New Jack was involved in the Mass Transit Incident on November 23, 1996 in Revere, Massachusetts. The Gangstas were scheduled to face D-Von Dudley and Axl Rotten. Axl, however, never made it to the show for reasons never made clear. (In the 2005 documentary "Forever Hardcore", New Jack said he thinks something happened with Axl's grandmother, which forced Axl to not make it). Rotten was replaced with "Mass Transit" Eric Kulas, an untrained seventeen-year-old who convinced booker Paul Heyman that he was twenty-one and had been trained by the veteran Killer Kowalski. Kulas requested that New Jack "blade" him during the match, but the incision was made incorrectly, causing excessive bleeding. Kulas was hospitalized as a result, eventually receiving fifty stitches. New Jack was charged with aggravated assault stemming from the incident, but was acquitted. Kulas subsequently sued New Jack and ECW for damages in July 1998, but lost the case. Kulas died on May 12, 2002 at the age of 22 due to complications from gastric bypass surgery. Later, Kulas' parents tried to sue New Jack because they believed their son's death was caused due to depression and a major eating disorder after what New Jack did to him.