NEW YORK — When Sean “Diddy” Combs found out his ex, R&B artist Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, was dating someone else, he grabbed one of his employees in the middle of the night to help him hunt down and murder the other man, a Manhattan jury heard in a bombshell opening statement at the mogul’s trial Monday.

“For years, the defendant physically abused Cassie. He also sexually exploited her, forcing her to have sex with male escorts while he watched and recorded it. But that night, the defendant learned he had lost control of Cassie,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson said in Manhattan Federal Court.

“He took his gun and he took his bodyguard — one of his most loyal lieutenants — to wake up one of the defendant’s employees in the middle of the night. The defendant yelled that he was going to kill the man Cassie was with.”

The prosecutor said Combs couldn’t find the man. But he did find Cassie.

“He did what he had done countless times before. He beat her brutally. Kicking her in the back and flinging her around like a rag doll. All of that violence was not enough, though, the defendant had to make sure he had control over Cassie once again. So he threatened her — the defendant told Cassie that if she defied him again, he would publicly release the videos of her having sex with male escorts that he kept as blackmail. Souvenirs of the most humiliating nights of her life.”

Johnson said the disturbing account was just one night in 20 years of violence and abuse jurors would hear about the trial, where prosecutors would weave together the narrative of how he reached stratospheric success after founding Bad Boy Records, carefully cultivated his reputation, and used his wealth to force and manipulate women into “freak offs” — violent, “dayslong, drug fueled” sexual performances with male commercial sex workers — against their will.

She said extensive evidence, including testimony, videos, text messages, and more, would leave no doubt about Combs’ guilt.

“This is Sean Combs. To the public, he was ‘Puff Daddy’ or ‘Diddy’ — a cultural icon, a businessman, larger than life,” Johnson said in court, looking over at Combs.

“But there was another side to him, a side that ran a criminal enterprise. During this trial, you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant’s crimes, but he didn’t do it alone. He had an inner circle of bodyguards and high-ranking employees who helped him commit crimes and helped him cover them up — kidnapping, arson, drugs, sex crimes, bribery and obstruction. These are just some of the crimes that the defendant and his inner circle committed again and again. You are going to hear about all of them during this trial.”

Opening statements began around 10:30 a.m. after the court selected eight men and four women to serve on the jury, having surveyed dozens of New Yorkers over the last week.

Johnson said jurors would hear of how Combs violently abused his ex, 17 years his junior, for reasons as simple as taking too long in the bathroom. She said they would hear of how he forced her and others to participate in depraved sexual performances and drugged them with sedatives, often while they were healing from wounds inflicted by his beatings, in which he sometimes directed male escorts to urinate in their mouths. She said they would largely hear about the abuse inflicted on Cassie and another woman, referred to anonymously as Jane, but that they were far from his only victims.

“He sometimes called himself the king, and he expected to be treated like one,” the prosecutor said. “This case is not about a celebrity’s private sexual preferences. The evidence will show that the sexual conduct in this case was coercive and criminal, because the defendant made women have sex when they did not want to … and he even used violence to make them do it.”

In her opening statement, Combs’ attorney, Teny Geragos, told jurors her client committed domestic violence, “gets so angry, so jealous, he’s out of control,” and would appear to be “mean” and a “jerk” when they see certain evidence. She told the panel he was a “complicated man.”

But the lawyer said they must still find him not guilty.

“He is not charged with being mean. He’s not charged with being a jerk. He’s charged with running a racketeering enterprise,” Geragos said. “We take full responsibility that there was domestic violence in this case. Domestic violence is not sex trafficking. I want to say it again: domestic violence is not sex trafficking. Had he been charged with domestic violence, had he been charged with assault, we would not be here right now.”

Geragos then added, “Sex trafficking, prostitution, racketeering, these are federal crimes. They charge different elements. And he is simply not guilty of those crimes.”

The lawyer said the case was about “love, jealousy, infidelity, and money” and “capable adults in consensual relationships.” She charged that Combs’ accusers were motivated by money, and asserted that none of his former employees or associates would testify about participating in a criminal enterprise, describing the Harlem native as a self-made millionaire whose charisma was magnetic.

The attorney said videotapes of the “freak offs” may be hard for some jurors to watch, but she said they were “intimate” and never intended to be viewed by anyone who didn’t participate, denying they were used as blackmail.

“This case is about Sean Combs’ private, personal sex life, which has nothing to do with his lawful businesses,” she said.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to multiple sex trafficking charges, racketeering conspiracy, transporting victims and sex workers for prostitution, and related counts.

The disgraced mogul is facing a potential decades-long prison sentence if convicted.

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