'Unlimited power': Testimony against Sean Combs tells of lurid violence
by Maggy DONALDSON
The courtroom fell eerily silent as the footage of Sean "Diddy" Combs beating, kicking and dragging his then-girlfriend began -- a video already seen worldwide but which took on new gravity played before the jurors who will determine his future.
Prosecutors played the footage repeatedly throughout their questioning of Israel Florez, a police officer who in 2016 was the security guard during an encounter with Combs that could prove pivotal during the fallen music mogul's federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial.
Combs's family, including his 18-year-old twin daughters, watched stoically on Monday as prosecutors played the harrowing footage again and again.
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"She just kept saying she wanted to leave," Florez said of Casandra "Cassie" Ventura, the singer who was dating Combs at the time and is expected to testify in the trial as early as Tuesday.
Visibly tense but intensely alert, Combs watched as the security guard described the artist's attempts to bribe him with a wad of bills to stay quiet over the incident at a Los Angeles hotel.
The immensely wealthy mogul who was a key figure in 1990s and 2000s-era hip hop is accused of running a criminal sex ring that enforced its power with arson, kidnapping, bribery and forced labor.
"He sometimes called himself the king," said prosecutor Emily Johnson during opening statements.
"And he expected to be treated like one."
Combs denies all charges, and his defense team says the sex acts were consensual.
CNN released the security footage of the hotel encounter involving Combs and Ventura last year, and a number of jurors said during selection they were acquainted with it.
But Monday's testimony included fresh details, like photos of a smashed vase of flowers Florez said he found Ventura huddled next to.
Florez said Combs had a "devilish stare" when the security guard arrived to the scene.
He added that he offered to call the police but didn't because Ventura, who he described as having a "purple" eye, insisted multiple times she simply wanted to go.
- 'Just for insurance' -
Florez's testimony was followed by that of Daniel Phillip, a now 41-year-old who ran a "male revue" show in New York.
He said he first met Ventura and Combs in 2012, after he was called to perform at a bachelorette party.
He arrived at Manhattan's Gramercy Hotel expecting to do a quick striptease for a group of partying women, he said.
But instead Ventura, wearing red lace lingerie paired with high heels, a red wig and dark sunglasses, answered the door.
Thus began Phillip's relationship with the famous pair, an encounter that began with the dancer giving Ventura a massage with baby oil and ended with sex while a masked Combs watched in the corner.
Phillip would routinely receive payment from the couple anywhere from $700 to $6,000, he told jurors.
Throughout Phillip's at times intensely lurid testimony, members of Combs's family, including his 18-year-old twin daughters, left the room.
Phillip said his enthusiasm for the relationship -- which involved Combs directing sexual acts and sometimes filming them -- waned after the first time he witnessed Combs strike and drag Ventura by the hair.
"I was shocked," Phillip said. "It came out of nowhere. I was terrified."
Phillip said he urged Ventura to get out -- but that she insisted she would be alright.
After witnessing Combs's abuse Phillip said he began to find it difficult to perform sexually in front of him.
Asked why he didn't call the police, Phillip said that "this was someone with unlimited power."
Combs had already previously taken a photo of Phillip's identification card "just for insurance," the dancer said.
"I understood it to be he was threatening me."
Phillip's testimony will continue Tuesday.