Most rappers
don’t actually live the life they talk about in their music.
But some of these dudes really came from the streets and still got one foot in.
Today we taking a look at rappers who been hit with RICO charges.
Let’s jump right in.
Muwop and O’Block
On August 4th, 2020,
FBG Duck was shot and killed while shopping in the Gold Coast,
a wealthy neighborhood of Chicago.
According to police, two cars pulled up on him, while he was shopping.
Then four suspects hopped out and started letting off shots.
One month before he died, Duck dropped a diss track called Dead B******
where he took shots at a bunch of dudes from O’Block that died.
The diss included well-loved members like T. Roy and Odee Perry.
So, rumors quickly went around that O’Block was behind the hit on Duck.
Then in October 2021,
police seemed to confirm the rumors.
A federal RICO indictment named five O’Block affiliates
that were allegedly involved in the murder.
One of the suspects was Muwop, King Von’s right hand man.
They was super close,
and Muwop was with Von in Atlanta the night he was shot by Quando Rondo’s crew.
Even though he’s known as a rapper now,
Muwop was always one of O’Block’s most savage shooters.
He is allegedly responsible for a bunch of well known hits,
like shooting Wooski in the head outside of a funeral.
The other O’Block dudes caught up in the RICO case
was C-Thang, C Murda, Los, and Kenneth “Kenny” Robinson.
A fifth guy named Zell Munna was also under investigation,
but he committed suicide in August 2021.
Even before the investigation was made public,
most people thought O’Block was probably involved.
After Duck got killed, King Von bought chains for everyone in the crew
which made it seem like a gift for taking him out.
Muwop and the others were all charged with murder in the aid of racketeering,
assault, and weapons charges.
Now all of them are facing a minimum of life in prison and possibly the death penalty.
When he was first arrested, Muwop seemed to be taking it pretty well.
He responded to a fan’s letter and told them “im great and thanks for reaching out
my head high as it could be love for reaching out ill be out soon.”
But now, a ton of evidence has been discovered that prosecutors believe
will make the case an easy win.
According to court documents, they’ve collected 48 discs
and a thumb drive full of evidence which includes FBI reports,
surveillance footage, body-cam footage from Chicago police,
search warrant returns, and more.
With so much evidence stacked against them,
the situation ain’t too looking good for O’Block.
RICO cases are no joke,
and all these dudes could be facing the death penalty if things don’t go their way.
But Muwop ain’t the only popular rapper who is facing life in prison.
This next artist has been accused of being involved in a murder,
and also being one of the highest-ranking Bloods in the country.
YFN Lucci
YFN Lucci is a rapper from Atlanta known for hits like Everyday We Lit
and Key to the Streets.
In January 2021, a warrant was issued for YFN Lucci’s arrest.
The Atlanta PD claims
that he was the driver during a gang shootout
that left his homie dead and another man injured.
According to authorities, Lucci and two other dudes
slid through enemy territory and got into a shootout with their opps.
One of the dudes in Lucci’s car got hit, a man named James Adams.
Adams was then shoved out of the car and left for dead while his friends drove off.
Police later arrested Leroy Pitts and a Miami rapper named CP3 for the shooting.
They claim that CP3 was the shooter and Lucci was behind the wheel,
so Pitts, CP3, and Lucci
were all charged with murder, aggravated assault,
and participating in criminal street gang activity.
Lucci decided to turn himself in after the warrant was issued,
and now he’s facing life in prison or even the death penalty.
If that wasn’t bad enough,
he later got hit with a RICO indictment
along with a dozen alleged members from different Blood sets.
According to prosecutors, Lucci was trying to unite a bunch of Blood sets
from Atlanta and Miami and use his clout as a rapper to make them more powerful.
Two Atlanta sets - ABG and BG was named in court documents.
Both of these sets are under the Inglewood Family Gangsta Bloods from California.
Two Miami sets - The Bloodhounds and the 13th Ave Hot Boys was also targeted.
The Miami sets are based in the Pork and Beans projects,
which Lucci allegedly has ties to.
That’s how he knows CP3.
So now Lucci is facing the murder case in Atlanta,
plus the RICO indictment on top of it.
One thing that may help him in the RICO case
is that the prosecutors have acknowledged
he ain’t actually a gang member, just an affiliate.
This might make it more difficult to convict him in a gang indictment,
but that all depends on how much evidence they actually have.
If Lucci gets convicted in the shooting case, it’s unlikely he’ll beat the RICO charge.
But if his lawyer can prove he wasn’t involved in Atlanta,
then he might have a chance of getting off.
But beating these cases ain’t even Lucci’s top priority right now,
he’s just trying to survive his time in jail.
In March 2022, TMZ reported that Lucci claimed he was stabbed
with a homemade shank and there was a price on his head.
He asked the judge to grant him a bond for his safety,
but for now, he’s still locked up.
One day later, TMZ obtained an incident report from the jail
that said Lucci and another inmate both used “sharp objects” during a fight.
Lucci allegedly yelled “I feel like killing this n***a!”
He was later treated for a laceration on his head,
and the other inmate was charged with aggravated assault and battery.
Lucci already has a lot to worry about,
but hopefully he can at least avoid getting taken out before his trial starts.
Casanova
Casanova is no stranger to being locked up.
He spent six years in prison for robbery and even met A$AP Rocky on Rikers Island.
