L.A. music label owner ‘Big U’ charged with trying to have witness killed
South Los Angeles gang leader and music label owner Eugene “Big U” Henley Jr., who is awaiting trial for allegedly running a criminal enterprise involved in murder, extortion and fraud, has now been accused of offering two jail inmates money to kill or seriously injure a witness in the case.
A federal grand jury charged Henley, 59, with seven additional felonies on Wednesday, including two counts each of solicitation to commit a violent crime and witness tampering. He has been in federal custody since March 2025.
According to the superseding indictment, Henley asked two inmates on June 10 about the layout of a housing unit where he believed the witness was being held. He allegedly offered to pay them to kill or harm the witness to prevent them from testifying against members of his criminal enterprise.
Henley, a longtime member of the Rollin’ 60s Neighborhood Crips, is accused of leading the “Big U Enterprise,” which prosecutors described as a racketeering organization that used his gang connections to extort businesses, traffic sex workers and defraud donors and lenders.
The original indictment also accuses Henley of murdering an aspiring musician signed to his Uneek Music label in Las Vegas in January 2021. Prosecutors allege that Henley shot the musician over a song about him and left his body in a ditch near Interstate 15.
The new charges include conspiracy to transport women across state lines for prostitution. Henley allegedly paid co-defendant Armani Aflleje $1,000 to rent a vehicle and take women from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in November 2022, followed by another $500 the next week.
Prosecutors said Henley and Aflleje continued renting vehicles and locating women for prostitution through January 2023.
Henley is also charged with wire fraud for allegedly submitting false revenue and expense information in a 2020 application for a COVID-19 business-relief loan for Celebrity Socks.
The new indictment further alleges that Henley and his associates assaulted and chased a Grammy-winning recording artist through Los Angeles International Airport in 2014 to collect a debt and punish him for failing to show respect.
The artist is identified only by the initials N.D.C., but the Los Angeles Times identified him as rapper Future through social media and news reports.
The newspaper also reported that Henley allegedly persuaded companies, donors, athletes and celebrities, including NBA players Draymond Green and Shaquille O’Neal, to donate to his charities before transferring some of the money to his personal accounts.
Other allegations added to the racketeering charge include embezzling donations to Henley’s federally funded anti-gang nonprofit, threatening a cannabis business owner and preparing false information about an individual’s employment with the organization.
Henley and six co-defendants are scheduled to go on trial in February 2027. He could face life in federal prison if convicted of racketeering conspiracy, while each of the new witness tampering charges also carries a maximum sentence of life.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
