DailyDirt: Newspapers? Books? We Don't Need Those Where We're Going...

Cocaine Ring Used Universal Music's Interscope Label To Ship Drugs & Cash

from the drugs-and-music dept

Tue, Sep 20th 2011 7:01pm — Mike Masnick

It's no secret that there was a close connection between major record labels and drugs in the past -- but people keep insisting that's all ancient history these days. So it's interesting to find out, via a federal prosecution of a cocaine ring, the news that the effort apparently hid the shipping of cash and cocaine around the country by using concert "road cases" and shipping them to and from Interscope Records' offices. Interscope, of course, is a Universal Music sub-label, which is home to the likes of Eminem and Lady Gaga.

Department of Justice prosecutors this week provided defense lawyers with shipping records detailing �pickups and deliveries� made at Interscope�s Los Angeles office by a cargo firm that was used to transport the music cases, which were alternately stuffed with kilos of cocaine and upwards of $1 million in cash.

Perhaps, rather than worrying so much about the impact of "piracy," the folks at Universal Music should be paying attention to the drug dealing happening via its own offices. Just saying.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: drugs, record labels
Companies: interscope, universal music

64 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2011 @ 7:11pm

DO YOU SEE NOW
Music piracy has forced these poor artists and executives to a life of drug abuse!

Piracy is killing the drug trade!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2011 @ 7:16pm

RICO
[ link to this | view in thread ]
This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it

Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2011 @ 7:20pm

Ahh yes, another of Mike Masnick's pointless hit pieces against the music industry simply because it's the music industry. Never mind that there are crooked individuals working at companies all over the world or that this could happen anywhere. It's the music industry which Mike hates so obviously it's a much bigger problem because it happened there this one time! Seriously Mike, every time you post one of these tantrums like a spoiled brat screaming for attention, you hurt your credibility for the actual serious causes people SHOULD pay attention to.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jay (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 7:23pm

Re:
I love it when ACs do nothing but ad hom and attack people for doing nothing but showing the dark side of the recording industry...

Or the inaccuracies of Hollywood Accounting...

Or the fact that publishing is having a great year.

Tell me, was there a point to this besides throwing your temper tantrum like a child?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
MrWilson, 20 Sep 2011 @ 7:28pm

Re:
You said: "it happened there this one time!"

Mike said: "It's no secret that there was a close connection between major record labels and drugs in the past"

How is the close connection in the past and this more recent occurrence just, "one time?"
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2011 @ 7:29pm

Re:
Yep, just one time, no music pop star died recently of overdose no sir the past drug fuelled industry is no more surely.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2011 @ 7:34pm

Re:
Oh c'mon everybody knows by now that the pirates will kick the asses of the record industry along with the music industry because they keep sniffing, injecting and breathing fun stuff while the pirates keep reading technical material to build and program new ways to rip the industry.

Now who do you think will win this, the guys doing drugs or the guys doing the books?

Please prove that you are not a total idiot and show us your marvelous plan to stop piracy.

No seriously because I need some laughs right now.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Tallbonez, 20 Sep 2011 @ 7:34pm

This explains so much...
Extorting old ladies and stealing their computers should have been the original tip off
[ link to this | view in thread ]
That Anonymous Coward (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 7:34pm

Re:
Get coverage of this happening elsewhere and it will be covered, with the caveat of it should involve a tech company.

And what praytell is your pocket cause that is so vitally important that you've overlooked mentioning?

(hint its on page 3 of the talking points memo)

Given the music industries demands that service providers do more to support their business model, the other side of that coin is as they had their system used to run a drug operation shouldn't they be facing charges themselves?

So other than just trying to troll, and doing a piss poor job of it... did you have a real point or have you gotten the Mike bashing out of your system for the time being?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2011 @ 7:35pm

Re:
You wouldn't download a brick of coke...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2011 @ 7:39pm

Re: This explains so much...
too many scooby snacks
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Daddy Warbucks, 20 Sep 2011 @ 7:41pm

Just One other case please
Mr. AC, please point out another case, Just One, in which the Department of Justice has shipping records detailing �pickups and deliveries� made by any other company, ANY company, that "were alternately stuffed with kilos of cocaine and upwards of $1 million in cash."

