason to bring them out until Jimmy called me and told me I needed to get the tapes from Freddy. It took me three weeks to convince Freddy.

When you listen to those interviews [it’s] very compelling. You have people that were there that night who were talking in a very detailed orientated manner and for me just hearing Stetch, who was with Tupac that night, talking about what he saw is compelling to me. Why Fab never released it, I don’t know. I think it is one of those things where he just forgot about it. I know there is an interview with Puffy that is there on that incident but we are not sure we are going to release that.

“If Tupac shot himself and no one shot him, it was not a shooting.”

HHW: Your film states the interviews were slated to run in a VIBE magazine article but it got shelved.

Sikorski: Maybe at the time there were some legal ramifications that were going on. At the time this was a very controversial topic. I don’t know; Fab has never given me that answer.

 

HHW: For years it has been speculated that Jimmy Henchmen set up Tupac to be robbed at Quad Studios. In 2011 Dexter Isaac alleged that Rosemond ordered the beating.

 

Sikorski: I am still talking to people and digging information up. In my opinion I believe that Dexter Isaac is lying 100%. I don’t believe Jimmy paid him to do it or had any motives to do it. I don’t believe Jimmy and Tupac had any issues. I just don’t buy it; it doesn’t make any sense. Now if you want to talk about King Tut (Walter Johnson) and Jack (“Haitian” Jacques Agnant) and the reasons why they possibly did it, I’d buy that. But I don’t buy that Dexter Isaac had anything to do with it or that Jimmy ordered it.

And to be honest, here is where the story changes. If Tupac shot himself and no one shot him, it was not a shooting. I believe that there were individuals who went there that night that were going to go discipline him. They were not there to shoot him. If you want to talk about Jack and Tut, these were guys who were robbing some of the biggest drug dealers in New York City. They didn’t need to go grab Tupac’s jewelry. Tupac shot himself. Then comes this lore that someone ordered to get Tupac shot but that whole theory falls apart when he has not been shot.

He was talking to the police about the guys he was moving with. I believe he made statements to the press about how Tut and Jack were wannabees and they went to discipline him. And that’s what happened.

 

Check out Part 2 of this explosive interview tomorrow with details about Haitian Jack’s involvement, 50 Cent’s alleged ties to the police and more.

Watch part 1 of the doc Unjust Justice: The Jimmy Rosemond Tapes below. 

Photo: screen cap