50 EYED AS ÍNST'IGATOR
NYPD probes 'cop-taunt' post
The NYPD is investigating a menacing Instagram post by 50 Cent that appears to target a Brooklyn precinct boss accused of shaking down a hiphop club, The Post has learned.
“Get the strap,” the Queens rapper told his 18.1 million Instagram followers on Wednesday — a catchphrase he uses frequently on the social-media site. “Strap” is street slang for gun. Fiddy was apparently referring to Deputy Inspector Emmanuel Gonzalez, head of the 72nd Precinct in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, following stories about the police boss allegedly squeezing the owner of the Love & Lust club for gifts.
The NYPD is weighing charging the rapper with misdemeanor aggravated harassment, which alleges a threat to cause physical harm.
“There is a formal complaint on file for aggravated harassment, and detectives are investigating,” an NYPD spokesperson said.
Fiddy’s reps, though, insist he was just being “playful.”
“‘ Get The Strap’ is a playful phrase used by Mr. Jackson to punctuate absurd and outrageous situations,” said rep Amanda K. Ruisi, using the rapper’s given name, Curtis James Jackson III.
Love & Lust owner Imran Jairam has put the NYPD on notice of his intent to sue for $125 million over his claim that Gonzalez unfairly targeted the club for inspections.
“They trying to shut him down,” the rapper posted on Instagram of Jairam.
“Oh no not LUST,” Fiddy wrote of the Sunset Park club, an apparent favorite of his.
The post inspired a fusillade of threats from his followers.
Now Gonzalez “is annoyed, alarmed, and is in fear of his safety,” according to a criminal complaint, filed with the 72nd Precinct, that was obtained by The Post.
“Comments included, but are not limited to, ‘Get the strap’ multiple times, [and] ‘F--k this commander has to get the strap ASAP,’ ” the complaint says.
“They are taking this seriously,” a high-ranking police source told The Post.
The violence-tinged catchphrase shows up nearly daily on 50 Cent’s Instagram account.
He even applied to the Patent and Trademark Office last month, in hopes of using the words on hats and T-shirts.
But just last week, VH1’s Love & Hip Hop star Teairra Mari threatened to sue Fiddy for reposting her leaked sex video under the caption, “Get the strap.”
“We consider ‘Get the strap’ to be either a threat of violence or encouraging violence against this revenge-porn victim,” Mari’s lawyer, Lisa Bloom, told The Post.