Police: Slayings may be tied to gangster warfare

Jen Lawson

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 | 11:08 a.m.

Anthony "Fat Tone" Watkins was known in Kansas City, Mo., for his rap sheet just as well as for his rap music.

Friends said they weren't surprised to learn that Watkins, 24, and his friend Jermaine "Cowboy" Akins, 22, also of Kansas City, were found shot to death in a construction area near Southern Highlands in southwest Las Vegas early Monday.

Police are investigating whether the killings were the latest round in an reported battle between Midwest and West Coast gangster rappers -- reminiscent of the East Coast-West Coast rapper rivalry in the late 1990s that was blamed in the slayings of hip hop stars Tupac Shakur, whose 1996 Las Vegas murder remains unsolved, and Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace.

As for the Watkins and Akins slayings, "whether rapper stuff was involved or if there was another motive -- we have a lot of information coming in, and we're just trying to sort it all out," Metro Sgt. Mike Thompson said.

Police had not reported any arrests in the case as of this morning, but they said they are looking for three people believed to have information on the crimes: Andre "Mac Minister" Dow, 34, a rap artist and promoter, Tanisha Aaron, 27 and Jason Mathis, 24.

Thompson said Dow lives in Las Vegas, while Aaron and Mathis come to Las Vegas frequently and are believed to be from the San Francisco area.

Dow made headlines five years ago when he and another rapper brawled, along with their entourages, at the Source Awards, a nationally-televised hip hop awards show in California. The fights forced Pasadena authorities to shut down the show.

Watkins lived the gangster life he described in his lyrics, according to Alonzo Washington, a comic book artist and prominent activist in Kansas City's black community.

Officer Darin Snapp, spokesman for Kansas City Police, said Watkins was a known gang affiliate, meaning he "was in a gang, or close to it."

Three years ago police charged him and another man with two counts of murder in connection with a drive-by shooting of a pregnant 17-year-old girl, Shamika Posey, and her fetus, but the charges were dropped.

"Witnesses became uncooperative," John Liebnitz, spokesman for the Jackson County prosecutor's office, said. "No witnesses, no case, and we were forced to dismiss. Witnesses were afraid to come forward, afraid for their lives."

His most recent arrest was May 8, Mother's Day, when he was charged with domestic violence for allegedly beating the mother of his infant, Snapp said.

In November authorities had investigated Watkins as a "person of interest" in the drive-by shooting death of Vallejo, Calif., rapper Andre "Mac Dre" Hicks, 31, in Kansas City.

Hicks was gunned down after he refused to perform at a rap show that Watkins had a hand in organizing, Washington said, fueling rumors that Watkins had some involvement in the crime.

Following Hicks' death Watkins wrote a song in which he apparently bragged about the killing.

But authorities couldn't gather enough evidence against him and no charges were filed. Hicks' murder remains unsolved.

"Watkins and some of his followers were people police wanted to talk to after the murder, but he was never officially classified as a suspect," Liebnitz said. "He was a person of interest at the time of his murder."

Washington said he and others in Kansas City believe Watkins was killed in retaliation for Hicks' murder.

"It's not necessarily written in stone that his murder was directly related to the Mac Dre situation, but what it illustrates is that the lifestyle they were promoting led to violence," Washington said. "Now he (Watkins) is slain the same way as Mac Dre."

Washington persuaded a hip hop radio station to run public service announcements asking for the violence to stop, and he handed out fliers on the street.

Watkins and another rapper appeared earlier this year on the Larry Elder show, a national conservative public affairs television program. They spoke about violence and gangster rap, and Washington appeared to counter their statements and make a plea for peace.

On the show, Watkins said, "All there was for black youth in Kansas City was crime," Washington said.

However, others say it wasn't a rap rivalry but rather enemies Watkins made in the Kansas City community that led to his death.

"I'm pretty sure people were cheering when they heard about it," Mac Brown, a Kansas City resident who knew Watkins, said. "Too many people are laying in their graves because of the havoc he caused here."

But Watkins' former girlfriend, Charlene Henderson, said he was a sweet person who gave in to peer pressure, which led him down the wrong path.

"He loved to be on stage. He loved to hear and see people rapping his songs," she said. "If his life would have been a little bit different, I think he would have been a prosperous lyricist, I really do."

Watkins was shot in the abdomen about two years ago after leaving a radio station appearance, police said. After that, Henderson said, he released an album titled "The Untouchable."

After Hicks was slain Watkins penned a rap about killing the "Fizzleman," Hicks' nickname.

Although many people suspected Watkins in Hicks death, Henderson didn't.

"I asked him about it, and he said he wasn't involved," she said.

When people in Kansas City found out about Watkins' murder Tuesday, "a lot of people are saying, 'You know the reason why he's gone. Those Cali(fornia) people got him,'th" Henderson said.

She said Watkins always had a big entourage, and when she was with him, he always tried to make sure he was safe.

"He was young and lived a wild life and had a fast life," she said, adding that she had a feeling that one day something bad would happen to him as a result. "That's why I started venturing off from him."

Watkins liked to gamble and was known to throw dice at the riverboat casinos to earn extra money, Henderson said.

Brown said he believes Watkins might have been lured to California with the promise of a record deal, brought to Las Vegas under the guise of gambling and then taken to an area near Southern Highlands and shot.

"A number of people wanted his head here," he said. "He had so much blood on his hands, it was just a matter of time."

Akins, the man found slain with Watkins, had two warrants out of Kansas City, Kansas for aggravated assault and assault on a police officer, authorities said.

Hicks wasn't the first California rapper to die in Kansas City. A year ago San Diego rapper Ramone C. Davis was found shot in a house. No arrests have been made in that case.

Washington said he is disappointed that his activism didn't prevent another death, but he hopes the violence won't continue.

"When you live by the sword, you die by it," he said. "It's always sad when the violence they (rappers) promote results in violence in real life.

"I don't know what the call to arms will be. The next time a West Coast rapper comes to Kansas City there could be some more violence. But I want to make sure it stops here."