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Post Info TOPIC: Mo Clo keeps it 'gangsta,' literally

Head Dick

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Mo Clo keeps it 'gangsta,' literally


RB Clarett has ties to alleged Israeli mobster
Written by:    ¦  8/17/2006
Source: sports.espn.go.com

Maurice Clarett was bankrolled by an alleged member of an Israeli crime organization after leaving Ohio State, ESPN has learned, and Clarett's attorney said Thursday that his client may have been in possession of firearms last week to protect himself against mob activity.


Clarett's attorney, Nick Mango, said Thursday that Clarett has repeatedly received death threats over the past year, but that a cryptic postcard sent from Los Angeles last week has him wondering about Clarett's ties to an alleged mob enforcer.


In the late summer of 2004, ESPN has learned, Clarett traveled to Los Angeles and was introduced by a rapper friend to Hai Waknine, 35, a convicted felon who prosecutors believe is a member of an Israeli crime organization called The Jerusalem Group. Waknine, who at the time was being indicted on extortion and money-laundering charges, became Clarett's sponsor and adviser, along with Waknine's attorney, David Kenner. Waknine provided Clarett with cash, a BMW, bodyguards, drivers and beachfront lodging in Malibu, with the understanding that he would be reimbursed and receive 60 percent of Clarett's rookie contract.


But when Clarett was released by the Denver Broncos in August 2005, he was unable to pay Waknine back, and ESPN has learned that Waknine eventually cut off Clarett financially. Clarett moved back to his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, that fall.


After Clarett was arrested last week, allegedly wearing a bulletproof vest and possessing four guns and a hatchet, Clarett's attorneys received an anonymous phone call alerting them to Clarett's ties to Wakine. They grew more suspicious when they received the threatening postcard this week.


Mango said he is concerned that postcard, sent to his law office, may have come from Waknine.


"That's our question, whether it's from him or people associated with that scene out there," Mango told ESPN. "Again, it came from Los Angeles, and we don't know what to make of that. ... We're going to turn this over to someone in law enforcement and see what they think [of the postcard]. ... We've always felt he had some reasons to fear for his safety, and we don't think any of his actions the night he was arrested -- despite the way it's been spun -- were that he was a threat to anyone else. But more of him being in fear for his safety for quite some time."


Mango also said he believes Clarett's debt may have something to do with the threats.


"I believe he owes [Waknine] money, and I think [Waknine] is probably not the only one" he owes, Mango said. "Whether it's someone all the way on that coast or more on this side of the country; it's no one that I'd want to owe money to. ... A call came to our office [about Waknine], kind of giving us a rumored story. It's been kind of tossed around by us, and quite frankly, Youngstown has quite a reputation -- if you don't know it already -- for the Italian side of that ballgame. And everyone here thought, 'Well, you wonder with money changing hands ...' Having heard the things we've heard, this is a little more concerning."


Waknine's current relationship with Clarett is not clear, although two hours before Clarett's arrest, the running back called an ESPN reporter and mentioned, in passing, that he and Waknine still were friends. However, ESPN has learned that the FBI contacted Clarett about his relationship with Waknine before the 2005 draft, and it is unknown whether Clarett cooperated.


Waknine went on trial on June 5, and he pleaded guilty a week later to a single racketeering charge, admitting that he threatened violence to extort money from several individuals. Waknine, who was unavailable for comment Thursday, is expected to receive a nine-year prison term at his sentencing Sept. 11. His attorney, Kenner -- the former lawyer for Death Row Records and its founder, Marion "Suge" Knight -- did not return phone messages.


It's no secret, however, that Waknine provided Clarett with a life of luxury from August 2004 to August 2005.


"When I worked with Maurice, he had Hai, and a very high profile lawyer," said Charles Poliquin, who trained Clarett in November and December of 2004 in Phoenix. "There are not a lot of guys that want to play pro football who have a team of lawyers and money men backing them up, and, for sure, they had his best interests at heart. But he was living too nice a life. Too nice. He was living in Malibu. Right on the beach. I've been to the house. [Waknine] owned like 10 cars and said, 'Pick whatever car you want.' "


But money eventually became an issue, especially for all of Clarett's three personal trainers. None of them -- Poliquin, Chad Ikei and Todd Durkin -- was ever paid for his services, and when one contacted a member of Clarett's inner circle to be reimbursed, he was told, "You'll get paid when I get paid."


Mango said he has neither the time nor the resources to investigate Waknine, but he found the threatening postcard puzzling.


"It came on a small index card like you use in school or whatever, and whatever language that was on it was actually cut and pasted in the old-fashioned sense, like typed and then cut out and pasted onto it," he said. "And then, obviously, the identity of the sender has been pretty well kept ... they took steps to keep that ...


"I think anything you get where the sender has taken very obvious and extreme and multiple steps to keep their identity sealed, that concerns me. Maurice has gotten other letter and quite frankly, so have we. People write notes and might use the N-words, but it's in their handwriting some. Some sign it, even an address. In this case, none of that. There's no way to trace this one."


http://sports.espn.go.com

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Head Dick

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This guy is amazing (in a turdish way). He went from the most promising college athlete one year, to a whiney promising college athlete trying to force his way into the NFL, to a 3rd round pick (would have been a 1st if he wasn't an idiot), to a wash out never was NFL player, to a convicted felon, to failed mobster. This guy should write a fukin book. Well, he should learn to read and write, then write a book.

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Kick Asser

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I'm gonna play devil's advocate here but I think this story is a positive for Clarett. When I heard he had all those weapons and was within a close radius of the witnesses in his case we thought he was planning on doing harm to them. But that didn't explain the bullet proof vest. But now it makes sense. He had death threats against him and was protecting himself.

Tressell took this guy out of the ghetto and rode him to a title. And then as soon as something went wrong Tressell kicked him to the curb. I don't think he grew up with a father figure. Ever since he got burst onto the scene he's been looked at by other people as a way to make money, including that A-hole Tressell.

-- Edited by The Truth at 22:31, 2006-08-17

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Head Dick

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 {I don't think he grew up with a father figure} ....Boo fukn whoooo.....Half the inner city kids grow up without fathers...and they dont become criminals. OOOPs...you were right

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Head Dick

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Head Dick

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i need to get my goose on

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Head Dick

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First his lawyers claim the cops used too much force during his arrest.....then they claim they got several calls and letters where somebody dropped the N bomb......now poor old MoClo is being persecuted by the Jews...WTF


Whats the next chapter to this one...



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Head Dick

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I hated this kid with a passion. I don't like the phone call he made from LA to ESPN, bussing everybody out at OHIO STATE for getting gifts.


But now i feel sorry for this pathetic boy. He's in some shet & thats it.


I sure did like the play when the QB threw the interception in the National Championship & Clarett stripped the ball from the db. One of the most exciting plays I ever saw in my life. My brother & I were at each other's throat on that play.


Find JESUS Maurice.



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Head Dick

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There will be plenty of cries out to the lord when he receives his first gang raping in prison. They don't call it "penal" for nuthin.


 


Oh lawdy get off me lawd why yall gotta punch my head while you fukn me just hurry up oh jesus lawd and put som mo jelly up on that thing ...cause yall is frictioning me up.



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