http://www.silive.com/northshore/index.ssf/2009/10/staten_island_rap_giant_method.html
Rap giant Method Man in police custody, will face tax-evasion charges
By Staten Island Advance
October 05, 2009, 10:14AM
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man has been taken into police custody on tax-evasion charges, the Advance has learned.
Method Man -- whose real name is Clifford Smith -- is currently at the 120 Police Precinct stationhouse in St. George awaiting arraignment, according to a law-enforcement source.
Smith, 38, who rose with the Wu-Tang Clan out of the projects in Clifton in the early 1990s, helped change the face and business plan of hip hop for ever. He's the most commercial of the almost dozen members in the group, appearing in movies and television shows.
He is also no stranger to tax problems.
In March, his 2008 Lincoln Navigator was repossessed from outside his home by the Department of Taxation after he was reportedly $52,503 in arrears.
At the time, Smith told reporters he was OK financially, and instead offered an unorthodox explanation:
"Myself, I'm a pothead," he told the Daily News in March. "It's no secret. Everyone knows that. I go on the road and forget everything else."
Rap giant Method Man in police custody, will face tax-evasion charges
By Staten Island Advance
October 05, 2009, 10:14AM
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man has been taken into police custody on tax-evasion charges, the Advance has learned.
Method Man -- whose real name is Clifford Smith -- is currently at the 120 Police Precinct stationhouse in St. George awaiting arraignment, according to a law-enforcement source.
Smith, 38, who rose with the Wu-Tang Clan out of the projects in Clifton in the early 1990s, helped change the face and business plan of hip hop for ever. He's the most commercial of the almost dozen members in the group, appearing in movies and television shows.
He is also no stranger to tax problems.
In March, his 2008 Lincoln Navigator was repossessed from outside his home by the Department of Taxation after he was reportedly $52,503 in arrears.
At the time, Smith told reporters he was OK financially, and instead offered an unorthodox explanation:
"Myself, I'm a pothead," he told the Daily News in March. "It's no secret. Everyone knows that. I go on the road and forget everything else."
