From rico suave to just plain RICO. That's one hell of a journey.

Last night, federal officials took rap mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs into custody, apparently taking him by surprise. The FBI had raided several homes connected to Combs earlier in the year, reportedly as part of an investigation into sex trafficking that multiple lawsuits against Combs might have triggered. The New York Times reports that the US Attorney will charge him with racketeering, sex trafficking, and other charges:

Sean Combs, the embattled music mogul, has been indicted on three counts of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.

In the indictment, which was unsealed on Tuesday, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York accused Mr. Combs of running a “criminal enterprise” that for years threatened, abused and coerced women, and included accusations of forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice. To commit these acts, the prosecutors said, Mr. Combs relied on the help of the employees of his business.

Initial reports claimed that Combs got surprised by the arrest; perhaps he expected the DoJ to arrange a surrender accompanied by his attorney. The Times goes on to report that Combs knew something was coming, though:

In anticipation of an indictment, Mr. Combs recently traveled to New York to make himself available to law enforcement. For days he had been staying at the Park Hyatt New York hotel on West 57th Street, largely hunkering down while awaiting any news but also drawing some attention on social media with a visit to Harlem, where he grew up.

Combs' attorney told reporters that he would plead not guilty to the charges, and confirmed the nature of the still-sealed indictment:

Combs's lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, told reporters he already knows what the charges are going to be.

"It's going to be racketeering. It's going to be sex trafficking," he said. "And he's not guilty. He's innocent of these charges."

Agnifilo added that the music mogul's "spirits are good."

"He's going to fight this with all of his energy and all of his might," he said.

Rolling Stone had a look at the indictment, and Combs' attorneys will have their hands full. The indictment shows that the DoJ will allege a vast criminal organization under Combs' control, aimed at sex crimes. It alleges that the "Combs Enterprise" used illegal drugs to subdue their victims. And there are firearm violations, too:

Combs allegedly then “used force, threats of force and coercion, to cause victims to engage in extended sex acts with male commercial sex workers that Combs referred to as, among other things, ‘Freak Offs.’” Combs allegedly “arranged, directed, and masturbated” during these “elaborate and produced sex performances,” which were often filmed as well. 

On top of allegedly transporting commercial sex workers “across state lines and internationally,” Combs allegedly “distributed a variety of controlled substances to victims” during these Freak Offs, “in part to keep the victims obedient and compliant.” 

Others in the Combs enterprise, per the indictment, facilitated all this by booking hotel rooms and travel for victims, as well as obtaining supplies, including drugs. The indictment says that during the raids of Combs’ homes in Miami and Los Angeles earlier this year, cops seized “various Freak Off supplies, including narcotics and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant.” Authorities also reportedly seized firearms and ammunition, including three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers, as well as a drum magazine. 

If the feds have the firearms with defaced serial numbers in Combs' possession, that's enough to look at a significant stretch in federal prison on its own. Films of sex acts may not be as instantly actionable, but if the participants tell feds they were coerced into those performances, then keeping those around will be another big problem for Combs. Rolling Stone also reports that several witnesses to these claims have spent the summer talking to the federal grand jury that issued the indictment. And, of course, we have a number of women now suing Combs for doing what the indictment apparently alleges too, and that's more potential testimony to the nature of the racketeering. 

One has to wonder how much this might parallel another high-profile sex-trafficking operation. Did Combs allegedly create this "enterprise" merely for his own pleasure and those of his alleged co-conspirators? Or was he running an operation like Jeffrey Epstein's? We'll see soon enough during the trial, especially when those tapes and testimonies emerge. Combs is a powerful player in the entertainment and business world, with plenty of contacts. Keep an eye on whether others start lawyering up. In the meantime, of course, Combs is presumed innocent in a legal sense until the government proves its case to the satisfaction of 12 jurors.