Deon Best
Appearances
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
So that's why I'm here. I'm not here to actually talk about Puff and his allegations. I'm here to talk about a... different section of his allegations, the RICO Act. And what I feel to believe involves his mother, Janice Combs.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
So the RICO Act is about holding people accountable for systematic actions. You know, these actions have caused financial hardship, emotional hardship with not only myself but other artists in the business through what I feel was fraudulent and coercive activity. And I think that Janice Combs falls under those guidelines.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
Mace gives a very good example. So Mace has been, you know, going through what conflict he has with Puffy. And he makes a statement. He says, how can we talk about anything, et cetera, et cetera? Everything is in your mother's name.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
I'm saying that I brought with me three multi platinum plaques of artists that I've had the opportunity to have my company write songs. And somehow his mother ended up with my publishing rights.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
So I have here behind me, I have this right here. The Notorious B.I.G. Born Again. For Dion Best, for D and Mac Music.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
Wow. So then we have here Black Rob's life story. Man, rest in peace, Black Rob. Black Rob was... He was an alright guy, man.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
Third one here. This is Bad Boy Entertainment, Puffy's album, Forever.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
So for me, here's where, you know... Things get a little tricky. I'm not going to say complicated. But during this time, I had a partnership, a partner in my company. And I felt, I still feel my partner betrayed me. I got caught with a, in possession of a handgun. And I went to prison for four years. And at that time, my partner signed some things over.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
So my law team, we've gotten together and discussed this. certain information and they feel that we need to move forward with following the RICO Act with Janice Combs. Puff's mother. Puff's mother.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
So because all of my publishing rights went to Janice Cohn, we're going to file the RICO Act against Janice Cohn. And we'll see where this conspiracy and fraudulent activity leads us.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
Again, I don't wanna touch on that. I'm here to discuss the RICO Act that we filed against Janice Combs, but I'll answer,
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
that question briefly so i don't take involvement in those parties i've never been to a sean combs or p diddy or pup daddy uh freak off party because those things are not of my interest with him i was more of i don't want to hang out with you in j-lo i don't want to party with you I need you to sign on the dotted line. I need my money. And that was my relationship with him.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
Just as I can probably tell, you can probably tell the arrogance that Sean Combs possessed. And I just stayed away from that. I will say, For me, as a man, and growing up in Los Angeles, California, with the type of codes that we have to honor when you have gang affiliation surrounding you. The video of Cassie broke my heart. It was sad. I have two daughters, a mother, sisters, aunts.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
But it's like, wow. You can kick on Cassie, but you don't want to stand up to Shug. You know, those were the things that crossed my mind.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
Not surprised. Not at all. Not at all surprised. You know, when you have a relationship with the streets, it comes with a code. So we already know the number one code is no snitching. And though, you know, people still snitch. But... We have a code that you don't even want to see your worst enemy behind bars. Jail is not nice. It's no guarantee that you're going to come home from jail.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
But there's also a code that follows under the no snitching clause. Man, you do the crime. You gotta do the time. You gotta be a stand up guy. You gotta go handle it.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
No, none of that. I've been to... Again, here we are on Sunset. Let's say I was at the House of Blues with him one night. Casual night. Suits and ties. Blazers, slacks. But it was more... Professional. And other than that, I would rather hang out with Black Rob, Mace, of course, Biggie. I used to be around him when he dated J-Lo, Jennifer Lopez. It was just the attention.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
Oh, man. Okay. So one place we used to go play basketball, I want to say at Westwood Rec. So we went to play basketball there. you're already dealing with enough uh people who's mesmerized by seeing him out you know whether they're driving down the street honking the horn but on the court you know everybody's like okay we got diddy out here but then
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
to have J-Lo out there as well it's like man you know everybody's looking males females the little dog in the park I mean you know everybody is you know it was a scene tuned in a scene yeah and Dion why now why speak out now You know, timing is everything. And I believe Cassie is my belief that Cassie showed us all. You know, you come to a point where enough is enough.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
And because of laws and the rules and regulations dealing with law. It allows you, in most situations, no statute of limitations. So we just felt like, my lawyers and I felt like this would be the time to go back and ask for what you've lost, because now people see the behavior and what type of person he was. See, before, you know, I'm going to say we.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
We as people who probably voted yesterday said, We tend to let things get out of hand and we don't really believe what's going on, especially with people who are famous, infamous or financially well off, that we have to wait till it's a time that people will believe like, OK, this person now is capable of this, committing this crime.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
nothing really I felt like the coercion and the fraudulent activity that happened with me in my life it enhanced my will to keep moving because it was things that after this is when I went back to school and obtained my education because I had to keep going I had to find a way to uh be successful and be able to take care of my family.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
