A new Rolling Stone magazine article claims New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick once told now jailed former player Aaron Hernandez to “lay low,” and “rent a safe house for a while.”
According to the magazine, Belichick’s advice came after Hernandez was involved in a domestic dispute with his fiancée in California last March where the police were called. Rolling Stone reports “Belichick flipped out,” warning the 23-year-old tight end if there were any more disruptions he would be either traded or cut before the end of the 2013 season.
After he was arrested and ultimately charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Odin Lloyd, Carlos Ortiz, alleged to be on the scene at the time of the slaying, told police of a “flophouse” Hernandez allegedly rented 12 miles from his North Attleborough mansion. It’s been previously reported that police have now searched the property on several occasions.
Entitled Gangster in the Huddle, the article also details what’s alleged to be a longtime history drug abuse by Hernandez, including the drug angel dust. The magazine adds his frequent use of the drug made him so paranoid he carried a firearm with him at all times.
According to the magazine, during that same period Hernandez sought to break away from the “gangsters” he’d been running with and later feared they might retaliate against him by trying to kill him. It’s then, it’s alleged, that Belichick offered his pointed advice.
Up until this point, top executives in the Patriots’ organization have claimed they had no knowledge of Hernandez’s allegedly wayward ways, with team owner Robert Kraft going as far as to say he “felt duped.”
But the Rolling Stone article now casts those contentions in doubt, with one passage adding that Hernandez’s “missed practices and thug-life stunts” got so bad at one point Belichick threatened to cut him even though the team had just signed him to a five-year, $40 million extension.
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