Agent Gannon (Homeland Security)
Appearances
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
Yeah, that's right. So we heard from Gerard Gannon, who was a special agent with Homeland Security, and he talked us through the raid on Diddy's Miami mansion in March last year. And just to give you a bit of kind of context, you know, this mansion is on Star Island, which is a celebrity enclave. Jennifer Lopez has a house there. Gloria Estefan has a house there.
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
Shaquille O'Neal used to live there. You know, Diddy's house is worth $40 million. He actually owns the adjoining property, which is worth a similar amount of money. You know, this is a very, very, very exclusive celebrity enclave just near South Beach in Miami. And what Agent Gannon told us was that in March last year, they conducted the raid in the afternoon.
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
They knew that Diddy's family and he were going to be away from the home. They normally do raids about early in the morning, about 6 a.m., but they knew he was going to be out, and that's when they raided the house. And the way they did it was quite controversial in court. They actually got a sort of SWAT-style armored vehicle, busted down the gates, and then entered the property.
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
And the jury was shown a photograph of both of the gates, and you can see the right-hand side one was mangled. It had been bent out of shape, and it was basically broken by this armored vehicle. Didi's lawyers sort of tried to kind of, you know, make a big deal out of this, saying, well, this was overkill. But, you know, Agent Gannon said that this was standard practice.
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
And then Agent Gannon walked us through what they found in the house with a mixture of photographs of what they found and actual physical exhibits in a car next to him in the court. First of all, he took us through Diddy's sort of main closet, which frankly was so large, it was about the size of my apartment in New York. And what they found in there was disturbing.
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
They found parts of AR-15 assault rifles wrapped in towels. One of them had a sort of red sight on it, which Agent Gannon said would have made it easier to hit the target. And they also found that the serial numbers had been scratched off. They also found boxes of platform shoes, bags of baby oil, astroglide lubricant, woman's lingerie, sex toys, and rope.
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
Essentially, this is what prosecutors would have described as a freak-off kit. It's all the ingredients for these kind of sexual performances, which he allegedly coerced women into having with him. So that was the first room that they searched in. So in total, Agent Gannon said that they found 13 pairs of platform shoes. And, you know, from this cart next to him, he pulled out various exhibits.
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
And one of them was a pair of red high seven inch platform shoes. And he kind of held them up, you know, by the heels with one in each hand. Another dramatic moment in front of the jury was when he cut open a bag containing the top part of the AL-15 assault rifle and held it up with two hands for the jury. You know, the jury were paying a lot of attention during this.
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
It was a very dramatic moment in court. Agent Gannon then took us to Diddy's bedside dresser, where they found a sort of small Gucci pouch, and inside were several small, clear bags with pills, capsules, which tested positive for drugs like ketamine, cocaine, and MDMA, which is a pure form of ecstasy. Some of the XTC tablets had imprints on them like Tesla or Supreme, the fashion brand.
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
Agent Ganon then described going into the bathroom when there was a small wooden box with Puffy written on it. And inside were more capsules, more drugs, including some brown pills, which had the sort of ingredient from magic mushrooms in them. There were also weird scrawlings in lipstick on the mirror, you know, sort of motivational messages, sort of messages of love for Puffy.
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
It was just bizarre. And then finally, we went to the guard shack where there was a red suitcase, and inside was a gun. The serial number was on this one, but in another dramatic moment, Agent Gannon actually sort of had the gun in court, and he took it out of the box and held it up for the jury to see, and he actually walked up and down the sort of well of the court, showing it to the jury.
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
So that was another dramatic moment in court. But overall, essentially, this was free cough kits and everything that Diddy would need to hold free coughs. You know, perhaps the most damning evidence of all was the hallway closet, you know, where we found about 20 bottles of baby oil, 30 bottles of Astro Glide. You know, we saw more sex toys, more lingerie.
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
And it was just, you know, it was, you know, I think that bizarrely there were even rubber ducks in there with the bottles of baby oil. I mean, you know, previous witnesses have talked about sort of pools of baby oil. So, I mean, it was very, very, you know, striking, very graphic. And the jury were paying a lot of attention while this was being explained to them.
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
As these exhibits were being shown, it was pretty business-like in court. If the jury did feel shocked or appalled or anything, they weren't really letting on. They were just paying very close attention. When Agent Gannon sort of walked the gun up and down the well of the court, they were watching, keeping their eyes trained on it, paying very close attention.
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
So whatever they were feeling inside, there was no sign of it. Diddy was paying attention as well. I mean, I don't think it was a good day for him. I mean, this evidence was pretty damning. It wasn't a good look at all. And he was just sort of talking to his lawyers a lot, passing lots of notes. I think he was suggesting things for cross-exam. But yeah, it was very business-like in court.
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
The messages scrawled in lipstick on Diddy's bathroom mirror were things like, onward motion, what do you want, and I love you, Diddy. There seemed to be different handwriting. It wasn't clear if it was him writing this or someone else. But it was just bizarre. I mean, like, it just raised a lot of questions. And the overall picture was kind of concerning, bizarre, weird.
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
And you were just thinking, you know, what the hell is he doing with all this stuff in his house? I mean, this guy made it. He's a multi-multi-millionaire. You know, he's living in one of the most exclusive parts of the country. And yet he's got all this stuff in his house, like this kind of gangster lifestyle, like... He doesn't need AR-15s. He doesn't need these, you know, this stuff.
The Trial of Diddy
A Marvel Supervillain
I mean, unless he's having freak-offs. And like you said, the fact that all the witnesses so far have said, you know, freak-offs, baby oil, and there you are. It's in his house. He's ready to go, you know. And we saw baby oil in his hotel room in New York as well when he was, you know, getting arrested. So everywhere he goes, he seems to have baby oil with him.