Um, this was the situation where I knew I couldn't result to violence. I have no words for, um, no empathy, no sympathy. It's just, you know, but if I, but if I saw him, I probably would like stay strong. That would be my only words. Stay strong.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
So, you know, by this being my hometown. I knew how to maneuver through the community, through the streets. And I had a way of, you know, let's just say like everybody's aware that Suge Knight and, you know, Puffy had a situation. Suge is a big guy. I'm not a big guy. But I had the type of relationship with Suge that I could, you know, say, you know, Suge, you know, ease up.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
Not necessarily the area because he's from Compton. This is a distance from even where we are now. Where we are now, this is the scene. and my neighborhood is close to the scene. So it was like one of those things like,
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
they have a party across the street during the time back back in that time it was called the the uh roxbury it was a club right across the street if they had a party there or a night the hot night my guys myself we're going to be there because this is my area yeah can you tell us about that time when big would come and you said that they had performed at one point
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
So as I was walking in, it just brought back memories, made me smile. Because I remember the first night Big performed one of his songs. It was across the street at the Roxbury. And I happened to be on stage with him. It was nice. It was cool. People were like, oh, you know Big? I was like, yeah, you know, he's a good guy.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
I had a very close relationship with Big. I was actually with him the night he was murdered. You know, he was nothing like his music. I would say for him, he probably wrote music according to the lifestyle that he saw around him. Very humble guy, very cool guy, laid back. Not a rah-rah person. What was Puff like at that point? Sean... He was a little different. Me personally and not knocking him.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
You know, some people like bananas. Some people like cherries. Some people like grapes. He just wasn't the type of person that I enjoyed hanging out with.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
It wasn't about where we were coming from. It's about where we were. Everyone pretty much has heard the story. I want to say it was an after party for the BET Awards right down the street on Wilshire and Fairfax at the Auto Show Museum. Leaving the museum party, he was shot multiple times.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
it always puzzles me and I think about it constantly constantly no matter how long Big has been gone I think about it um The party ended because the fire marshal came in and shut it down because it was just so many people. When the fire marshal shut the party down, we were together. We took a couple of photos and we began to leave. I never understood.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
How he wasn't with me when we exit through the door. I never understood it. Today, I think about it more today, meaning in the last year that I felt like somebody literally lowered him away from me like like. Pulled him away and like, let's go this way. But, you know, it's an old saying, when you're in Rome, you do as the Romans. And I tried to explain that to him.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
You know, man, you can't just be moving around by yourself. You know, we know the culture. Unfortunately, in gang culture, people die. Unfortunately, you have some people who have a certain type of mentality or attitude characteristic that they don't care about the next person or who's around or even.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
if they might miss and hit someone else and, and, and with that comes, especially when you live around it, when your friends have lost their lives to these situations, you understand how to navigate through these streets. I'm here. I'm thankful. Um,
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
I truly believe that he would still be alive after that night. I don't know what the future would have brought, but that night he'd have made it home safely. He'd have made it to his hotel or place of residence, wherever he was sleeping. He would have made it home safely, made it there safely that night.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
Oh, definitely. You know, anything we do, it's tricks to the trade. You know how to troubleshoot things. You know how to maneuver around certain things.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
To me, you never hear people ask this question. And I saw so many interviews, but he never said to me what was going on with Puff and Bad Boy Entertainment. And it was a question of if you understood the business, you already knew what was going on. You know, some people don't understand if you come in with a kind heart, good intentions, these relationships, they will last.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
And I don't think that his relationship as far as the business with Puffy was fair. And I think that made, you know, Biggie unhappy. So I felt... that he was gonna do his own thing after I felt big was gonna do his own thing after the three album contract was over that he would have left oh definitely yeah definitely you could see you already had Junior Mafia being started you had Lil Kim
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
then he understood he's the hot guy now yeah and can you tell me how detrimental that would have been if big would have left bad boy and puff you kidding me oh man over yeah now this is just my opinion big leaves puff's not a star um I don't even know what happened with Craig Mack. I don't know what happened with Mase, but you could see the conflict with Mase, but Biggie leaving.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
No, no. I don't think he really had an issue. I mean, of course he didn't know that he was going to be murdered. I don't think that he thought Puffy was going to do anything to harm him. So it was no reason to.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
I don't want to answer that. I don't want to get into that.
The Trial of Diddy
Weekly Update: "No Sympathy"
Well, it's not hard to discuss the situation. But with the street moxie that I have, that's not a conversation that I should have on a podcast. Some of these guys get on these podcasts and talk about so many things. I'm like, man, that's...