Only a couple degrees of separation stand between Bronx Assemblyman Eric Stevenson, who was arrested and accused of corruption last week, and the infamous feud that led to the murders of hip-hop artists Tupac Shakur and Christopher “Notorious B.I.G” Wallace.
The connection begins with Khalil Abdullah, a Stevenson donor whose name and New Jersey hometown match that of a prominent cocaine trafficker who pleaded guilty in 2011. Additionally, The Smoking Gun reported that Mr. Abdullah shared an address with a celebrity hair stylist whose one-time “High Street” address is indeed the same as the contribution’s. Multiple phone calls to individuals associated with the address and Mr. Abdullah’s past reached numbers that were no longer in service.
Mr. Abdullah was closely involved in the saga of James “Jimmy Henchman” Rosemond, a music industry mogul convicted last year for running a million-dollar cocaine operation on the side. Mr. Rosemond, whom The New York Times once characterized as “a prince at the royal court, whose ties to rap music’s biggest stars were known far and wide,” was also described in the same article as having spent years “trying to shake accusations of involvement in a bitter feud that led to the murders of two rap music legends: Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace.” Mr. Rosemond was implicated in a 1994 attack on Mr. Shakur, who responded by calling him out in the lyrics of one of his songs, “Against All Odds.”
It was not immediately clear why Mr. Abdullah contributed $1,000 to Mr. Stevenson in October of 2010, but the assemblyman is the only New York State lawmaker to have received his financial support.
Mr. Stevenson has maintained his innocence of all wrongdoing.