Three associates of rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight have been arrested in the US on charges of conspiracy to commit murder in a series of predawn raids.

The 16 locations searched by authorities around Los Angeles and in Las Vegas included Knight's homes, as well as headquarters of Tha Row Records, formerly Death Row Records, the influential hip-hop label he founded and owns.

But Knight, who was released from prison last year after serving four years in jail for a parole violation, was not a suspect, said officials for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Police issued a total of 16 search warrants at offices and homes in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Officers were also keen to stress that the probe was not related to the unsolved murders of Death Row recording star Tupac Shakur in 1996 or rival rap artist Notorious BIG in 1997.

No arrests have been made over Jam Master Jay's death

There was also nothing to suggest the action was in any way related to the investigation into the recent murder in New York of former Run-DMC rap star Jam Master Jay, whose real name was Jason Mizell.

"This is strictly a gang-related murder (investigation)," said Captain Pete Amico, commander of the sheriff's anti-gang unit.

Theodore Peter Kelly, 29, Michael Leroy Payne, 25, and Kordell Depree Knox, 37 were booked on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and were being held without bail.

Officials said that five other men sought in the investigation remained at large.

Captain Amico said all the men were associates of Knight, and that Kelly had been arrested inside the offices of Tha Row.

Criticism

The raids, which also led to the arrests of two men on marijuana offences unrelated to the murder probe, were prompted by the gang-related death in April of then-Death Row employee Alton McDonald.

He was gunned down while in the city of Compton, south of Los Angeles, and another man, Eric Daniels, was killed in June.

McDonald was in Las Vegas with Knight and Shakur when the rap star was shot to death in September 1996, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Knight's lawyer, Arthur Barens, said his client had offered to co-operate, but criticised authorities for "heavy-handed tactics".

Shot

He said Knight's pregnant wife was roused from their home, handcuffed and made to stand outside in the cold morning air during one of the raids.

Knight was jailed in October 1996 for violating his probation on a previous assault conviction by allegedly kicking a man during a scuffle at a Las Vegas hotel.

The alleged incident took place hours before Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting in September 1996.

Knight was driving the car in which Shakur was shot and was himself wounded.

Rival rap star Christopher Wallace, known as Notorious BIG or Biggie Smalls, was gunned down gangland style in Los Angeles in March 1997.

Conflict

Those killings remain unsolved, as does the shooting death of Mizell, who was gunned down in a New York City recording studio on 30 Oct.

Meanwhile, a hip-hop peace summit opened in New York on Thursday in memory of Mizell.

The project - called simply Hip-Hop For Peace - has been organised by the Hip-Hop Summit Youth Council.

It has established a code of principles for artists to follow and a mediation board to deal with conflicts in moves to clean up the music's image.

The music industry and artists will be asked to sign a memo of understanding to indicate they support the project.