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| Photo Credit: Fulton County Sheriff's Office |
The fallout from Monday's 56-count grand jury indictment, filed in Georgia, naming 28 members and associates of record label imprint YSL (Young Stoner Life, Young Slime Life), which identifies it as “a criminal street gang” that “claims affiliation with the national Bloods gang,” continues.
Monday, Grammy Award-winning rapper Young Thug (real name: Jeffery Lamar Williams), the founder of the label, was booked into Fulton County Jail on gang-related charges.
On Wednesday he was joined by labelmate and fellow platinum rapper Gunna, born Sergio Giavonni Kitchens, who is charged with a single count of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Williams, who was booked on charges of participation in street gang activity and conspiring to violate RICO, also picked up seven new charges: possession of marijuana with intent to distribute; possession of a Schedule III, IV, or V controlled substance with intent to distribute; possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony; possession of a sawed-off shotgun, sawed-off rifle, machine gun, dangerous weapon, or silencer; and three counts of being a person employed or associated with a criminal street gang to conduct or participate in criminal gang activity through the commission of a crime.
Both YSL members had previous brushes with the law, including a 2017 incident where they were both arrested in Atlanta on drug-possession charges following a traffic stop. Williams was indicted on felony drug charges, which are still pending. Kitchens was sentenced to six months of probation in 2019 when his marijuana possession charge was dropped after he pleaded guilty to a window tint violation.
Those troubles pale in comparison to the current legal quagmire they and their associates have waded into. The 88-page indictment details charges of murder, drug dealing, drug and gun possession, witness intimidation, robbery, theft and carjacking.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis claimed the indictments as a major victory against violent crime.
“As the district attorney of Fulton County, my No. 1 focus is targeting gangs,” Willis said. “And there’s a reason for that. They are committing, conservatively, 75 to 80% of all of the violent crime that we are seeing within our community.”
Monday, Grammy Award-winning rapper Young Thug (real name: Jeffery Lamar Williams), the founder of the label, was booked into Fulton County Jail on gang-related charges.
On Wednesday he was joined by labelmate and fellow platinum rapper Gunna, born Sergio Giavonni Kitchens, who is charged with a single count of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Williams, who was booked on charges of participation in street gang activity and conspiring to violate RICO, also picked up seven new charges: possession of marijuana with intent to distribute; possession of a Schedule III, IV, or V controlled substance with intent to distribute; possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony; possession of a sawed-off shotgun, sawed-off rifle, machine gun, dangerous weapon, or silencer; and three counts of being a person employed or associated with a criminal street gang to conduct or participate in criminal gang activity through the commission of a crime.
Both YSL members had previous brushes with the law, including a 2017 incident where they were both arrested in Atlanta on drug-possession charges following a traffic stop. Williams was indicted on felony drug charges, which are still pending. Kitchens was sentenced to six months of probation in 2019 when his marijuana possession charge was dropped after he pleaded guilty to a window tint violation.
Those troubles pale in comparison to the current legal quagmire they and their associates have waded into. The 88-page indictment details charges of murder, drug dealing, drug and gun possession, witness intimidation, robbery, theft and carjacking.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis claimed the indictments as a major victory against violent crime.
“As the district attorney of Fulton County, my No. 1 focus is targeting gangs,” Willis said. “And there’s a reason for that. They are committing, conservatively, 75 to 80% of all of the violent crime that we are seeing within our community.”
According to Fani some of the defendants could face life in prison.
“There are definitely many people that are looking at life under this indictment,” she said. “These are serious times, they are serious allegations and it is my opinion that violence in our community deserves maximum penalties.”
