"What's in a name" old Willy Shakespeare once mused. Well the Murder Inc record label is doing quite a good job of living up to its name (even if they do tend to trade by the rather more cosy sounding 'The Inc' these days).
The latest 'Inc' name to be involved in some legal dealings is Ja Rule. He has been named at the centre of a federal investigation into who shot two men outside Club LQ in Manhattan last Christmas, apparently linked to the shooting by surveillance video tape footage.
We should stress that Ja is co-operating with the authorities and hasn't actually been arrested with anything relating to the case. Which is very fortunate for him because it's only a few months since he escaped jail time for beating up a clubber in Canada after striking a plea deal and, of course, he was arrested last summer for driving without a licence and with cannabis, all of which means he's really meant to be on his best behaviour just now.
Anyway, police have revealed that video footage shows Ja Rule's posse leaving Club LQ at around 3.30am, just as two men - William Clark and Troy Moore - were walking nearby. Ja Rule's car is then apparently seen coming to a halt, after which one of his bodyguards taps on the car window and saying: "Come with me, it's coming down." Then, according to the New York Post, shots were fired from the rapper's car, seriously injuring Moore and killing Clark.
All of this does seem to be linked to other Murder Inc related incidents. Moore, as it happens, is the brother of Tyran 'Tah Tah' Moore, currently cooling his heels in jail in New York while awaiting sentencing on a federal weapons charge. Tah Tah is a former associate of the Murder Inc boss Irv 'Gotti' Lorenzo and notorious crack dealer (and alleged Murder Inc associate) Kenneth McGriff. Tah Tah and McGriff's names came up last year during the ill conceived public hostilities between Ja Rule and 50 Cent. Fiddy claimed Tah Tah and McGriff had been behind an attempt to shoot him.
Hmm...Peace and Love Inc. Now, that's got a nice ring to it.