Gang witnesses link Mike Tyson to NYC contract killing

Tyson's name emerged during an investigation of the Cash Money Brothers, a gang led by brothers Damion "World" Hardy and Myron "Wise" Hardy. The gang, which lifted its name from the film "New Jack City," had turned a Bedford-Stuyvesant housing project into a violent drug market...

Some later pleaded guilty and agreed to testify for the government against Abubakr Raheem, the reputed wheelman, and World, who faces the death penalty at separate trial later this year.

Raheem has denied the charges. He admits he knew the killers, but as a Muslim, didn't approve of them.

"Was he at peace with them? Absolutely not," his attorney said Monday.

Prosecutors scoffed at Raheem's claims that he sought to steer the men toward Islam.

"He's sort of the spiritual adviser to perhaps the most dangerous group of gangsters in the city," Haran said.

Authorities have alleged that Wise's killing in 1999 sparked a bloodbath in Bed-Stuy. Among those killed: Tyson's friend and bodyguard, Darryl "Homicide" Baum.

At trial, a turncoat gangster testified after learning Baum was gunned down in 2000 that Tyson put out a $50,000 contract on World. Asked why, the cooperator said the boxer was "close friends with Homicide."

A crew associate also took the stand and described how, after word of the boxer's bounty spread, he overheard the gangsters saying Tyson needed to be rubbed out.

"I said, that's outrageous," the witness recalled.

Later, the same witness said, he and Raheem were with a group that spotted a Range Rover they believed was carrying Tyson. One of the men wanted to kill the boxer but the idea was "squashed right there" because "Mike Tyson was a Muslim," the witness said...