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Blood Money: The Master P and C-Murder Family Fracture · The Breakfast Club

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: This episode contains graphic depictions of violence, murder, and disturbing
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: content involving the death of a minor. The case discussed
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: involves ongoing legal proceedings and family conflicts. Listener discretion is
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: strongly advised. January 12, 2002, Avondale, Louisiana. 16-year-old Steve Thomas'
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: bedroom walls told a story about Posters of sea murder
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: covered every surface. The rapper mid-performance, album covers from Life
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: or Death and Bossolini, magazine cutouts carefully arranged. Steve had
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: decorated the shrine himself, spending his allowance and birthday money
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: on merchandise from his favorite artist. Steve wasn't a troubled kid.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: He wasn't involved in gangs or drugs. He was a
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: normal teenager who loved hip-hop, played basketball with his friends,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: and helped his mother, Dolores, around the house. His parents,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: George and Dolores Thomas, had raised him in a working-class
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Black neighborhood just outside New Orleans, teaching him respect, hard work,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: and faith. But Steve had one obsession, sea murder. The
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: rapper from New Orleans who had made it big with
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: his brothers, Master P, and soaked a shocker. To Steve,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: C-Murder wasn't just entertainment. He was proof that kids from
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: neighborhoods like theirs could make it, could build something, could escape.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: That Saturday night, January 12th, Steve Thomas heard that C-Murder
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: was performing at the Platinum Club in Harvey, just a
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: few miles from his house. The club was above Rainbow
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Lane's Bowling Alley, a venue Steve had passed by a
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: hundred times. He was only 16, too young to get
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: in legally, but this was C-Murder, his idol, the man
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: whose lyrics he knew by heart. Steve borrowed a friend's ID.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: He told his parents he was going out with friends.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: At 16, he thought he was invincible. He thought meeting
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: his hero would be the best night of his life.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Steve had no idea he had less than five hours
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: to live. By midnight, the Platinum Club was packed. As
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: many as 300 people crammed into a space that could
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: barely hold 200. The air was thick with smoke, sweat,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: and anticipation. C-Murder was on stage performing hits from his
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Platinum albums. The crowd knew every word. Their hands in
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: the air, bodies pressed together on the dance floor. Steve
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Thomas had made it inside. He was living his dream,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: watching his idol perform just feet away. During a rap
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: contest portion of the show, Steve, eager, excited, just wanting
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: to be close to the man he admired, stepped off
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: the stage. He moved towards Sea Murder's entourage, perhaps hoping
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: for an autograph, maybe just wanting to be near his hero.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: What happened next would be debated in courtrooms for 20 years.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: But one thing is certain, 16-year-old Steve Thomas would never
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: go home. Around 1 a.m., an altercation erupted near the
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: dance floor. Witnesses would later describe Steve suddenly surrounded by
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: C-Murder's entourage, at least 15 grown men, members of the
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: rapper's security and crew. They began attacking the teenager with
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: shocking brutality. Kenneth Jordan, who was at the club that night,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: would later testify about what he saw. A child being punched, kicked,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: and stomped out by a group of adult men. Steve Thomas, 5'8,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: maybe 150 pounds, soaking wet, didn't stand a chance against
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: 15 attackers. The beating was vicious. Steve tried to protect himself,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: tried to curl up, tried to survive. But the blows
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: kept coming. He fell to the floor, bloodied and defenseless,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: his face swelling, his body going limp from the assault.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Then the beating stopped for a moment. there was near
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: silence in the chaos. Steve Thomas lay on his back
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: on the club floor, barely conscious, surrounded by the men
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: who had just brutalized him. And then C-Murder, according to
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: multiple witnesses, pulled out a handgun. Darnell Jordan Sr., a
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: bouncer at the Platinum Club, was standing close enough to
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: see everything. He would later tell a jury, I saw Mr. Miller.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: He meant C-Murder, whose real name is Corey Miller. pull
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: out a silver gun and shoot the victim while he
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: was lying on his back defenseless. Kenneth Jordan, another witness,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: saw the same thing. He would testify that he had
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: no doubt about who pulled the trigger. Steve Thomas, the
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: teenager who had come to see his idol perform... who
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: had decorated his bedroom walls with posters of C-Murder, who
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: had borrowed an ID just to be in the same
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: room as the rapper he admired, lay on the floor
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: of the Platinum Club with a gunshot wound to his chest.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: The bullet had entered his chest and torn through his lung.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: As panic erupted in the club, as people screamed and ran,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: as C-Murder and his entourage fled the scene, Steve Thomas
