The widow of soul icon James Brown charges the “I Feel Good” singer was purposely loaded up with drugs and murdered by crooks after his money.
Now Tomi Rae Brown, 50, mom of the singer’s youngest son, James II, 18, wants cops to open an investigation into the Godfather of Soul’s 2006 death, which was attributed to congestive heart failure and pneumonia — even though no autopsy was performed on the 73-year-old’s body.
“I think he could have been murdered,” Tomi said. “They were feeding him drugs and not paying him. You don’t give somebody drugs when you are looking out for them.
PHOTOS: Aretha Franklin’s Deathbed Confession — Her Secret Showbiz Love
“It was crack cocaine and Phencyclidine. Everywhere I looked there was this stuff. I’d throw it away and more would come.
“He would be on the phone: ‘Bring me my green suit. Bring me my brown suit’. And the suit would have something in the pockets.
“People gave it to him.”
Now the real cause of death is under question.
In February, Brown’s physician Dr. Marvin Crawford suggested the star’s death was due to an overdose of drugs, possibly intentional.
Since then, Tomi, some of Brown’s friends and the doctor who signed his death certificate asked for the investigation into his death to be reopened.
PHOTOS: John Belushi’s Killer’s Explosive Interview, Revisited!
After Brown died in an Atlanta hospital on Dec. 25, 2006, his body was immediately mummified.
Later, his legs were amputated so DNA tests could be done in a battle over his $100 million fortune. His remains now apparently lie in a crypt on his daughter’s property.
Tomi believes Brown’s manager, David Cannon, who died last year, held the key to the mystery behind the star’s passing. In 2011, Cannon was sentenced to three years home confinement for ripping off Brown.
According to their contract, Cannon was entitled to five percent of the performer’s earnings, but instead was raking off around 15 percent.
At the time of Brown’s death, Tomi’s marriage to the star was challenged. But last year, a judge ruled she was his legal wife. Since then, she’s been battling Brown’s other heirs over his fortune and royalties.
“Something happened there that nobody wants me to know about,” she insisted. “But whatever happened, it is going to come out. You can’t hide the truth for very long.”
