‘Hip-hop cop’ on Diddy investigation: ‘I knew this was coming’

(NewsNation) — Former NYPD Detective Derrick Parker said he knew an investigation involving Sean “Diddy” Combs was forthcoming.

“I knew this was coming,” said Parker, the New York Police Department’s first “hip-hop cop” and now a private investigator. “I knew it was coming. It was only inevitable that it was going to happen sooner or later.”

Parker knows the rap music underworld all too well. His book, “Notorious C.O.P.,” tells the inside story of his days with the NYPD rap intelligence squad investigating some of the biggest criminal cases in rap history, including two of Diddy’s cases in the 1990s.

On Monday, federal agents searched two properties belonging to Combs in Los Angeles and Miami as part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation by New York authorities.

The raids come after Combs has faced several sexual assault lawsuits in recent months.

“The government is gathering the cooperators that they have so far. And they’re giving them information, explicit information about P. Diddy, and some of the things that he’s done,” Parker explained. “So they’re taking that information, and they’re utilizing it in a big case against him.”

“The raid that you saw at the house was only the beginning,” Parker continued. “The search warrant that they got from a magistrate and federal court to go into his property was already authorized. It was already planned that they were going to go in his house and look for certain things, whether it’d be videotapes, books, photographs, anything that would link him to sex trafficking, or guns or things like that.”

Combs is facing a mounting list of lawsuits that allege abuse and sexual assault by multiple victims spanning over 30 years. 

“Rap was different back then,” Parker said. “A lot of the cases that he had … he had problems with people when he went out to clubs or people in the music industry. It was something that was expected back then.”

Now, it’s still unclear exactly where Combs was during the searches of his properties, but aerial videos from NewsNation affiliate KTLA show authorities moving into the Los Angeles home and placing multiple people in handcuffs.

Combs attorney Aaron Dyer released a statement Tuesday saying any speculation about the raids “leads to premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs and is nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits.”

NewsNation’s Katie Smith contributed to this report.