'Pharma bro' Martin Shkreli was almost killed over $2 million Wu Tang album: report

Embattled "pharma bro," Martin Shkreli was once targeted for death over his part in the $2 million purchase of the Wu Tang Clan's legendary "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin," says the author of a new book on the subject.

According to the New York Daily News, Cyrus Bozorgmehr claims that following the high-profile purchase of album the pharma executive publicly attacked Wu Tang leader RZA leading to a proposed plot to kill Shkreli.

Bozorgmehr, admits to being part of the team that oversaw the auction of the album that was limited to only one single copy after six years in the studio.

With fans outraged by the sale to one wealthy person, there was a complicated scheme put in place to promote the group while turning Shkreli into the bad guy -- helped along by the pharma exec's newfound notoriety after jacking up the price of a drug used in cancer treatments to more than $700 a pill.

“Suddenly evil had a face, and we were standing next to it,” Bozorgmehr explains. “We'd sold him the f*cking album.”

The plot to stage a heist over the album -- to drive up publicity -- went awry when Shrkreli gave an interview to website HipHopDX, where he attacked RZA

In the interview, Shkreli claimed, “This guy is f*cking full of himself, talking about how his sh*t is the best ever, how f*cking Bobby Digital (RZA's persona as a solo artist) was the best sh*t ever. I’d encourage him to shut the f*ck up before he goes a little too far. We’ll see what happens. I think he's a smart man. He definitely acts like his sh*t doesn't stink and he invented rap.”

According to Bozorgmehr, members of the group were furious and a there was discussion among hangers-on with the group to take out Shkreli.

“There had to be retaliation for this ... maybe even bullets from a Staten Island crew who wouldn't let the Clan get dissed by this f---,” Bozorgmehr writes. "There's an awful lot of gangsta motherf*ckers who'd be delighted to step to Martin first — no matter what anyone said. Man's going down.”

According to the author, the only thing that kept Shkreli alive was his being taken into custody by the FBI over federal fraud charges -- for which he is on trial right now.

You can read Bozorgmehr's entire story here.