Irv Gotti

Irv Gotti

Irving Lorenzo (born June 26, 1970 in Hollis, Queens, New York City, New York, United States), better known by his stage name Young or black Gotti, is a prominent member of hip hop and R&B record producer and is the head of The Inc. (Formerly Murder Inc.) record label. Gotti is a stage surname and he is of African-American, and Dominican descent.

Career

He has signed and/or produced such prominent acts as Ja Rule, Ashanti, Vita, Caddillac Tah, Black Child, Charli Baltimore, Bobby Brown, Purple Entertainment, and Lloyd. He has appeared in videos for Ashanti's "Foolish" and Ja Rule's the school "Down 4 U." He also produced various tracks on DMX's first two albums.

In 2004, The Inc came under investigation for allegedly laundering money through the label for New York City drug kingpin Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff. On January 25 2005, Lorenzo and his brother Chris turned themselves in, alleging their innocence. They were released on $1 million bail, and will not be tried alongside McGriff for the charges against them [1].

On November 16, 2005, the federal prosecutor Sean Haran said in his opening statement at U.S. District Court that Irving Lorenzo and his brother Christopher "used their corporate bank accounts to clean drug money". According to Haran, convicted drug dealer Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, had shopping bags and shoe boxes full of cash delivered to the label's Manhattan office in 2000. The company then cut McGriff $280,000 in checks. Authorities alleged that McGriff was permitted to funnel more than $1 million in drug money through Murder Inc. in return for serving as the label's protector and enforcer. Prosecutors additionally claim that the Lorenzos knew about a murder plot against platinum-selling rapper 50 Cent [2]. On December 2, 2005, Irving Lorenzo and his brother Christopher were acquitted of all money laundering charges. The courtroom erupted in cheers and a few jurors congratulated them. The brothers could have faced up to 20 years in prison. The defense countered all along that the brothers were victims of guilt by association with Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff. [3]

Gotti co-produced Vanessa Carlton's third album, Heroes and Thieves, with Channel 7, Rick Rubin and Stephan Jenkins, which was released October 9, 2007.

Personal Life

He is separated from his wife, Debbie Lorenzo and they have two sons named Sonny (11) and JJ (8). Deb has a daughter named Angie (16) from a previous relationship whom Irv has raised as his own since she was approximately 1 years old. He is the only father that she has ever known. [4]

They have a family home located in New Rochelle, New York, where Debbie and the children still reside. As of October 15th, Irv has a reality TV show "Gotti's Way".

External links

• Exclusive Video Interview With Irv Gotti
• Irv Gotti at IMDb
• Interview with Irv Gotti on Running a Record Label
• www.murderinc-online.com Biggest The Inc / Murder Inc Fansite
• Gotti's Way

Interview with Wendy Williams: http://www.zshare.net/audio/33979583c5a55d/