Tuesday September 2, 2009 Source AP by Julie Zimmerman: It's an old wound rarely discussed by the Atlanta based African American Jewish recording artist Lord Hector Diono, born Lord Michael Chambers Rosenthorn. The topic was the 1992 rape conviction of former boxing Champion of the world, “Iron" Mike Tyson. We talked with the rapper about the events that took place and led to the charges being filed against the boxer by then 18 year old Desiree Washington a beauty pageant contestant from Rhode Island and a cousin to former Miss Black Rhode Island, Tonya Bustamante who at the time was engaged to the Atlanta rapper. Hector gave a statement to press corresponded Thomas Flassen of associated press UK May 9, 2006. "It was always a touchy subject to discuss with Tonya, and it was even harder trying to remain a good man to her and hold my tongue at the same time while this crap was being presented as an authentic case of rape, and with Dee being her cousin and all I didn't wanna cause friction between us, but it was plain as the nose on my face that cuz was so offended after her sexual interlude with Tyson that she decided to press rape charges". The rapper went on to say that he finally gave in to his convictions and against his better judgment ( keep the peace at all times) he expressed his discontent with the media and Miss Washington to his then fiancé' Tonya Bustamante. Hector went on to say that initially Tonya didn't treat him different after she learned of his feelings toward her cousin but two years after the verdict was handed down by an Indianapolis jury, “guilty"; the relationship strained beyond reconciliation. Tonya Bustamante and Lord Hector Diono split up in the fall of 1994. Our sources later found that Tonya Bustamante appears to have seen things the way Hector saw them a full decade later. Sources concluded that after being silenced by fear and other family members for thirteen years, the cousin to Desiree Washington, and former fiancé' to the rapper Lord Hector Diono had come forward with shocking new information about Ms. Washington's case against Mr. Tyson. The former Miss Black Rhode Island, concurred with the findings of famed attorney Alan M. Dershowitz as depicted in his book America on Trial - Inside the Legal Battles That Transformed Our Nation. In his book, Mr. Dershowitz illustrates the possibility that perhaps Mr. Tyson could have been innocent of the allegations of rape made against him by Ms. Washington. Ms. Bustamante supports Mr. Dershowitz's theories, but because she was serving as Miss Black Rhode Island at the time of the actual trial, though approached by the media on several occasions she kept her silence for fear of losing her crown had she gone public with her story. In speaking further with the rapper about the 1994 breakup he stated "perhaps in retrospect she may have ultimately lost a crown that may have very well proven to be the most meaningful crown of all, the title Mrs. Lord Hector Diono". Source: Associated Press United Kingdom