Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sacrificed bird before 1999 NYC shooting verdict, former bodyguard claims

Accused sex trafficker Sean “Diddy” Combs sacrificed a bird for good luck while on his way to learn the outcome of his trial over a 1999 New York City nightclub shooting, his former bodyguard told a new documentary.

The music mogul was being driven to the courthouse in Manhattan when he stopped in Central Park to meet a mysterious man with a caged bird, his ex-muscle, Gene Deal, told the new Hulu documentary about the case, “The Honorable Shyne.”

“When Puff got close to the guy, he just dropped down to his knees,” Deal said, using the nickname Combs used at the time,

“Next thing I see, is this smoke just going back and forth around Puff. I guess it was sage or something like that.” 

Combs leaving the Manhattan courthouse during his gun trial in 2001. New York Post

The man held a Bible as he put a hand on Combs and told him to take the bird out of the cage, Deal claimed in the documentary, which started streaming Monday.

“Puff took this white bird and threw it up in the air … The bird just fell to the ground, boom, like it was a brick,” Deal said. “I was like, ‘Oh, s–t!’

Barrow and Diddy on stage together in 2023, 24 years after the Manhattan shooting. Getty Images for Sean Diddy Combs

“The bird died, man … the bird didn’t even move. [Combs] just walked away from him real quick.”

After the seemingly ominous sign, Combs continued to court — where he was acquitted of all charges, including weapons possession and attempted bribery, after a seven-week trial.

His sidekick, rapper Shyne — the subject of the Hulu doc — was found guilty of assault, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a pistol and spent 10 years in prison. He was then deported to his native Belize, where he is a politician now known as Moses Michael Levi Barrow.

Barrow said earlier this year Combs “ruined my life.” AP

Barrow has long accused Combs of making him take the fall for the shooting, accusing the long-powerful mogul of having “destroyed my life.”

“I was defending him, and he turned around and called witnesses to testify against me,” he recently told Channel 5 News of when he was just an “18-year-old kid.”

“He pretty much sent me to prison … This is someone who destroyed my life,” Barrow said.

Two law enforcement sources told The Post earlier this year that the shooting could be reinvestigated as part of a sweeping federal probe into Combs, now 54.

Combs remains locked up in federal prison in Manhattan on charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Federal agents raided his Los Angeles and Miami homes in March, seizing hundreds of sex videos and a mountain of sex paraphernalia — including 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lube. The US Attorney’s Office alleged that the sex parties he hosted were not always consensual.

He additionally faces a slew of civil suits from numerous alleged victims — including two from men who said they were minors, just 10 and 17, when they were horrifically raped by the R&B star.

Combs has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges and repeatedly denied wrongdoing.