When
Ruthless Records recording artist and former
N.W.A member
Dr. Dre sought to work instead with
Death Row Records, Ruthless Records executives, Mike Klein and
Jerry Heller were fearful of possible physical intimidation from Death Row Entertainment executives including chief executive officer
Suge Knight and requested security assistance from the violent JDL.
[41] The FBI launched a
money launderinginvestigation, on the presumption that the JDL was extorting money from Ruthless Records and several rap artists, including
Tupac Shakur and
Eazy-E.
[42] Heller has speculated that the FBI did not investigate these threats because of the song "fukk Tha Police". Heller said, "It was no secret that in the aftermath of the Suge Knight shake down incident where Eazy was forced to sign over Dr. Dre,
Michel'le and
The D.O.C., that Ruthless was protected by Israeli trained/connected security forces."
[43] The FBI documents refer to the JDL death threats and extortion scheme and do make a direct connection between the group and the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur.
[44]