Prove me wrong and produce your evidence you low life.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Chris, 20 Sep 2011 @ 7:47pm

Wonder who paid for moving the cases
I wonder if the cases got charged to some uninvolved Artist account as an expense that need to be recouped.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
nelsoncruz (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 7:48pm

Wasn't "piracy" supposed to be funding the drug trade?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2011 @ 7:53pm

Re: Just One other case please
Good point. We hear unsubstantiated stories of how terrorists and mafia are profiting from piracy. Now we have a substantiated instance of the property of a major record label being used to smuggle a whole lot of drugs and cash.

We know from ICE that if your property is used to facilitate crime (regardless of whether you did it yourself), the government can seize it. So I'm waiting to hear of when the feds will be taking over this postal address.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2011 @ 7:59pm

And this is not the most terrible thing inside that industry the pedo stuff is truly shocking.

Accused of pedo
http://crime.about.com/od/famousdiduno/ig/mugshots_rap_hip_rb/R-Kelly-Mugshot--1-.htm

Murde r
http://crime.about.com/od/famousdiduno/p/philspector_b.htm

Sex offender
http://crime.about.com/od/famousdiduno/ig/celebrity_mugshots/Jeffrey-Jones.htm

Pot possession
http://crime.about.com/od/famousdiduno/ig/celebrity_mugshots/Willie-Nelson.htm

Murder
http://crime.about.com/od/murder/p/cmurder.htm

And people want to give money to those people?

Yeh right.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2011 @ 8:02pm

So, how soon will we see DHS swoop in to confiscate all of the recordings used by Interscope - after all, they were used in the commission of a crime!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2011 @ 8:02pm

Re:
Piracy according to the music industry is one source the other big source of revenue for the drug trade is the whole entertainment industry that apparently has a lot of drunks, pedos and drug addicts.

Just search "celebrities worst mugshots", most of them are recent from this last decade apparently they are drinking more and one can only assume it is because of piracy right?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2011 @ 8:09pm

Not to mention the real ties with the real MAFIA, racketeering, tax evasion, fraud, heck they only are rivalled by the banking industry in how they are crooked.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
mmmmichael (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 8:10pm

Re: everyone does it
YEAH, Coward!!! I know how you feel! In my 48 years of working life, most of the companies I've worked for have done this kind of thing!!!!

.....no, wait a minute, none of them have. Not one. Not a single one. Could it actually be that the music industry is simply rotten to the core?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Atkray (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 8:11pm

Re: Wonder who paid for moving the cases
That isn't even funny.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2011 @ 8:19pm

Re: Re: Just One other case please
Crime is illegal!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
JMT (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 8:42pm

Re:
"Ahh yes, another of Mike Masnick's pointless hit pieces against the music industry simply because it's the music industry."

Actually it's against a record label, which is not "the music industry", just one tiny piece of it. Don't flatter yourself.

"Seriously Mike, every time you post one of these tantrums like a spoiled brat screaming for attention, you hurt your credibility for the actual serious causes people SHOULD pay attention to."

Replace Mike's name with yours and this statement makes perfect sense.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Prashanth (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 8:45pm

So because Universal Music's infrastructure was used by other people to commit illicit activities, doesn't that mean the Feds should go straight over and shut down all of Universal Music? Actually, I wouldn't mind that so much...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Angry Puppy (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 8:57pm

Re: Re: Wonder who paid for moving the cases
I think it's hilarious. I guarantee an artist/band paid the cost for the record label to ship its own coke.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
harbingerofdoom (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 9:00pm

Re:
You sir, resemble a female hygiene product one might use on a summers eve and the small non-rigid paper container it once was held in.

that is the biggest collected amount of fecal matter emanating from the male of the species bov taurus that i have viewed in quite some time.

