Denzel Washington Strangles His Mother, Aretha Franklin

Wait ... what?!

Denzel Washington, but not that Denzel Washington, allegedly strangled his mother, Aretha Franklin, but not that Aretha Franklin, in a dispute over money??!!

Law enforcement sources confirm ... 20-year-old Denzel is accused of getting into an argument with his 52-year-old mom, Aretha, in Manhattan after she refused to give him cash for a date. We're told she accused him of taking dough from her coat, so he allegedly choked her and threatened to kill her.

The incident went down in January, and Denzel was arrested and ordered to stay away from Aretha -- but we're told he showed up at his mom's place a couple weeks ago to yell at her and cops busted him again.

Denzel struck a plea deal for a lesser charge of harassment and will have to take anger management classes ... according to the NY Post. We know you're wondering, and our sources say this Denzel looks nothing like his namesake.