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: was dying on the floor, surrounded by strangers. Paramedics rushed
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Steve to West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero, less than
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: a mile away. For an hour, doctors fought to save
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: the 16-year-old's life, but the damage was too severe. The
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: bullet had destroyed too much. At 2.31 a.m. on January 13, 2002,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Steve Thomas was pronounced dead. The boy who idolized C-Murder,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: who had saved his allowance to buy his albums, who
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: had covered his bedroom walls with the rapper's image, had
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: been killed, allegedly, by the man he admired most. Back
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: in Avondale, George and Dolores Thomas were about to receive
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: the phone call that every parent dreads. Their son was dead.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Their baby boy, who had just been excited to see
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: a concert, was gone. Murdered. and the man accused of
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: killing him, he was already gone, fleeing the scene, beginning
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: a game of cat and mouse with police that would
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: last six days. For the Miller family, Master P, Silk
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: the Shocker, and the rest of the No Limit empire,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: January 12, 2002 marked the beginning of a nightmare that
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: would cost them millions of dollars, destroy family relationships, and
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: force them to answer an impossible question. How far does
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: family loyalty extend? when your brother is accused of murdering
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: a child. To understand how the Miller family reached that
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: breaking point, you have to go back to where it
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: all started, the Calio Projects in New Orleans' Third Ward.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: In the 1970s and the 1980s, Calio was one of
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: the most dangerous housing developments in America, a place where poverty, violence,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: and despair were constant, where making it to adulthood was
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: an accomplishment in itself. Percy Robert Miller, also known as
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Master P, was born there in 1970. His brother, Cory,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: arrived in 1971. Another brother, Vaishan, who would become Silk
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: the Shocker, came in 1977. They grew up with their sister, Jermaine,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: in a household that struggled with everything from money to stability.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Their father regularly beat their mother. She would take the
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: children and leave, sometimes disappearing for months. On one occasion,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: She went on a church trip to North Carolina and
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: came back with a boyfriend, leaving their father to discover
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: his children were simply gone one day. It was four
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: or five months before she even told them where they were.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: The Miller children learned early about chaos, about violence, about
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: family dysfunction. But they also learned about loyalty and the
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: projects all you had was family. You protected your own.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: You never forgot where you came from. When Percy Miller
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: inherited $ 10, 000 after his grandfather's death in a malpractice settlement,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: he made a choice that would change everything. Instead of
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: spending it on himself, he invested it in a record
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: store in Richmond, California. That record store became No Limit Records.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: And from day one, the plan was to bring his
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: brothers with him. By the mid-1990s, the Miller brothers had
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: achieved something extraordinary. Master P had built No Limit into
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: one of the most successful independent hip-hop empires in history,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: worth over $ 200 million at its peak. See Murderer's 1998 album,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Life or Death, peaked at number three on the Billboard
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: 200 and went platinum. Soak the Shocker was also selling
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: millions of records. They called themselves True, T-R-U, The Real Untouchables.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: And for a moment, they really seemed to be untouchable.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: Three brothers from the Calio Projects now living in mansions,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: driving luxury cars, building a dynasty. But success couldn't erase
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: the lessons learned in Calio. And for Corey Miller, See Murder,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: those lessons ran deep. Where Master P was calculating and business-minded,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: C-Murder was impulsive and street-oriented. After high school, Corey enlisted
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: in the United States Army, serving as a combat medic
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: during the Gulf War. But military discipline couldn't contain his
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: anger or his attraction to violence. His music reflected that.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: that darkness. Songs like Down For My Niggas weren't just entertainment.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: They were autobiography. When C-Murder rapped about violence, about street life,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: about being a no-limit soldier, he meant every word. His
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: lyrics had a conviction that came from living the life
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: he described. By the late 1990s, the warning signs were everywhere.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: C-Murder carried guns. He got into altercations. His temper was legendary.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: In court records from his later trials, psychologists would describe
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: the man with deep-seated rage issues, someone who responded to
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: disrespect with immediate and often violent confrontation. In 2001, at
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Club Rags in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, C-Murder tried to shoot