its hypocrisy laden tripe which forces me to label you as either one whose family tree has no forks or alternately a member of the tsuri ilk commonly found under bridges.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The Mighty Buzzard (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 10:05pm

Re: Re:
Most likely to get themselves a chuckle when you feed them with responses.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mike Masnick (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 10:54pm

Re:
Ahh yes, another of Mike Masnick's pointless hit pieces against the music industry simply because it's the music industry

At a loss as to how anyone can claim I hate the music industry, when just three stories down I was celebrating artists making more money than ever before.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The eejit (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 10:59pm

Re: Re: Re: Just One other case please
According to the MAFIAA, so is thinking.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
That Anonymous Coward (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 11:00pm

Re:
they advocate it for people "pirating" content using other platforms, so whats good for everyone else is good for them.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
RadialSkid (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 11:05pm

Re:
They should certainly be confiscating any of Universal's property used in commission of a crime. You know, like the whole building...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2011 @ 11:43pm

"Sir, what's that white stuff on your nose?"
"I-I-I-I don't know!"
"Is that cocaine on your coffee table?"
"I swear, it's not mine! The pirates must've put it there or something!"
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Alatar, 21 Sep 2011 @ 12:43am

According to their own standards, doesn't it make them liable?
You know, with their push for third party liability, shouldn't Universal Music execs and staff be arrested for drug trafficking?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
William N (profile), 21 Sep 2011 @ 12:52am

And they're so worried about piracy funding terrorism???
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Lauriel (profile), 21 Sep 2011 @ 2:30am

Re: According to their own standards, doesn't it make them liable?
You know, with their push for third party liability, shouldn't Universal Music execs and staff be arrested for drug trafficking?

No, no, no. That's not how it works. Third party liability would be extended to the postage label manufacturers, for making accessible and redirecting to criminal activities.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Lauriel (profile), 21 Sep 2011 @ 2:36am

Re: Re:
You said: "it happened there this one time!"

Girl: "This one time, at Interscope, we fixed the accounts so it looked like no one made any money, and we kept the profits."

Guy: "Meh."

Girl: "This one time, at Interscope, we did coke."

Guy: "Meh."

Girl: "This one time, at Interscope, we downloaded a song."

Guy: "You're a criminal!!!111!"
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The eejit (profile), 21 Sep 2011 @ 2:47am

Re: Re:
Dude, at this point, WWE is more honest than UMG. Think on that for a minute.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Shaun Wilson (profile), 21 Sep 2011 @ 2:54am

Learn from each other
Each group in this story can learn something from the other.
The music labels from the drug dealers: how to sell something people want to buy instead of trying to force them to buy what they don't want.
The drug dealers from the music labels: how to properly buy politicians, so your competitors get thrown in jail instead of you.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Sep 2011 @ 3:12am

http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/21/far-east-fashionistas-propel-prada-profits/

Funny that the place that buys luxury goods is also the place where people are in love with the idea of consumerism, it is the place where there are little to no protections in the form of IP laws.

The world have changed, the "magic" from the entertainment industry is gone in the west, their appeal is slowly fading away and giving way to other dark emotions that can only lead to loss of sales.

People will move on and the "industry" will pay the price for being so antagonistic.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Sep 2011 @ 3:27am

Real criminals are destroying this country.
Look at the criminals the industry needs to fight to understand how they are outgunned.
http://boingboing.net/2011/09/20/another-illegal-kitchen-garden.html

It seems the American government wants to transform everybody into a criminal these days except the true criminals.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
abc gum, 21 Sep 2011 @ 4:54am

There are - obviously - two sets of rules.
One set for the uber rich and another for everyone else.

