NEW YORK (AP) – A rap mogul known for his gangster persona and for producing chart-topping acts was acquitted on Friday of laundering piles of drug money for a notorious crack kingpin.

Irving Lorenzo and his brother Christopher were found not guilty of federal money laundering charges at a trial that was closely followed by some of the music industry’s biggest stars.

Irving Lorenzo’s two lawyers then carried him out of the courthouse before waiting television cameras as he shouted “We did it! We did it!”

“In this case, they had it 100 percent wrong,” he said.

Outside court, juror Gloria Menzies – with Irving Lorenzo’s arm around her shoulders – said the case was based on hearsay.

“They had nothing to pin on these two guys,” Menzies said. “It was so weak.”

Courtroom supporters of Lorenzo, who goes by the name Irv Gotti, included Jay-Z, Fat Joe and Russell Simmons, along with Ja Rule and Ashanti, the platinum-selling artists signed by the defendant’s Murder Inc. label. Ja Rule had labeled the case “a war against hip hop.”

The Lorenzo brothers had faced up to 20 years in prison.

In closing arguments, prosecutors Carolyn Pokorny told jurors that the Lorenzos struck an illicit deal in the late 1990s with Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, “one of the biggest, baddest, most dangerous drug lords in New York City.” The defense countered that the brothers were victims of guilt by association.

“There’s nothing illegal about knowing a criminal, about socializing with a criminal, even doing business with a criminal, unless you commit a crime,” said defense attorney Gerald Shargel. “Irv and Chris Lorenzo committed no crime.”

McGriff allegedly funneled more than $1 million in drug money – much of it made in Baltimore – through Murder Inc. in return for serving as the Lorenzos’ protector and enforcer. A government witness who once worked at the label testified that he saw a “huge amount” of money delivered in shopping bags and a shoe box in 2000.

Murder Inc. cut tens of thousands of dollars in checks for sham corporations controlled by McGriff, including a movie company that produced a straight-to-video film called “Crime Partners 2000,” Pokorny said. The label also covered his expenses as he traveled around the country masquerading as an entertainment executive, she added.

The defense portrayed Irving Lorenzo as a legitimate businessman who went from rags to riches by taking the Gotti name – an ode to the late mob boss – as a sales ploy and teaming with Def Jam, a subsidiary of Universal Music, to start Murder Inc. He decided to invest their own money in McGriff’s movie because he was an old friend from their Queens neighborhood, Shargel said.

“Even if Supreme McGriff was the biggest drug dealer in the world, and even if ‘Crime Partners’ was the worst film in the history of American entertainment, there is nothing illegal about giving backing to a movie,” he said.

After Friday’s verdict, Irving Lorenzo pointed out that this was the first time he had been in legal trouble.

“I’m never going to get into any other trouble, no jaywalking, nothing,” he said outside court.

Murder Inc. changed its name to The Inc. last year after executives said the label’s image was hurt by the racketeering case.