The Maurice Clarett saga just got a little weirder.

Clarett was bankrolled by an alleged member of an Israeli crime organization after leaving Ohio State, ESPN reported. His attorney reportedly told ESPN on Thursday that Clarett, who was arrested by police last week when he refused to pull over after a traffic violation, may have been in possession of firearms to protect himself from mob activity.

Nick Mango, Clarett's attorney, told ESPN that his client has received several death threats during the past year, but what worried him most was a postcard sent from Los Angeles last week had him wondering about Clarett's ties to an alleged mob enforcer.

Clarett met Hai Waknine, a convicted felon who prosecutors believe is a member of an Israeli crime organization called The Jerusalem Group, through a rapper friend in late summer 2004, ESPN reported. Waknine then reportedly become Clarett's sponsor and adviser, along with Waknine's attorney, David Kenner.

Waknine would later provide Clarett with cash, a BMW, bodyguards, drivers and beachfront lodging in Malibu, ESPN reported, with the understanding that Clarett would reimburse Waknine and also be paid 60 percent of Clarett's rookie contract.

That plan went awry when Clarett was cut by the Denver Broncos in Aug. 2005 and was unable to pay Waknine back, which, ESPN reported, caused Waknine to cut off Clarett financially. Clarett moved back to his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, that fall and was not able to pay back Waknine.

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When Clarett was arrested last week wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying four guns and a hatchet, his attorneys received an anonymous phone call alerting them to Clarett's ties to Waknine. Then Mango said he received a threatening post card, which, he told ESPN, may have come from Waknine.

"That's our question, whether it's from him or people associated with that scene out there," Mango told ESPN. "Again, it came from Los Angeles, and we don't know what to make of that. ... We're going to turn this over to someone in law enforcement and see what they think [of the postcard]. ... We've always felt he had some reasons to fear for his safety, and we don't think any of his actions the night he was arrested -- despite the way it's been spun -- were that he was a threat to anyone else but more of him being in fear for his safety for quite some time."

Mango also said he believes Clarett's debt may have something to do with the threats.

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"I believe he owes [Waknine] money, and I think [Waknine] is probably not the only one" he owes, Mango said. "Whether it's someone all the way on that coast or more on this side of the country; it's no one that I'd want to owe money to. ... A call came to our office [about Waknine], kind of giving us a rumored story. It's been kind of tossed around by us, and quite frankly, Youngstown has quite a reputation -- if you don't know it already -- for the Italian side of that ballgame. And everyone here thought, 'Well, you wonder with money changing hands ...' Having heard the things we've heard, this is a little more concerning."

Waknine's current relationship with Clarett is not clear, although two hours before Clarett's arrest, the running back called an ESPN reporter and mentioned, in passing, that he and Waknine were still friends. However, ESPN has learned that the FBI contacted Clarett about his relationship with Waknine before the 2005 draft, and it is unknown whether Clarett cooperated.

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