NYC drug kingpin with ties to Jay Z pal pleads guilty to masterminding 9 murders
A New York City drug kingpin, whose partner was a hip-hop mogul credited with giving Jay Z his start, has confessed to being the mastermind behind nine gangland murders.
Manuel Geovanny Rodriguez-Perez - a.k.a., "El Monstruo" or "The Monster" - was a major figure in the Big Apple's marijuana trade for much of 1990s and early 2000s alongside Kareem "Biggs" Burke, who co-founded Roc-a-Fella Records and helped give Jay Z his start in the music business.
Rodriguez-Perez, 43, pleaded guilty earlier this week to one count of racketeering conspiracy in Manhattan federal court and also to being responsible for nine murders and ten attempted murders in that conspiracy.
Rodriguez-Perez could receive life in prison.
"He's accepted responsibility for his conduct, and now we're moving toward his sentence," Rodriguez-Perez's lawyer, Richard Ware Levitt, told the New York Daily News when asked about a plea deal.
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