P DIDDY'S sex trafficking case could be as significant as the one that finally took down Jeffrey Epstein, a top cop believes.
Veteran New York detective Derrick Parker told The Sun the explosive accusations have reached "the most serious level".
In our exclusive chat, the NYPD cop claimed Diddy's case had "all the components" of that of Epstein's.
Diddy, 54, whose real name is Sean Combs, made a grovelling public apology this week after a horrifying video emerged showing him kicking and beating his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
But the clip is just one part of a torrent of severe allegations to have hit the billionaire New Yorker with an already chequered past.
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On Monday, his former bodyguard Roger Bonds alleged that he’d seen the rapper punch other women.
This follows police raids on the three time Grammy award winner’s two US mansions in March and a lawsuit from record producer Lil Rod Jones in February alleging the star had sexually assaulted him.
It’s a heavy-handed approach, which I haven’t seen the likes of before
Derrick Parker
Diddy denies all allegations against him.
Parker, the former lead detective in the Rap Intelligence Unit who investigated Combs in 1999 over a nightclub shooting, has compared the allegations to the case against convicted paedophile Epstein.
In our exclusive video, he revealed: "It definitely borders on the Jeffrey Epstein case because it has all the components. You have the sex trafficking. You have guns. You have drugs, and you have high profile celebrities, and maybe even politicians or people of influence."
While the investigation remains in its early stages, he also revealed that another possible similarity with Epstein was that other big celebrity names could soon be dragged into the case.
"Somebody of Diddy's profile would inevitably cross paths with some huge names. It could unleash a number of names of people that probably didn't want or had no idea [embroiled]".
Mr Parker also offered a fascinating insight why the raids at the music mogul's mansion might have been so intense.
He said: “The reason it was Homeland Security who carried out the raids was that the allegations against Diddy included sex trafficking across the US, across state lines, and overseas.
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“That elevates the crime to the most serious level.
“There was also a fear that guns were in the properties. We’re not just talking a Glock or two, I mean serious firearms, assault rifles and so on.
“Also drugs.
“Law enforcement had to be prepared for anything to happen so they went in fast and hard, to be as efficient and safe as possible.
“It’s a heavy-handed approach, which I haven’t seen the likes of before.”
P Diddy, though, was not arrested or charged with any offence and one his legal team criticised the use of “military-level force.”
So far the Department of Homeland Security has not commented on the materials seized from his homes or the exact nature of their investigation.
There is no escaping the evidence of the hotel CCTV footage which was broadcast by the CNN TV channel last Friday.
The video shows Combs, dressed only in a bathrobe, running down a hotel corridor in 2016 and then yanking Cassie to the floor.
While she is laying motionless, he aims a kick at her head and backside before pulling her away.
Three days later the rapper told his social media followers: “I was f***ed up. I mean, I hit rock bottom but I make no excuses. My behaviour on that video is inexcusable.”
It was a about-turn for Combs who had previously denied assaulting Cassie. He also claimed to have attended rehab as a result of his problems - but didn’t say when.
The swirling storm is already affecting the media mogul’s business, with the hi-tech exercise firm Peloton pausing the use of his music this week.
Following the police raids Diddy sold his shares in Revolt TV, of which he had been the chairman.
And in December James Corden’s production company Fulwell 73 had a planned Diddy reality show cancelled by the streaming service Hulu.
Private detective Derrick, 63, who served for 20 years in the New York Police Department, thinks even more people will distance themselves from the rapper best known for his chart topping albums No Way Out and Press Play.
He predicted: “Diddy is hurting right now. His associates are dropping him left and right. “No-one wants to work with him, no-one wants to be seen with him and no-one is playing his music ever again.”
Diddy has also denied multiple claims of assault and misconduct from other individuals.
On Monday Combs’s former bodyguard Bonds told Talk TV’s Piers Morgan that he’d seen the rapper strike his former girlfriend Kim Porter.
He alleged: “I saw him inside the car grab her up, I saw him smack her.”
Actress Kim, who shared three children with Combs, died in 2018 from pneumonia aged 47.
Model Crystal claimed in a lawsuit on Tuesday that when she’d gone back to the rapper’s New York studio in 2003 he demanded she join him in the bathroom.
There, it is alleged, Combs forced her head towards his crotch and forced her to perform oral sex.
Another associate who has come out against Combs is record producer Lil Rod Jones, who worked on the rapper’s The Love Album for a year.
He claims to have video footage which shows illegal activity and his lawsuit alleges that his former boss repeatedly groped him.
It also states that on February 2 last year Lil Rod woke up naked in bed with a pair of prostitutes and Combs after being drugged.
The 73 page lawsuit, which asks for £23 million in damages, mentions the rapper giving “laced” alcohol to children and associated people consorting “with underage girls and sex workers.”
This could be one of the reasons why Homeland Security decided to carry out its raids, Derrick believes.
Derrick thinks it might be someone within Combs’s team that leaked the hotel CCTV footage.
It has been alleged that the billionaire businessman paid £40,000 to get his hands on the tape back in 2016.
Somehow, though, it made its way to journalists.
Derrick, whose memoirs are called Notorious C.O.P.: The True Story of the NYPD Hip-hop Cop Who Cracks the Cases of Tupac, Biggie, And Jam Master Jay, commented: “Diddy paid $50,000 to have that tape.
“He arranged that at the time to stop it from being made public. That means someone in his camp had it or had access to it.”
It is too late for the police to charge Combs with assaulting Cassie in this case.
One more allegation in Lil Rod’s deposition which is raising eyebrows is that the rapper boasted about getting away with shooting a woman at a New York nightclub in 1999.
At the time his then girlfriend Jennifer Lopez was arrested on weapons charges after a gun was found in the vehicle she was sharing with Combs.
The charges against the pop singer were quickly dropped and in 2001 Combs was found not guilty of possessing an illegal weapon.
This week, Natania Reuben claimed that it was P Diddy who pulled the trigger when she was hit by bullet fragments outside Club New York in Manhattan in 1999.
“I was a victim. I got shot in my face,” she said.
Derrick, who was part of the first special force devoted to hip hop crime, looked into Combs’s alleged involvement in the shooting.
In the end only Jamal "Shyne" Barrow, who was signed to Diddy’s Bad Boy Records label, was convicted for injuring Reuben.
He was sentenced to ten years in prison in 2001.
Derrick recalled: “Diddy was a huge part of the hip hop scene then and his name came up several times but never anything major, nothing like what has happened now with his homes being raided.
“I did investigate him along with other detectives when the nightclub shootings happened but we could not get to the truth of what happened.
“There were multiple conflicting statements given and getting to the facts became impossible.”
Combs denies all the allegations against him.
A spokesperson told The Sun that they believe the Homeland Security raids were a response to the civil lawsuits.
They wrote: “Mr Combs was never detained but spoken to and cooperated with authorities.
“This unprecedented ambush is nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits.
“There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations. Mr Combs is innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name.”
His lawyer Shawn Holley was particularly strident in his rebuttal of Lil Rod’s lawsuit.
In a statement, he said: “We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies.”
But there has been a backlash against the rapper’s Instagram apology for not acknowledging the victim in the video.
Derrick thinks he needs to go further.
He concluded: “I think Diddy did the right thing by apologising but it was a weak apology as he couldn’t say Cassie’s name for legal reasons. They can’t discuss each other after their settlement.
“But if I could advise him I would tell him to start apologising again and not to shut up until he’s said sorry for everything he’s done over the years and I mean everything.”
