A former Sean “Diddy” Combs bodyguard is making bizarre claims that the hip hip mogul took part in an animal sacrifice ritual in Central Park to keep him being convicted in the 1999 New York nightclub shooting for which rapper Shyne served time. GettySupporters of Sean “Puffy” Combs hold cards spelling out their hopes for a verdict across the street from Manhattan Supreme Court in March 2001. (Photo by Robert Mecea/Newsmakers/Getty) Shyne, born Jamal Michael Barrow, was eventually sentenced to 10 years for assault, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a pistol for the Club New York shooting in which three people were wounded, including a woman who was shot in the face. But Combs — whose then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez was with him at the club that night — faced 15 years in prison if found guilty of weapons possession and attempted bribery, and apparently turned to the supernatural to help him win the case, according to his ex-bodyguard Gene Deal. GettyShyne and Diddy onstage in London in 2023. (Getty) Twenty-five years later, Deal — who has since become a hip hop podcast personality — revealed Combs sacrificed a bird on the morning a Manhattan jury was to announce a verdict. In the recently released Hulu documentary “The Honorable Shyne,” the former bodyguard details an encounter with an unnamed man he says occurred in New York Central Park. “When [Combs] got close to the guy, he just dropped down to his knees,” Deal claims in the film. “Next thing I see, is this smoke just going back and forth around [Combs]. I guess it was sage or something like that.” The man then prayed with Combs and told him to grab a bird from a cage that he had brought for the ritual, according to Deal. “[Combs] took this white bird and threw it up in the air,” Deal says. “The bird just fell to the ground, boom, like it was a brick. I was like, ‘Oh, s—!’ … The bird died, man … the bird didn’t even move. [Combs] just walked away from him real quick.” GettySean Combs talks to the media following his acquittal in 2001. (Getty) Combs ended up being acquitted on all charges, while Shyne, then 21, served time. Following his release, he was deported to his native Belize. Combs is currently being held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center after being arrested on Sept. 16 and charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty and denies any wrongdoing.