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: a bouncer and club owner who wouldn't let him enter
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: with his firearm. His gun jammed. preventing what could have
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: been a deadly shooting. He was arrested and charged with
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: attempted second-degree murder. For Master P, that should have been
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: the moment. His brother was pulling guns in nightclubs, getting
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: arrested for attempting to murder people over minor disputes. But
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: family loyalty ran deep, and Master P's response was to
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: provide the best legal representation money could buy. The case
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: was pending on January 12, 2002. when C-Murder decided to
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: perform at the Platinum Club. He was out on bail
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: for trying to shoot someone, and he was carrying a
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: gun to another nightclub. The pattern was set, and it
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: was about to become deadly. What Master P didn't know
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: was that his brother wasn't just troubled. According to prosecutors
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: and witnesses, C-Murder was dangerous, and on that January night,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: a 16-year-old fan named Steve Thomas would pay the ultimate
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: price for the Miller family's inability to confront that truth.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: Stick around to hear more on Bloodline Crimes after this
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: brief break. Welcome back to Bloodline Crimes. Let's continue our story.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: At 2.31 a.m. on January 13, 2002, as Steve Thomas
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: was pronounced dead at West Jefferson Medical Center in C-Murder
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: was nowhere to be found. He had fled the Platinum
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Club immediately after the shooting, disappearing into the New Orleans night.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: For six days, one of the most recognizable rappers in
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: America evaded police. Six days while Steve Thomas' parents grieved.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Six days while witnesses gave statements. Six days while the
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Miller family tried to figure out what to do. Master
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: P knew his brother had been at the club. He
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: knew there had been a shooting. and he knew that
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: C-Murder was running, which made him look guilty. But Master
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: P had built his empire on the principle of family loyalty.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: You don't abandon your brother. You don't believe the worst.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: You protect your own. On January 18, 2002, six days
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: after Steve Thomas died, C-Murder was arrested at the House
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: of Blues in New Orleans for causing a disturbance. Within hours,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: he was charged with second-degree murder in the death of
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Steve Thomas. The evidence against C. Murder seemed strong. Multiple witnesses,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: including club security, had identified him as the shooter. The
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: murder weapon was never recovered, but witnesses described C. Murder
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: pulling out a silver handgun and shooting Steve as the
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: teenager lay helpless on the floor. Kenneth Jordan reports. one
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: of the key witnesses told police he had no doubt
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: about what he saw. He described watching C-Murder's entourage beat
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Steve Thomas, then watching C-Murder himself shoot the boy. Darnell
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Jordan Sr., a bouncer, gave similar testimony. He said he
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: saw Corey Miller, C-Murder, pull out a gun and shoot
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: the victim while he was lying defenseless on his back.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: But C-Murder claimed he was innocent. According to his story,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: He had been in a back room of the club
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: when the shooting happened. He heard gunfire, he said, but
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: didn't see anything. He didn't shoot anyone. And as for
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: why he fled, because he was on bail for another case,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: because he had a criminal record, because as a black
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: man with gang affiliations, he knew he would be blamed
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: regardless of the truth. Master P faced an impossible choice.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: The evidence against his brother looked bad, really bad. Multiple witnesses,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: a dead teenager, a murder charge that could mean life
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: in prison. But this was his brother, the same brother
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: he'd brought into No Limit Records, the same brother he'd
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: protect their whole lives, the same brother who had stood
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: by him as they built an empire together. The decision
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: came down to loyalty versus truth. And Master P chose loyalty.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: He assembled the best legal team money could buy. He
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: prepared to spend whatever it took, millions of dollars if necessary,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: to defend his brother. Because that's what family does. That's
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: what the Miller brothers had always done. You protect your own,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: no matter what. The first trial began in 2003. Prosecutors
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: laid out a damning case. C. Murder and his entourage
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: had brutally beaten a teenage fan. Then C. Murder had
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: shot him while he lay defenseless. The prosecution had eyewitnesses.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: They had testimony from club security. They had a dead
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: teenager whose only crime was being a fan. The defense
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: argued that witnesses were unreliable. that the club had been chaotic,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: that C-Murder had been targeted because of who he was.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: They painted a picture of a successful black entertainer being
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: railroaded by a criminal justice system that wanted to make
