A former NYPD commander accused of corruption has been hustling two jobs, including one as a private investigator in the murder of drill rapper Pop Smoke, and another as a Staten Island real estate agent, The Post has learned.
Ex-Deputy Inspector James Grant was charged with corruption in 2018 for allegedly taking bribes in the form of a Las Vegas hotel room and a prostitute from two businessmen who were Bill de Blasio cronies.
He was acquitted in a 2019 trial but Grant retired from the department the same year.
He filed a lawsuit claiming he was forced out but lost.
Now, Grant is billed in the docuseries “Hip Hop Homicides” as a private eye who uses police sources for information about the high-profile 2020 homicide of the 20-year-old Brooklyn rapper in Los Angeles.
In the show, produced by 50 Cent, narrator Van Lathan looks into the murder of Pop Smoke, whose real name was Bashar Barakah Jackson.
Two men and two juveniles were arrested but none have been convicted.
“Jimmy’s our inside man in law enforcement,” Lathan says on the show. “Since the case is still awaiting trial in Los Angeles, I want him to use his contacts to give us some insight on where things stand right now.”
The rapper was staying at an Airbnb when home invaders came in through a second-story balcony.
But controversy has swirled over whether one of the rapper’s friends was to blame for posting the address where he was staying along with photos of stacks of cash.
“This looks like in my opinion … a couple kids decided that they were going to go in that house and rob him,” Grant says.
At one point in the show, which aired late last year, Grant calls Lathan to tell him he found a video of a woman who said she was in the house at the time of the murder.
“Hey, Van, What up?” Grant says over the phone. “I did an extensive social media check and I got this tape.”
The show eventually got in touch with the woman, identified only as Amelia Rose.
She says she met the rapper backstage at a West Coast music festival and later went to his studio.
She went home with him and was in the bedroom when men burst in from a balcony.
“It was like a couple seconds and I hear the noise,” she said. “The guy was in the mask and his gun was like looking at me, you know. His eyes make me so scared. They run to the restroom. Pop screamed ‘What?!’ So they take him out. ”
She says she closed her eyes and thought she was next, but the intruders left. She felt for Pop Smoke’s pulse but there was nothing.
As a real estate agent, Grant listed a 5-bedroom, 3-bathroom home in Great Kills, Staten Island, for $1.15 million, online records show. He refused to be interviewed for this story.