But now he’s facing attempted murder and other charges
in a federal RICO case that could earn him a way longer sentence.
Casanova turned himself in to the police in December 2020.
He was wanted by the FBI along with 17 other suspects in a massive RICO case
against the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation, a Blood set based in New York.
The attempted murder charge
comes from a Miami shooting that went down in October 2020.
Casanova and his homie Jarrett “Jaycee” Crisler
were chilling outside the club when a rival gang member saw Cas throw up a sign.
The dude allegedly told Casanova “Yo homie, wrong sign,”
Then Cas said “You wanna die tonight?”
That’s when someone let off shots,
and the dude who confronted Casanova got hit along with someone else.
According to police, they linked Cas and Jaycee to the shooting
through text messages on Jaycee’s phone.
Jaycee messaged someone and told them
“killed a n**** last night smh.
Some cripp n****.
We outside the strip club n cas was takin pics with n****
the cripp n**** gonna grab Cas hand talkin bout yo homie wrong sing.
Cas asked him u wanna die tonight,
he reached on his hip n I just booked em.
Everyone got missin Onik skirted off n I let another one go
hit jit in the stomach #good aim.”
After spending a year in jail, Casanova was denied bond
in January 2021.
He also claims he was forced into solitary confinement for a month.
He’s facing a minimum of 15 years if he gets convicted,
and now his co-defendants are starting to take plea deals
to shave time off their sentences.
In September 2021,
AllHipHop reported that Brandon “Untouchable Dot” Nieves copped a deal.
Nieves is allegedly the “co-Godfather of Gorilla Stone Reign,”
one of the eight subsets that Gorilla Stone is made up of.
One month later, Jamal “Trap Smoke” Austin also decided to take a deal.
The feds say Trap Smoke supplied crack, cocaine,
and other drugs like K2 to other Gorilla Stone members for them to deal on the street.
They tapped his phone and recorded calls and messages between him
and Naya “Baby” Austin, who is known as the “Godmother” of the gang.
The two of them were caught trying to buy guns for Gorilla Stone affiliates.
Casanova still says he’s innocent of all the crimes he’s been charged with
and that the police are just using his past against him.
But the prosecutors clearly think they have enough evidence to convict him.
Now that two of his co-defendants have taken deals,
maybe Casanova will do the same.
But since his rap sheet is so long, the judge probably won’t take it easy on him.
Tap in for updates on this case as it develops.
But if you thought Casanova was down bad,
these next two Florida rappers both ended up getting hit with RICO charges
after starting a war that terrorized the streets of Orlando.
Hotboii and 9lokknine
Hotboii and 9lokknine were two of the hottest up and coming rappers from Florida.
But petty jealousy caused them to start beefing
and now they both caught up in a RICO case.
The two rappers broke into the industry around the same time
and even collaborated on a track together in 2018.
But then something happened between them that sparked a bloody war.
Hotboii claims it all started because 9lokknine was jealous of him,
but no one knows exactly what went down.
Hotboii is affiliated with a gang called 438,
while 9lokknine reps AFNF, AKA The Army.
The beef between the rappers ended up causing a full-blown war between the gangs.
And in April 2020, the first body dropped.
A 438 affiliate named Wolph Lutherking Luma
was allegedly shot at a party by an AFNF affiliate named Demetrius Cox.
Then eleven days later, the memorial for Luma was shot up
and four people got hit,
including a high school football player who died from his injuries.
Police suspected an AFNF member named Jerimiah Robinson
was responsible for the memorial shooting,
but he got killed before they could get to him.
Robinson was allegedly murdered by a 438 leader named Vanshawn Sands.
Robinson and another AFNF affiliate tried to kill Sands at his house,
but Sands pulled out his own gun and shot Robinson in the head.
A few days after that,
9lokknine and his crew allegedly tried to kill another rapper named Kuttem Reese.
They let off over 100 shots into the house he was staying at,
but Kuttem wasn’t even there.
His mom and sister was,
and they were able to identify 9lokknine because they’re blood cousins.
The violence was getting worse, and even innocent bystanders were getting hit.
The police knew they had to do something,
so a special investigation called Operation X-Force
was created to stop AFNF and 438 from killing anyone else.
But 9lokknine almost ain’t survive the investigation.
In October 2020, he got ambushed at a mall in Orlando.
Two shooters waited for him in the parking lot
and started dumping off shots when they saw him.
No one got hit, but 9lokknine got arrested at the scene
because there was already a warrant out for him.
Operation X-Force was trying hard to bring both gangs down.
They had wiretaps, surveillance cameras, and informants to help collect evidence,
and by the end of the nine-month investigation, they arrested over 30 men.
Hotboii was also named in the indictment
and was on the run for a month before he was arrested.
Now he’s facing racketeering charges
and could end up spending 30 years in prison if he’s convicted.
9lokknine was already sentenced to 7 years for unrelated charges of identity theft
and weapons possession, but is still facing more time from the RICO case.
Both of these dudes could have left it all behind in the streets
and focused on their music,
but now they’re looking at some serious time that could likely cost them their careers..
Hotboii still has a chance to make it out if he beats the racketeering charge.
But 9lokknine is already serving a long sentence
and will probably get even more time if he’s convicted of racketeering and attempted murder.
So, it looks like his rap career might be over.
More info on this case will come out once it goes to trial.
So stay posted for updates.