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: an example of him. The jury sided with the prosecution.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: C-Murder was convicted of second-degree murder. But then something unexpected happened.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: The trial judge threw out the guilty verdict, ruling that
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: prosecutors had improperly withheld criminal background information about key witnesses.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: The Louisiana Supreme Court agreed C-Murder would get a new trial.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: For Master P, this was vindication. The system was corrupt.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: The prosecutors had cheated. His brother was innocent, and the
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: truth was finally coming out. But for George and Dolores Thomas,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Steve's parents, the ruling was devastating. Their son's killer had
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: been convicted, and now he was getting another chance. And
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: in years between trials, something troubling began to happen. Witnesses
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: in the case began claiming they were being harassed. Kenneth Jordan,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: who had testified that he had no doubt see murder
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: was the shooter, later claimed that Jefferson Parish deputies had
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: threatened him with a 10-year prison sentence if he didn't testify.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: He said police had coerced his testimony. that he'd been afraid,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: that he hadn't actually seen what he said he saw.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Other witnesses maintained their stories. Donnell Jordan Sr., the bouncer,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: never wavered. He had seen C-Murder shoot Steve Thomas. He
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: was certain he would testify to it again. The case
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: had become a spectacle, a test of whether money and
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: fame could buy freedom or whether justice would prevail for
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: a murdered teenager from a working-class family. The second trial
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: began in August 2009, seven years after Steve Thomas died.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Seven years during which Master P had spent millions on
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: legal fees. Seven years during which C-Murder sat in jail
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: awaiting trial. Seven years during which the Thomas family waited
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: for justice. This time, the prosecution's case was even stronger.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: They had refined their witness testimony. They had addressed the
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: defense's arguments. They had a clear, compelling narrative. C-Murder had
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: murdered a teenager in cold blood, and no amount of
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: money should allow him to escape justice. The defense stuck
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: to their story. C-Murder was innocent, witnesses had been coerced,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: and the real killer had never been found. The jury
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: deliberated for hours. The case had divided them from the start.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: Some absolutely convinced of C-Murder's guilt, others harboring doubts. Under
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Louisiana law at the time, only 10 of 12 jurors
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: needed to agree for a conviction. When they finally reached
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: a verdict, it was 10 to 2 for guilty. But
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: that verdict came with troubling allegations. Mary Jacob, one of
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: the jurors who had voted to acquit, later claimed that
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: she and another juror had been verbally abused by fellow
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: jurors for refusing to convict. According to Jacob, the abuse
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: was so severe that it made a 20-year-old student on
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: the jury physically ill. She ran into the bathroom. Jacob
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: recalled she was throwing her guts up. She couldn't function anymore.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: That's when I decided. You want him to be guilty?
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: He's guilty. Now let's get the hell out of here.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: Jacobs claims suggested that at least one juror may have
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: changed their vote, not because of evidence, but because of
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: pressure from other jurors. But the verdict stood on August 14th, 2009,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: seven and a half years after Steve Thomas died. See,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: murder was sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: of parole and no not money, not fame, not family
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: could change that. C-Murder's conviction should have been the end.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: But for the Miller family, it was just the beginning
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: of a 20-year legal battle that would cost them millions
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: of dollars and test the very foundations of their brotherhood.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: Master P continued to fund appeal after appeal. The exact
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: amount the family spent on C-Murder's defense has never been
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: publicly disclosed, but legal experts estimate it could be well
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: into the millions. High-powered criminal defense attorneys don't come cheap,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: and the Miller family was hiring the best. For Master P,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: every dollar spent was worth it, if it meant freeing
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: his brother. The financial cost was only part of the burden.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: The emotional toll was devastating. By the 2010s, Master P's
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: own empire was shrinking. No Limit Records, once valued at
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: over $ 200 million, had declined significantly. The hip-hop landscape had changed.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: and Master P's business focus had shifted to other ventures.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: But C-Murder's legal bills were still constant, consuming resources that
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: might have been used to rebuild or invest. Family relationships
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: strained under pressure, C-Murder sitting in Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: one of America's most notorious prisons, grew increasingly frustrated. He
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: felt abandoned, forgotten, trapped while his more famous brother lived
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: in luxury. Master P felt unappreciated. He was spending millions
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: of dollars, dedicating enormous time and energy to his brother's
