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Skanbino Mob Murder A Accident
Was Flint rapper Marcus Mosley, known as Young Kee to fans, accidentally shot by one of his own acquaintances?
Family members of Mosley, 32, said Tuesday that they have received apologies from callers who told them Mosley wasn't shot intentionally.
But the callers say they can't and won't come forward for fear of trouble with the law, said a woman who identified herself as one of Mosley's aunts but asked not to be named.
Gangsta rappers Skanbino Mob made their mark rhyming about killings and street violence.
Within the span of 72 hours, two separate shootings claimed the lives of Skanbino members Bone Skanless and Young Kee, both 32.
The two killings sent sales of their music skyrocketing Monday.
Demand for Skanbino Mob's "Playin' Fa Keeps" CD on Amazon.com took the group's sales rank from No. 293,427 on Sunday to No. 7,466 on Monday.
The 13-track CD includes tracks "Callin All Killaz" and "Shut Yo Spot Down" and has numerous references to drive-by shootings, drugs and shooting police.
Young rap fans who went to a Flint record store Monday morning looking for Skanbino Mob items left empty-handed; they were told the store was sold out.
The slayings cast a pall over the Flint and Saginaw rap community, where Skanless - real name Deion J.L. Smith - was considered a godfather of the hip-hop scene.
"Bone was an underground Tupac," said Ray Pierson, owner of Ray's Music in Saginaw. "Everybody respected his music."
Smith died in a hail of AK-47 gunfire from a drive-by shooting outside his Alma Avenue home Friday night. A woman with Smith was critically wounded in the attack but is expected to survive.
The second killing was discovered about 1 a.m. Monday when Marcus Mosley - who performed as Young Kee - was found shot to death on Lawndale Avenue near Dayton Street.
Investigators said they have no evidence to link the two slayings but have not ruled out a connection.
"We're collecting bits and pieces of information," said Flint police Sgt. Terry Coon.
No arrests have been made, but Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said police have reliable information pointing to a suspect in "at least one of the shootings."
Police also impounded a car that matched the description of the vehicle used in Smith's slaying after a man abandoned it at a gas station on Carpenter Road on Sunday morning when he saw police.
Smith, who once survived being shot five times at close range, was acquitted of a murder charge in 2002 in the shooting death of a Flint man. He was on probation for gun possession when he was killed.
Mosley also ran into trouble after the release of "Playin' Fa Keeps," when he was caught with a gun in his waistband during a 2001 drug bust. Police also found $20,000 hidden in a football.
Mosley denied having the gun but was sentenced to a year of probation in 2005. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison in 1994 for cocaine possession.
A relative of Mosley who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Mosley recently had been working as a producer and was proud of his music accomplishments.
"Trouble follows you around," the relative said of Mosley's run-ins with the law.
Several hours before his body was found, Mosley's family began worrying for his safety after they started receiving mysterious phone calls telling them that Marcus had been shot.
"We had been looking for him half the day," the family member said. "After we got the calls that told us he'd been shot, we were very worried. We tried calling him, but he would not answer."
Five years ago, Mosley's brother - Meco Thomas - was shot to death outside a Flint market in a still-unsolved slaying.
Just before Mosley disappeared, the relative said Mosley was stunned by Smith's slaying, but didn't discuss it with other family members.
Smith's death came just two weeks after his 5-year-old niece was killed in a drive-by shooting on Carpenter Road in Genesee Township.
One member of the Flint rap scene said the city has taken a huge hit with the slayings of Smith and Mosley.
But Kerry Horton, organizer of Stop the Violence, was mum on what is behind the rash of violence in Flint.
"The streets are too hot right now," said Horton.
The community needs to come together to put an end to the violence, Leyton said.
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