Federal authorities are searching for the longtime leader of a South Los Angeles-based gang who has been posing as an entertainment entrepreneur and community activist. He is wanted in connection with a murder from 2021, as well as a series of other racketeering activities linked to a criminal enterprise he allegedly operated.

Eugene Henley Jr., also known as “Big U,” is considered a fugitive following an indictment filed on Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. The 58-year-old was charged with conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

The leader of the Rollin’ 60s Neighborhood Crips, Henley and his gang were involved in extortion, human trafficking, fraud, and the 2021 killing of an aspiring rap musician, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

“The allegations in the complaint unsealed today reveal a criminal enterprise that engaged in murder, extortion, human trafficking, and fraud – all led by a supposed anti-gang activist and purported music entrepreneur who was nothing more than a violent street criminal,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally said on Wednesday.

In addition to Henley, two other members of the crime ring—Sylvester Robinson, 59, also known as “Vey” and Mark Martin, 50, known as “Bear Claw”— were both arrested on the same criminal complaint on Wednesday, the U.S. attorney’s office added.

Over the last 24 hours, 10 alleged Rollin 60s members and associates have been charged with numerous federal crimes, including drug trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and firearms offenses, the Justice Department said. Authorities are seeking the whereabouts of five other alleged members, including Henley and another man, who have both been deemed fugitives by the U.S. attorney’s office.

Federal complaint: Henley operated a ‘mafia-like organization’

According to the federal criminal complaint, Henley operated a “mafia-like organization” that used his, among other street gangs, to intimidate businesses and individuals in Los Angeles. The organization allegedly led by Henley is named “Big U Enterprise,” which partnered with the Rollin’ 60’s and others for mutual benefit, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

“Henley is widely regarded as a leader within the Rollin’ 60s and rose to prominence in the street gang during the 1980s,” the complaint reads.

Big U Enterprise, which acted as a distinct and independent criminal enterprise, engaged in various crimes, including murder, extortion, robbery, trafficking and exploiting sex workers, fraud, and illegal gambling, according to the complaint.

Defense attorneys were not listed in court records for any of the alleged gang members named in the indictment.

Federal authorities say Big U shot an aspiring musician in the head, hid body

The Justice Department said the criminal enterprise is responsible for the murder of an up-and-coming musician identified in the complaint as “R.W.” The musician was signed to Henley and Martin’s record label, Uneek Music, which paid R.W. to travel to Las Vegas to work with at an unidentified Grammy Award-winning music producer’s studio shortly before his murder in January 2021, the complaint says.

R.W.’s murder stems from the musician recording a diss song about Henley, which prompted the alleged gang leader and Robinson to travel to Las Vegas to confront the musician, according to the complaint. Henley allegedly drove R.W. to North Las Vegas, shot him in the head, dragged his body off Interstate 15 into the desert and left his remains in a ditch, the court document says.

When Henley and Robinson returned to Los Angeles, he ordered studio workers to leave while an associate removed security surveillance footage from the studio, according to the Justice Department. He then allegedly ordered witnesses not to speak with police about R.W.’s murder, the complaint reads.

Big U allegedly defrauded the US government, nonprofit donors

In addition to the violent crimes alleged against Henley, federal authorities believe he tried to game the government by submitting a fraudulent application for a COVID-19 pandemic relief loan. Henley claimed that Uneek Music was operating at a $200,000 profit in 2019 despite suffering a $5,000 loss that year, which should have disqualified the label from loan eligibility, according to the Justice Department.

Big U Enterprise is also accused of defrauding donors who gave money to nonprofit entities under the control of the alleged criminal enterprise, including Henley’s own charity, Developing Options, whose mission was to deter youth from gang violence, drugs and criminal activity, the complaint says.

Instead of putting the large donations, which came from celebrities, NBA players and award-winning companies, toward his charity, Big U embezzled the funds and converted the money to his personal bank account, the U.S. attorney’s office said. The charity was also used as a front for members of his enterprise so they could stay under law enforcement’s radar, the complaint alleges.

Developing Options is primarily funded through the City of Los Angeles’s Mayor’s Office’s Gang Reduction Youth Development (GRYD) Foundation, portions of which receive federal funding, but also accept donations from prominent sources, according to the complaint.

“The RICO charges against Mr. Henley and his associates reflect a pattern of crimes that runs the gambit from extortion to tax evasion, all under the umbrella of a well-organized criminal organization led by Mr. Henley,” Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher, of the IRS criminal investigation’s Los Angeles field office said. “Additionally, Mr. Henley allegedly duped the County of Los Angeles by running a charitable organization that promoted anti-gang solutions while continuing criminal activity that was directly contrary to his charity.”