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: case and getting nothing but criticism in return. The burden
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: of being the successful brother, the one everyone looked to
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: for money and solutions, was crushing. Then, in 2018, something
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: remarkable happened. Kenneth Jordan and another witness recanted their testimony.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: In a sworn affidavit, Kenneth Jordan stated, I know the
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: individual that I saw shoot the gun was not Corey Miller.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: He claimed that Jefferson Parish deputies had threatened him with
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: a 10-year prison sentence if he didn't testify against C-Murder.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: He said he had been coerced, that his original testimony
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: had been a lie. For the Miller family, this was
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: the vindication they had been waiting for. C-Murder was innocent.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: The witnesses had lied. The system was corrupt. Everything they
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: had believed and fought for was true. But the recantations
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: raised troubling questions. Why had it taken Kenneth Jordan 16
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: years to tell this new story? Why recant now after
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: all this time? And why was the other witness, Darnell
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: Jordan Sr., who had positively identified C-Murder as the shooter,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: now suddenly uncertain? To believe C-Murder was innocent, you had
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: to believe that multiple witnesses had all lied. That club
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: security had lied. That police had coerced testimony. That a
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: massive conspiracy had framed an innocent man for murder. Or
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: you had to believe what prosecutors and the Thomas family
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: had always maintained. That a violent man with a history
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: of pulling guns in nightclubs had murdered a teenage fan.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: And that wealthy family members had spent millions of dollars
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: trying to create reasonable doubt where none existed. The court
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: sided with the prosecution. Despite the recantations, C. Murder's conviction stood.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Multiple appeals were denied. The Louisiana Supreme Court found that
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: even without Kenneth Jordan's testimony, there was overwhelming evidence of guilt. C.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Murder remains in prison to this day, and the cost
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: of that imprisonment to both families is incalculable. By 2020,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: C-Murder had been in prison for 18 years. Master P
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: had spent nearly two decades and millions of dollars fighting
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: for his brother's freedom. The strain on the Miller family
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: was immense and mostly private. Then, Kim Kardashian got involved.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: The reality TV star and criminal justice reform advocate working
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: with C-Murder's ex-girlfriend, singer Monica, announced that she would use
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: her resources and platform to fight for his release. For
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Master P, this should have been welcome news. More attention,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: more pressure on the system, more hope. But instead, the
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: situation sparked the most public family feud the Miller brothers
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: had ever had. C-Murder began publicly praising Kardashian and Monica,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: thanking them for their support and dedication to his case.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: In post after post from prison, he highlighted their efforts
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: while barely mentioning his own family. To Master P, it
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: felt like a slap in the face. He had spent
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: 20 years and millions of dollars fighting for his brother,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: and Now See Murder was acting like celebrities who had
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: just gotten involved were the real heroes. On August 21, 2020,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Master P reached his breaking point. In a seven-minute Instagram
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: video that would be viewed by hundreds of thousands of people,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: he unleashed his frustration with his ungrateful brother. He said,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Master P continued, his frustration pouring out. Everything is not
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: about money. I'm tired of family members looking at me
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: like an ATM. I have went above and beyond for
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: all of my family members, whether they deserve it or not,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: and most of them are ungrateful. The message was clear.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: Master P felt used after two decades of support, after
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: millions of dollars spent. After endless emotional energy dedicated to
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: his brother's case, he felt taken for granted. And worse,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: he felt like C-Murder was manipulating the narrative to make
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: himself look like a victim and his family look like
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: they hadn't done enough. The video shocked the hip hop
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: world and revealed the deep fractures in a family that
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: had always presented a united front. Monica, caught in the middle,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: responded forcefully. You cannot speak on me because you do
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: not know me. This matter is between you men. Your
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: brothers leave me out of this because my efforts have
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: been the same. Within 24 hours, Master P had deleted
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: the video and posted an apology. He and C-Murder publicly reconciled,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: with Master P visiting his brother at Angola and both
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: brothers posting about their renewed commitment to family. But the
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: damage was done. The cost of C-Murder's case, financial, emotional, relational,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: had been laid bare for the world to see. The
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Miller family, which had built its empire on brotherhood and loyalty...
