The opening line was direct. “To all you rats and snitches lucky enough to cop one of these DVD: I hope you catch AIDS in your mouth and your lip?s the first thing to die,” host Rodney “Skinny Suge” Thomas, 32, says on the notorious first “Stop Snitching” DVD, which raised national attention to the witness intimidation problem in Baltimore.
Now, Thomas and producer Rodney Bethea have appeared to up the ante, badmouthing Baltimore City State?s Attorney Patricia Jessamy in the sequel, “Stop Snitching 2.”
“I?m gonna say what I want,” Thomas says in a trailer for the new DVD, which is being sold online. “F– police. F— Patricia Jessamy. … I can?t go to jail for that. That?s how I feel. It?s my freedom.”
Thomas also makes a derogatory comment about Rep. Elijah Cummings.
Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for Mayor Sheila Dixon and city police, said the mayor is “disappointed” Thomas and Bethea decided to make a second DVD, which is purported to “define what snitching actually is.”
“These are people who are not looking out for the best interest of their neighbors,” he said. “As the police department continues to build better relationships with the community, there will be fewer and fewer places for the stop snitching crowd to hide out.”
The sequel includes perhaps even more controversial scenes than the first video, including a young boy waving a handgun and apparently smoking a joint of marijuana.
A man is also seen on the trailer firing a gun into the air, apparently at random.
“Fearing their message was too powerful Baltimore City and Maryland State officials attempted to pass legislation to prevent the filmmakers from producing a sequel but to no avail producer Rodney Bethea and host Skinny Suge bring you ?Stop Snitching? Part 2 and continue to show the reality of hard times on hard streets,” the DVD?s Web site states.
The first “Stop Snitching” got Denver Nuggets basketball star and Baltimore native Carmelo Anthony in hot water, after he appeared in one scene. Baltimore police created their own DVD, called “Keep Talking,” to counter the documentary?s message.
Thomas also might have a new reason to be angry with Jessamy after her prosecutors convicted him of a felony in January.
He pleaded guilty to the April 2006 first-degree assault of a female employee of Mondawmin Mall in which the victim suffered a chipped tooth, black eye, and fractured nose.
Thomas was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but a majority of the time — 12 years — was suspended.
