Cops now believe that a close pal of the rapper Fabolous was fatally stabbed trying to rob another man of a chain as part of a posse of poachers who target celebrities in Manhattan nightclubs, law-enforcement sources told The Post...Police suspect that Shamel McKinney - who died Nov. 23 - was among a group of up to 20 friends of Fabolous from his native Brooklyn who rob people of expensive jewelry around Manhattan nightclubs that they visit with the rapper, sources said. Last year, one of the gang's alleged victims was pro basketball star Sebastian Telfair, who was robbed at gunpoint of a $50,000 gold chain near a parking lot close to Justin's, a Chelsea restaurant owned by hip-hop impresario Sean "Diddy" Combs, the sources said. The so-called Street Family posse's alleged tactics, the sources said, include identifying entertainers, athletes and others who are wearing such jewelry and ambushing them just outside a club or anywhere they are vulnerable. "These guys have no money," said one law-enforcement source about the alleged robbery crew. "They go to New York to get paid, because that's where the money is." Fabolous is believed to have given his posse the diamond-laden medallions bearing the initials "SF"- valued at up to $10,000 apiece - that they wear. McKinney's own medallion was covered in blood when he stumbled out of the Flatiron District club Duvet and collapsed on the street after being stabbed. Initial news reports suggested that McKinney, a Crown Heights father of two, had gotten involved in a fight between two women before he was stabbed. But sources said police now believe that a man knifed McKinney several times when McKinney tried to steal his chain. The killer, who threw a 7-inch switchblade into a nearby Dumpster when he fled, remains at large.
