One telling example came to our attention through a 1997 federal task force interview with a Blood named Anthony Welch. If nothing else, his story pointed out in no uncertain terms the power that Suge Knight wielded at the juncture of rap music and gang life. Welch had recounted to the FBI the fate of William “Rat” Ratcliffe, an aspiring rapper and a member of the Bounty Hunters crew out of the Nickerson Gardens housing project in Watts. He had been pestering Suge over several months for a recording contract with Death Row Records. At one point, accompanied by ten Bounty Hunters, he had even cornered Knight in a bathroom during a video shoot, demanding to be signed.
Suge had a low tolerance for harassment, telling anyone who would listen that Rat’s days were numbered. True to his word, Suge called in his trusted enforcer. According to Welch, Poochie turned up at a recording studio where Suge was producing a session, and received his marching order: get Rat. A day later Ratcliffe was run to ground on Central Avenue in Compton and summarily executed. When he heard the news, Suge reportedly commented, referring to Poochie, “He doesn’t fukk around. That’s how I want him to do it.”