Accused South Los Angeles gang kingpin Eugene Henley Jr. was newly charged July 29 with soliciting two fellow jail inmates to murder or seriously injure a witness against him in a racketeering case.
Henley, 59, also known as “Big U,” was already facing federal conspiracy charges for running what investigators say was a “mafia-like” criminal enterprise that included murder, human trafficking and extortion.
He was also allegedly linked to the 2021 killing of an aspiring rapper in Las Vegas, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. A federal grand jury in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday charged Henley with seven additional felonies: two counts of solicitation to commit a crime of violence, two counts of tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant, one count of conspiracy to transport an individual in interstate commerce with intent that the individual engage in prostitution, and two counts of wire fraud.
Henley’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A 43-count indictment filed in March 2025 accuses him of a single count of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, along with multiple counts of robbery, extortion, wire fraud and embezzlement.
Before he surrendered to authorities last year, Henley, a self-described anti-gang activist from the South L.A. community of Hyde Park, posted videos on social media denying any wrongdoing. “Ain’t going to be no real evidence,” Henley posted. “Ain’t going to be no real nothing … Now, they’re saying all that stuff to assassinate my character.”
Henley and a half-dozen others are scheduled to go to trial in Los Angeles federal court in February 2027. According to the superseding indictment returned Wednesday, Henley asked two inmates last month about the layout of a housing unit in a downtown lock-up where he believed a witness against him was being held. Henley allegedly offered to pay the inmates to kill or harm the witness to prevent him from testifying at trial against members of what prosecutors refer to as Henley’s organization.
Henley also is charged with allegedly paying co-defendant Armani Aflleje, 39, of Koreatown, to transport women across state lines to engage in prostitution. In November 2022, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Henley paid Aflleje $1,000 via Zelle to rent a car to transport the women from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.
Prosecutors contend Aflleje sent text messages to Henley of photographs of the women she was transporting. The following week, Henley sent Aflleje an additional $500 for the trip, the updated indictment alleges.
From November 2022 to January 2023, Henley and Aflleje schemed to rent vehicles and locate women on multiple occasions to engage in prostitution, prosecutors say. A magistrate judge in April 2025 ordered Henley to remain in federal custody while awaiting trial. Prosecutors successfully argued that the defendant would present a threat to the community, the victims and witnesses if allowed to go free.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, for decades Henley “has put on a public facade, masquerading as a reformed gang member and legitimate businessman whose only ambition was to better his community. But the defendant wasn’t helping Crenshaw. He was helping himself.”
In their argument for pretrial detention, prosecutors wrote that Henley was “secretly operating as kingpin of a criminal enterprise that has ruled Los Angeles through violence, fear, and intimidation. Now, he seeks pretrial release under the guise of his `reformed’ persona even though his criminal activities have included murder, extortion, robbery, wire fraud, bank
fraud, and human trafficking. The court should see through the defendant’s farce and keep him in custody for the safety of the community.”
Federal prosecutors contend Henley killed Las Vegas rapper Rayshawn Williams in January 2021, saying the victim – who had been signed by Henley’s Uneek Music record label – had recorded a defamatory song about the rap entrepreneur. Henley allegedly killed him “then dragged the victim’s body off Interstate 15 in Las Vegas and left it in a ditch,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Henley is also accused of defrauding famous athletes, including Basketball Hall of Famer and former Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal and Golden State Warriors four-time all-star forward Draymond Green, by persuading them to donate money to charity -–cash that he allegedly pocketed himself.
In addition, Henley is accused of fraudulently obtaining funding from the Gang Reduction and Youth Development program supervised by the L.A. Mayor’s Office. According to an affidavit filed with the initial criminal complaint, from 2010 to the present, Henley’s Big U Enterprise “operated as a mafia-like organization that utilized Henley’s stature and long-standing association” with gangs to intimidate businesses and individuals in Los Angeles.
Henley was instrumental in launching the career of the late Los Angeles rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was shot to death in South Los Angeles in 2019. He served 13 years in prison for trying to steal cocaine from an undercover sheriff’s deputy in 1991. Another son, Daiyan Henley, is a linebacker with the Los Angeles Chargers.
A hearing on a motion to suppress wiretap recordings is expected to be scheduled in the coming weeks. If convicted as charged, Henley could face decades behind bars, prosecutors noted.
