Benzino’s Nephew Pleads Not Guilty After Shooting Him At Mom’s Funeral

Boston Globe reports: Gai Scott appeared in Plymouth District Court today to face a charge of armed assault with intent to murder. A not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf by attorney Jon Ciraulo. Scott, 36, of Randolph is accused of shooting his uncle, Raymond E. Scott, 48, a rapper and reality star known by the stage name of Benzino.

“When the dust settles, this case will be shown to be self-defense,’’ Ciraulo said.

Gai Scott was ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing requested by Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz’s office.

The bizarre incident took place on Route 3 South on Saturday.

Raymond Scott told the Globe Sunday from his bed at the South Shore Hospital in Weymouth that he did not intend to attend his mother’s funeral in order to avoid trouble stemming from a festering family feud.

Gai Scott appeared in Plymouth District Court today to face a charge of armed assault with intent to murder.

Gai Scott appeared in Plymouth District Court today to face a charge of armed assault with intent to murder.

“I looked over, there was a car, and all I saw was a gun shooting at me,” Scott said in a telephone interview. He would not identify who shot him by name, but said the assailant fired seven or eight shots at him.

Scott was discharged from the hospital shortly after 11 a.m. today and could not immediately be reached to respond to the assertions by his nephew’s defense attorney that he had acted in defense. But Scott’s long-time attorney, Martin K. Leppo, responded on the elder Scott’s behalf.

“Six shots into Ray Scott’s car, and he chased him on the highway,’’ said Leppo, a veteran criminal and civil attorney. “That doesn’t sound like self-defense to me.’’

Leppo also insisted that Scott had decided against attending the funeral for his mother, Mary Scott, and was enroute to pickup a friend in Plymouth when he chanced upon the funeral entourage. He also said that tension between branches of the Scott family stemmed from Raymond Scott’s belief that his mother’s property and finances were misused by his sister’s family.

Scott grew up in Dorchester and was part of a rap group that infuriated Boston police officers in the early 1990s for an anti-police rap. He was a founder of the rap magazine, The Source. Scott is a cast member of the VH1 reality show ‘‘Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta” and is chief executive of Hip-Hop Weekly.

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