Chicago police are investigating whether "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett paid two brothers to stage an attack on the actor in the Streeterville neighborhood late last month, according to a law enforcement source.

Detectives are following up on information provided by the brothers while they were in custody for two days this past week, the source said.

Investigators also have been given new details about the rope that Smollett said was made into a noose and placed around his neck as he walked toward his apartment in the 300 block of East North Water Street, the source said.

Detectives had been searching area retailers to find the source of the rope but the new information allowed them to narrow their search and find where it was sold, the source said.

The brothers, 25 and 27, were released without charges late Friday, 12 hours after police had called them "possible suspects."

Detectives still need to verify their stories and the investigation was continuing. Chicago police announced Saturday that investigators hope to interview Smollett soon.

The actor issued a strongly worded statement late Saturday insisting the attack happened.

"Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with," read the statement from his attorneys. "He has been further victimized by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack. Nothing is further from the truth."

The statement said one of the brothers was Smollett's personal trainer, the first time he has acknowledged knowing either of them. The two also reportedly worked with Smollett on “Empire.”

A representative for the Fox network, which produces and airs the show, had no comment.

Efforts to reach the brothers were unsuccessful.

After the brothers were released from a South Side police station Friday night, their lawyer was vague about what information they turned over to police.

“Obviously I had it," attorney Gloria Schmidt said. "Obviously my clients had it. But I think it took a matter of coordination.”

Pressed about whether Smollett set up the attack, Schmidt said, “There’s still a lot of moving parts to this. … I’m not part of Jussie’s defense. I’m not part of what’s going on with him. I can just tell you that my guys (are) innocent of the charge and they’re going home."

The men were arrested Wednesday night after detectives tracked their movements on surveillance cameras in the area where Smollett says two men shouted racial and homophobic slurs at him, hit him and wrapped a rope around his neck while yelling, “This is MAGA country!”

Smollett, in his first TV interview, said Thursday he believed the two people captured by those cameras are his attackers. “ ’Cause … I was there,” he told “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts. “I don’t have any doubt in my mind that that’s them. Never did.”

Smollett has told police the attack occurred at about 2 a.m. on Jan. 29 as he was walking from a Subway sandwich shop to his apartment building. The brothers, who are black, were tracked down through ride-share records, according to police sources.

The brothers are both aspiring actors who have posted auditions online, including a scene in which each of them were interrogated by police for a murder. They signed with the Babes ’N Beaus Model and Talent Agency in 2016, according to Don Underwood, one of the owners of the Hinsdale-based agency. They each appeared on an episode of NBC’s “Chicago P.D.” last year.

They both had roles in the 2017 indie movie “The Worst Nightmare.” One of them also had a part in Spike Lee’s 2015 film “Chi-Raq.”

Neither brother has been credited for work on “Empire,” though the older brother said in a 2015 interview that he played the prison bodyguard for Chris Rock’s character. Rock guest-starred on the Season 2 premiere of “Empire” in 2015.

A week before the attack, Smollett told police he received a threatening letter at work. Witnesses told police a postal worker dropped off the letter at the Chicago studio where “Empire” is filmed. It was postmarked in southwest suburban Bedford Park on Jan. 18 and bore two American flag stamps. The letters “MAGA” were written in the upper-left corner of the envelope.

Smollett said a stick figure was shown hanging from a tree with the words, “Smollett Jussie you will die black (expletive).”

“Did I make that up too?” Smollett asked in his interview with Roberts.

Police have not said whether they believe the two incidents are related.

Meanwhile, Empire is scheduled to film on the Near West Side on Wednesday. It's unclear whether Smollett will participate in that shoot. A Fox representative declined to discuss cast schedules.

tswartz@chicagotribune.com

jgorner@chicagotribune.com

asweeney@chicagotribune.com