- "That cat with the hoodie punched that cop, and he flew back, like, twenty feet, like he was shot from a cannon or some shit."
- ―Witness[src]
The Assassination of Jackie Albini was a successful attempt by Diamondback to frame Luke Cage for the murder of NYPD officer Jackie Albini.
Background[]
- "I'm gonna need time to sell the cops on this, even with the fear."
"Ooh. Well, you're out of time. This shit starts right now."
"What? I hate to interrupt your Isotoner moment, but this is serious. I'm out of time and then?"
"A few illmatic deaths. Word of mouth spreads like wildfire." - ―Mariah Dillard and Diamondback[src]
In order to sell the Judas Bullet to cops, Diamondback planned to dress up as Luke Cage and use a super powered glove to punch and kill a cop, announcing himself as Luke Cage. This would generate enough fear for the cops to buy bullets strong enough to kill Cage as well as getting Cage in jail for good.[4]
Assassination[]
- "He was punched and he flew back over twenty feet. And the size of the hole and the punch is consistent with that of a human fist. And the punch was so hard, it bent back the shock plate of his Kevlar vest."
- ―Mark Bailey to Misty Knight[src]
In the morning, Officer Jackie Albini was walking through the streets of Harlem, greeting the people he knew. While buying socks for his wife from a street merchant, Albini was approached by a man in a hoodie. When Albini noticed someone was standing behind him, he turned around, and asked the man if he needed some help. Instead of an answer to the question, the man told Albini that he was Luke Cage before punching Albini in the stomach with his Judas Gauntlet. With punch being too powerful, Albini flew twenty feet through the air, landing on a pile of carton boxes, dying upon impact due to his chest being caved in. The man walked away from the murder, shouting that he was Luke Cage to the public eye.[4]
Aftermath[]
- "You killed a cop! I know you did it. Now kids are getting jacked up by the police. What are you doing to my city?!"
"It's not yours. Never was." - ―Mariah Dillard and Diamondback[src]
Mariah Dillard confronted Diamondback on the incident, scolding him for the killing of an officer and the immediate and senseless arrests of the youth of Harlem. Diamondback retorted, however, that this would either bring Luke Cage out to defend himself or continue to push him away; he also criticized Dillard's methods of action, questioning her title as a politician when she has done little to push the blame on Cage.
With news quickly circling the 29th Precinct Police Station, Jake Smith pressured Priscilla Ridley that the officers needed to push further efforts to locate and arrest Luke Cage before more men were senselessly murdered. Though she ushered that the men did the search without doing harm to the people of Harlem, Smith gathered the men to harass, abuse, and injury the civilians, everyone using obsessive force to get each to give them leads on Cage's whereabouts. Eventually, they were led to Lonnie Wilson, whom was taken into the station and interrogated by Detective Dorsey.
Meanwhile, Misty Knight and Mark Bailey made attempts to use a piece of surveillance footage of the incident to identify the man depicted in the stills. Inspector Ridley, however, continued to push her to capture Cage and to worry less about her attacker. Despite this, Knight and Bailey discovered that Albini's killer was Willis Stryker. Just as they collected this information, a loud commotion was heard down the halls, Knight learning that Wilson was beaten down by Dorsey. This quickly came to Dillard's benefit, as she became public about her outrage and pushed for the capture of Cage.[4]