Your tax supported law enforcement probably helped ensure the safe and timely arrival of said packages.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
jsl4980 (profile), 21 Sep 2011 @ 5:33am

We need new billboards and stickers and advertisements:
"Buying CDs funds drugs and terrorists"
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Sep 2011 @ 5:35am

Re:
You brought up Willie Nelson's numerous pot busts? Really? Come on, that's like kicking Ol' Yeller. The rest of those examples definitely should be there but Willie Nelson? Come on!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Sep 2011 @ 5:37am

RIAA & MPAA = Try them both under RICO Act.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Sep 2011 @ 5:38am

Re: Re:
I'm sure people would if they could!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
crade (profile), 21 Sep 2011 @ 7:15am

I'm surprised the drug runners would lower themselves to that level.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
S, 21 Sep 2011 @ 7:16am

Re: Re:
Artists aren't "the industry" -- if bribery and exploitation aren't involved it's not a legitimate market force.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Josef Anvil (profile), 21 Sep 2011 @ 7:27am

Thank you for FINALLY giving me an answer
I've been wondering for some time how piracy was related to organized crime. It's about time someone explained it.

Now I see that piracy is cutting into the CD sales, so organized crime cannot ship as much cocaine as they need to. OMG, think of the children missing out on their cocaine!! Bad pirates.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Josef Anvil (profile), 21 Sep 2011 @ 7:27am

Thank you for FINALLY giving me an answer
I've been wondering for some time how piracy was related to organized crime. It's about time someone explained it.

Now I see that piracy is cutting into the CD sales, so organized crime cannot ship as much cocaine as they need to. OMG, think of the children missing out on their cocaine!! Bad pirates.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymoose Custard, 21 Sep 2011 @ 7:53am

Re:
I'm not surprised. Extortion, rackets, money laundering, and drug running all go hand-in-hand. Recording companies fit the profile completely.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Thomas (profile), 21 Sep 2011 @ 7:58am

Considering ..
the huge profits from drug trade, why is the RIAA so worried about piracy??? It costs them more to prosecute than they take get back in fines.

Drugs and music have been together a lot since the 60s at least.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Sep 2011 @ 8:07am

Home drug abuse is killing the drugs industry.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Sep 2011 @ 9:12am

Re:
I do agree with you, i started to read "techdirt" to read "tech" news. Not the copyright/mpaa/riaa bashing blog this hasw become.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
hmm (profile), 21 Sep 2011 @ 9:27am

Well
Official statement - Universal Music does not supply cocaine or heroin to its contracted employees any more (or any less!)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
hmm (profile), 21 Sep 2011 @ 9:30am

At least
Statement from Universal cocaine/music - Hey unlike those damn evil file-sharers, at least its not possible to needle-share....excuse me the phone's ringing...

God DAMN IT!!!! this press conference is OVER!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
iBelieve (profile), 21 Sep 2011 @ 10:24am

Re: Re:
And who wants to imagine that they are Angels in all of this. You just can't sit on top of an imaginary fence.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Sep 2011 @ 10:28am

As we all know, if the justice department accuses you of something, you are guilty (unless it's some sort of IP infringement, then the government is just out of control).
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Twiitchy, 21 Sep 2011 @ 10:30am

Brings a whole new meaning to packet sniffing
Or maybe an old one

Sorry couldn't resist
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Sep 2011 @ 12:01pm

Re: (AC @11:43 9-20-11)
Those sneaky pirates, downloading bricks of cocaine and now theyve figured a way to upload it to another's table.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The Groove Tiger (profile), 21 Sep 2011 @ 12:09pm

Re: Re:
Well, now we know that you get bored after reading more than 4 letters out of each word.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
CommonSense (profile), 21 Sep 2011 @ 12:14pm

Re:
It is....because the recording industry can't make money from music due to piracy....they're left trying to make money from drugs...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jeffrey Nonken (profile), 21 Sep 2011 @ 12:57pm

Re: Re:
So buzz off. There's obviously nothing keeping you here.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Sep 2011 @ 3:30pm

Re: Re:
if the mafiaa can sue little old ladies for downloading songs and movies, then we can point to Willie's hypocrisy as an old junkie as well
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Karl (profile), 21 Sep 2011 @ 9:07pm

Ah ha
Well, we finally have a rational explanation for the RIAA's business model.

They are, quite literally, on crack.
[ link to this | view in thread ]