Busta Rhymes Delaying Investigation

LATEST: Rapper Busta Rhymes has pledged to avenge his slain bodyguard but is refusing to aid the police investigation, according to law enforcement sources.

The Break Ya Neck hitmaker, whose minder ISRAEL RAMIREZ was fatally wounded outside a Brooklyn, New York City warehouse on Sunday (05FEB06), has reportedly told cops he "needs time to grieve" before discussing the death.

But Ramirez' sister CLAURICE LARA says, "He said he would do everything in his power to get justice done.

"I think that he knew something that he wasn't able to tell me. But that's up to him."

A police source tells PageSix.com they need to interview Rhymes - real name TREVOR SMITH - to investigate allegations an earlier argument between producer SWISS BEATZ and G-Unit rappers Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks played a role in the day's events. Yayo and Banks were at the urban venue filming Rhymes' latest music video alongside Missy Elliott.

However, Sonia Rodriguez, another sister of the late bodyguard, has condemned the rapper's silence: "We are infuriated. They are low-life scum and they should be men and stand up and do the right thing."

Yesterday (07FEB06) would have been Ramirez's 30th birthday.