The feud between 72nd Precinct commanding officer Deputy Inspector Emmanuel Gonzalez and rapper Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent, appears to have intensified.
The New York Daily News has reported that Gonzalez told officers during roll call last June to “shoot him on sight,” referring to Jackson, if they saw him at an NYPD boxing charity event held in the Bronx last summer.
“The inspector just said that at roll call,” a source told the Daily News. “I’m like WTF.”
While, according to the News, Gonzalez has laughed the comment off as a bad joke, it’s not the pair’s first time in the ring.
Last year, a $125 million notice of claim was filed against the city by a club Jackson frequents, Love and Lust, 225 47th Street, whose owner Imran Jairam has alleged that Gonzalez demanded contributions to Puerto Rican relief efforts to forestall enforcement of violations at the bar.
Jairam blames a raft of violations that led to his club losing its liquor license and closing down on retribution from Gonzalez, who was miffed that he had turned down the commander’s request.
Subsequently, Jackson posted a televised report of the story on Instagram and wrote, “Get the strap” on the post, referencing Gonzalez. Allegedly, the phrase translates to “Get the gun.” As a result, many of Jackson’s followers wrote threatening comments on the post, such as “Blast this fool.”
Now, Jackson is taking to social media to express his fear regarding the alleged threat.
“I’m afraid for my life, I haven’t been able to sleep since I heard of this,” he posted on his social media account. “The cops never notified me of the threat. I’m closing all my business in New York. I may have to sue the city.”
He also said, “Keep in mind there are some good people working in Law Enforcement. Like the officers that reported what he said to them. Emanuel Gonzalez is Gangsta with a badge.”
Jackson’s not the only one taking to social media on the issue.
Jairam’s attorney Eric Sanders recently tweeted, “So, we confirm with ‘documentary evidence’ the conversation about the so-called 50 Cent hit ‘joke.’ Notice the time, June 8, 2018, 0717 hours = Roll Call for the 72nd Precinct B Squad. Now, why is this ‘unhinged’ Gonzalez not relieved of his command? A lot of questions here!!!”
He then posted a text message from the source.
“For some strange reason no service at t/a but no one recorded it he said it as a joke and yea but idk if they heard he was telling perigne,” the text message read.
Attorney Delvis Valdes, who is representing Gonzalez, spoke to this paper about the allegations.
“We believe that the source of this is some disgruntled employee, a civilian employee within the precinct,” he said. “I’m not going to go further into it but the source of that I think is not credible.”
Valdes said that he believes the rapper/actor has a vendetta against Gonzalez due to the closure of Love and Lust last year. When it pulled the club’s liquor license, the New York State Liquor Authority cited the“sheer number of violations and repetitive nature of the violations.”
“What Inspector Gonzalez is guilty of is enforcing the law on an establishment in which [Jackson] invested who knows how much money, leaving it up to nincompoops to run it, and which had numerous incidents over the last couple of years,” Valdes said. “This is all going back to that same old dispute. [Jackson] invested a lot of money in this club. It got shut down. He’s suffered financial loss and now he wants to take it out on the inspector. Suddenly, he wants to jump on another allegation that Inspector Gonzalez threatened him, which is pure nonsense and fabrication.”
President of the NYPD Captains Endowment Association Roy Richter told CNN that the allegations against Gonzalez were “completely false.”
“It was 50 Cent who put the safety of the inspector and his family in jeopardy by publishing a threatening tweet that called for violence last year,” he said.
The NYPD told this paper in a statement that, “The matter is under internal review”
“This is nonsense,” Valdes said. “I don’t know to what credibility, it is being investigated by the higher-ups. That is yet to be determined. No matter what, we are countering it. If need be, we will do it in the courts as well.”
When asked if they were worried about the charges, Valdes added, “There’s no validity. We are not concerned in the least. It’s a shame they’re going to spend taxpayer dollars on this but there’s due process. Let them investigate. I’m not concerned in the least that they’ll come up with anything.”
A rally — led by Valdes and attended by residents of Sunset Park, — will be held outside the precinct in the coming days to show support for Gonzalez.
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