London, April 5: Whitney Houston secretly paid 400,000 dollars to drug gangsters to save her kidnapped ex-husband's life, claims a new book.

According to writer David Collins, her former husband Bobby Brown was `knocked out with one punch' and taken hostage at gunpoint by New York street gang called the Preacher Crew in April 1993.

"When he awoke, Bobby was naked and hog-tied, his mouth stuffed with a rag," the Daily Express quoted Collins as saying in his autobiography, Preacher of the Streets.

Ex-gang member Collins alleged that the thugs threatened to kill Brown unless the ransom was handed to them personally by the singer.

He continued: "The Preacher left the room and his men then terrorised Bobby for two hours. They kicked him. They told him they would kill Whitney.

"One of them put a gun to his head. Bobby was weeping when the Preacher came back in the room, begging the Preacher to let him call Whitney."

Frightened Houston, who did not report the matter to the authorities, later disguised herself in a wig and dark glasses and paid the money in a duffle bag to 6ft 7in gang chief Clarence "Preacher" Heatley, it was claimed.

He added: "They came to an agreement. She was personally going to bring 400,000 dollars to get her man back. The next day, she did just that. She was wearing a wig. She paid the money. Bobby was free to go."

The couple put an end to their 15-year-marriage in April 2007. (ANI)