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: had fractured in the most public way possible. Today, C-Murder
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: remains at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. He is serving
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. Kim
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Kardashian continues to advocate for his release, citing new evidence
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: and witness recantations. Master P visits his brother regularly and
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: supports his appeals, though the relationship has been forever changed
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: by two decades of strain. lost in all the drama
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: about money and loyalty and celebrity advocacy is the reason
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: any of this happened. On January 12, 2002, 16-year-old Steve
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Thomas was shot to death at a nightclub. He died
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: because he wanted to see his favorite rapper perform. He
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: died because he was a fan. George and Dolores Thomas
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: have spent over 20 years seeking justice for their son,
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: while watching the Miller family's drama play out in public.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: They've had to hear C-Murder's music on the radio describing
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: violence and street life. They've had to watch Master P
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: talk about family loyalty while their family has a permanent
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: hole in it. They've had to see Kim Kardashian advocate
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: for the man they believe murdered their child. In court
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: papers and victim impact statements, the Thomas family had made
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: clear their position. C-Murder killed their son. The jury convicted
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: him twice. The evidence was overwhelming. And no amount of money,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: no number of celebrity advocates, no witness recantation 16 years
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: after the fact changed what happened in the Platinum Club
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: on January 12, 2002. Steve Thomas' bedroom, the one with
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: C-Murder posters on every wall, is long gone now. His
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: parents had to pack up those posters. Those magazines, those
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: T-shirts their son had bought with his allowance, they had
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: to pack up the belongings of a 16-year-old boy whose
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: only crime was being a fan. The civil court awarded
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: the Thomas family $ 1. 15 million in damages, money C-Murder will
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: never be able to pay from prison. But the money
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: was never the point. The point was acknowledgement. The point
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: was justice. Meanwhile, the debate continues. Online forums argue endlessly
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: about whether C-Murder is innocent. Some cite the witness recantations
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: and claim he was railroaded. Others point to multiple witnesses
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: who never changed. their stories, the jury convictions, the courts
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: that have repeatedly denied his appeals. Here's what we know
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: for certain on January 12, 2002. Steve Thomas went to
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: see C. Murder perform at the Platinum Club. Hours later,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: he was dead from a gunshot wound to the chest.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Multiple witnesses, including club security, identified C. Murder as the shooter.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: He was convicted twice by juries who had heard all
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: the evidence. We also know some witnesses later recanted, claiming
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: they were coerced. Louisiana's criminal justice system has serious problems
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: with racial bias and wrongful convictions, and the Miller family
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: has spent millions of dollars fighting for C-Murder's freedom, which
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: they genuinely believe he deserves. Both things can be true.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: The system can be broken and C-Murder can be guilty.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: The Miller family faced an impossible choice that has haunted
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: them for two decades. When your brother is accused of murder,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: what do you do? Do you believe the police and prosecutors?
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: Or do you believe your family? Do you risk everything
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: you've built to defend him? Or do you accept that
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: the brother you love might have done something unforgivable? Master P.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: chose loyalty. He spent millions of dollars. He sacrificed relationships.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: He publicly defended his brother for 20 years, even when
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: the evidence looked damning, even when the emotional cost was crushing,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: even when his own brother seemed ungrateful. Was that the
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: right choice? Depends on who you ask. Ask the Thomas family,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: and they'll tell you Master P enabled a killer, that
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: his money and influence allowed C-Murder to drag out justice
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: for two decades. Ask Master P, and he'll tell you
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: he did what any brother would do, stood by his
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: family when the world was against them, fought for someone
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: he loves who he believes is innocent. Ask C Murder,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: and he'll tell you he's an innocent man, destroyed by
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: a corrupt system, and that his brother could have done more,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: given more, fought harder. The truth as always, is probably
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: more complicated than any single narrative allows. You've been listening
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: to Bloodline Crimes, a Black Effect original podcast. This episode
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: was written by Tamika Younger and produced by Adam Avalos.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Morgan Wood, with research from Louisiana court records,
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Jefferson Parish police files, trial transcripts, and family. If you
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: or someone you know is struggling with violence, grief, or
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: family conflict, help is available. The National Domestic Violence Hotline
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: is available 24-7 at 1-800-799-7233. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: is available 24-7 at 988. And the Crisis Text Line
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: is available by texting HOME to 741741. Next week, we'll
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: explore another case where family bonds become deadly ties. Follow
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: and review Bloodline Crimes on all podcast streaming platforms. For
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: more podcasts from the Black Effect Podcast Network, visit the
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: favorite shows.