FOR SALE BY OWNER: RAP MOGUL'S RED HOUSE

September 8, 2006

 By Cathy Scott

Record producer Marion "Suge" Knight's once-elegant Las Vegas estate, which is now in disrepair, is in escrow for a sales price of $1.2 million -- $400,000 less than the rap mogul paid in 1996.

The buyer, a source said, is paying cash.

The 5,215-square-foot estate was put in the name of his third wife, R&B singer Michel'le Toussannt, in May 1998 while Knight was in prison serving time for a parole violation. The reason for the transfer, listed on the trust deed, was "for financing purposes." Then, in October 2004, the house was transferred back to Knight, under the firm name MHK Investments. Knight filed for bankruptcy protection in April to stave off a Los Angeles Superior Court order to put his record label into receivership

In April 1996, Suge purchased the Las Vegas mansion that sits on a 1.33-acre parcel overlooking a large section of Sunset Park in southeast Las Vegas. The single-story, red-brick home cost Knight $1.6 million. The estate, in the Sierra Vista Rancho Estates on Monte Rosa Avenue, sits in the horn of a cul-de-sac and beside a golf course in an exclusive gated community. It has four bedrooms, six full baths, three fireplaces, and a swimming pool and spa.

A guard at the booth entrance to the gated community said he hadn't seen Knight "since he was released from prison."

The mansion is across the street from boxer Mike Tyson's custom home and down the street from Robert Goulet's house. Also across the street is singer Wayne Newton's 57-acre Shenandoah Ranch, which covers more than a city block. Friends have said Tyson encouraged Knight to move there.

Knight's house was filmed in the motion picture Casino and used in the home-scene footage of Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, a mob associate played by actor Robert DeNiro.

After moving in, Knight had the swimming pool painted blood red. The deck also was red, as was the master-bedroom carpet. Red is the color of the Bloods street gang, which originated in Compton, Calif., where Knight grew up.

Until 1986, Knight played football on a sports scholarship for UNLV and also served as the team's captain.

CATHY SCOTT