People wanted my son dead, says MJ`s mother

London: Michael Jackson`s mother Katherine said that the pop legend was murdered insisting her son was convinced "people wanted him dead".

In a rare TV interview with NBC`s `Dateline` set to air in the US on the first anniversary of Jackson`s death today, the family matriarch revealed the Thriller hitmaker always feared he would meet a tragic end, Contactmusic reported. And the 80-year-old is adamant greed played a part in the superstar`s demise. "I know Michael didn`t die of natural causes. Someone did this to him. Mean, evil, vicious people didn`t want him around for some reason. It just shows how vicious people are and greedy for money," Katherine said. "He told me several times that he felt that people wanted him gone, wanted him dead. He would always say that. And for him to say that he must have known something," she added. The claims follows La Toya`s recent insistence that Jackson was killed for money, saying, "Michael was murdered for his (music) catalogue - that`s the bottom line." Jackson`s personal physician Dr Conrad Murray stands accused of administering the powerful anaesthetic Propofol which led to the singer`s death on June 25 last year. He has pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. PTI RTK RTK