Casanova is a rapper from Brooklyn who has been fighting for his freedom over the past year.
He got arrested in a major gang indictment and labeled as one of the leaders
of the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation Gang, a New York blood gang.
Now it looks like he’s in even more trouble after being hit with additional attempted murder charges.
Let’s take a closer look at what happened.
On November 8th, news broke that Casanova was being charged with attempted murder
after a shooting that allegedly took place outside a Miami gentlemen’s club.
According to the indictment,
the incident happened outside the King of Diamonds on October 24th, 2020.
Casanova and his co defendant Jarrett “Jaycee” Crisler were chilling outside the club.
A rival gang member saw Cas throw up a gang sign and pressed him about it.
He supposedly told the rapper “Yo homie, wrong sign”.
Cas responded by telling the man “You wanna die tonight?”
After they exchanged words there was a shooting and the man who confronted Cas was shot,
along with another person.
According to prosecutors, the shooters were Casanova and Jaycee.
Both victims were rushed to the hospital and luckily survived.
The police said they learned of the rapper’s involvement in the crime
after reading text messages from Jaycee’s phone, bragging about the shooting.
The texts from Jaycee’s phone were obtained by Allhiphop.com who broke the story.
In the messages, Jaycee says “killed a n**** last night smh”
followed by “Some cripp n****. We outside the strip club
n cas was takin pics with n**** n the cripp n**** gonna grab Cas hand talkin bout
yo homie wrong sign. 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”
He also went on to say “It’s on the news 2 of them I only shot twice meaning I don’t miss.”
And “greatest shot in the world U tryna challenge me? lol”
Both Casanova and Jaycee have been charged with attempted murder
and assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering.
Casanova pled not guilty to the charges.
But, his lawyer James Kousouros said that the additional charges were expected.
He told XXL “This was expected.
We have been investigating the incidents charged for months
and Mr. Senior fully intends to contest these charges at a trial.
He is confident of his exoneration.
He surrendered voluntarily when he learned of the indictment last year.
He did not run or hide. He looks forward to his day in court”.
On top of the attempted murder charge,
Cas is also facing charges of conspiracy to commit racketeering, c
onspiracy to distribute controlled substances
and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Casanova is a rapper from Flatbush, Brooklyn.
His parents were Panamanian and Haitian,
and the rapper grew up with a huge extended family that includes 10 siblings on his moms side
and 14 on his dads side.
Growing up, Casanova got sucked into the street life and joined a local blood gang as a teenager.
In 2006, he got arrested for robbery and spent eight years in prison.
He got out in 2014 and after working in construction for a little;
he decided to give music a try and became a rapper.
He dropped his first official single Don’t Run in 2016, which gained some buzz in New York City.
Later that year he dropped a video for the song, which caught the attention of Memphis Bleek,
and he signed Casanova to his Warehouse Music Group imprint, which is under Roc Nation.
He ended up dropping an EP called Commissary in 2018,
which featured G-Eazy, Rich the Kid, Mozzy, and A Boogie wit Da Hoodie.
He then dropped his debut album Behind the Scars in 2019,
which had appearances from Chris Brown, Young Thug, and Fabolous.
Even though Casanova was never a major star, he was well respected in Brooklyn
and seemed dedicated to changing his life for the better.
But just as he was starting to enjoy his career, the rapper got arrested on a RICO charge
meant to take down his entire gang.
In December 2020, the Southern District of New York filed charges against Casanova
and 17 other alleged members of the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation.
Casanova is accused of being the leader of the gang,
and is charged in connection with various racketeering, murder, narcotics, firearms, and fraud offenses.
Casanova turned himself in after a warrant was put out for his arrest.
Prosecutors are accusing him of using his status as a famous rapper to call shots
and make moves for the gang.
Some of the evidence includes photos from his Instagram and iCloud
showing multiple handguns, as well as a rifle on a couch.
They also noted that at the time of his arrest, he was promoting a song called Gripped Up,
by posting a photo of an assault rifle, with the song playing in the background.
Casanova is a convicted felon so he ain’t allowed to have weapons.
But none of the photos actually show him holding any guns.
They also pointed to pics on Instagram that showed Cas surrounded by large amounts of weed
and claim his iCloud had messages where he encouraged members of the gang to sell it for him.
The Feds also installed a listening device in a cell
at Auburn Correctional Facility to eavesdrop on another Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation leader
named Dwight Reid aka Dick Wolf.
During a visit, a co defendant named Walter Luster aka Shells
told Reid a story about how Cas accidentally fired a gun off at a poker game
and said the rapper always carried guns in the streets.
One of the prosecutors on the case said
“while it is incredibly disturbing that the defendant used his now-deleted Instagram profile and platform
to shamelessly promote a violent street gang,
his participation in the untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation enterprise ran much deeper than that.
Right up until his arrest,
the defendant was in the thick of Gorilla’s Stone’s dangerous and illicit activity.”
So, it seems like they was trying to paint Casanova as a violent gang leader,
even though most of the evidence seemed circumstantial.
Until now, Cas ain’t been accused of committing any violent acts,
only possessing guns and using his influence to promote gang activity.
In September, another accused leader of the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation,
Brandon “Untouchable Dot” Nieves took a plea deal.
Nieves was being charged with racketeering conspiracy, narcotics conspiracy,
possession of firearms in furtherance of narcotics conspiracy, and aiding and abetting.
He got caught on a wiretap with two Untouchable Gorilla Stone members
who were plotting to stab other members of the gang who violated the code
while they were locked up.
He also got caught on a separate wiretap talking about selling drugs and other gang activity.
At the time of his arrest, Nieves was already out on probation
for ordering the prison stabbing of another member of the gang.
So, he copped a plea deal to avoid spending the rest of his life behind bars.
But, he’s still facing a minimum of 15 years.
None of the more serious crimes that Nieves was convicted of involved Casanova.
But it still ain’t a good look for a high-ranking member of the gang to admit guilt,
especially in a RICO case.
In January, Cas raised over $2.5 million to post bail,
which included over $1.2million in property and the salaries of 13 cosigners,
which totaled another $1.2million.
But the prosecutors argued that he is too dangerous to be released.
And Now with these new charges being added,
it sounds like Casanova’s chances of early release have been crushed.
Since he has been sitting down,
the rapper has let fans know that he’s been having a hard time behind bars.
Back in March,
he went off on the people in his life who weren’t holding him down while he’s been locked up.
He tweeted “If you ain’t send me no money or check in on me
and you supposedly my mans suck my d*ck!!! And that goes for anybody”
Now, Cas has resorted to asking his fans for help getting him through this tough time.
He recently wrote on Instagram under a jail photo of himself.
“This is a public service announcement to all my fans and very important friends.
I’ve been incarcerated for almost one year now, exhausted all remedies
and spent a significant amount of money on legal fees to prove my innocence.
The charges against me are false, they don’t represent or reflect the person that I am.
They are simply using my past criminal history to crucify me in court.”
He continued on saying “I’m the same individual that went to city hall
and housing projects with @ericadamsfornyc
to speak to children and explain to them how shootings and gun violence isn’t the way of life.
I’ve visited shelters to feed the people in need all around the world including Africa,
donated to back-to-school drives, and not one of my good deeds are mentioned or acknowledged.
I’m calling on all the great people with meaningful and powerful voices
to help me with this matter.
Any help provided will be a blessing,
because I feel defeated one’s past shouldn’t be the reason
why you can’t be afforded a successful future."
So, it sounds like Casanova is really going through it.
What’s crazy is that it don’t seem like the prosecutors have too much solid evidence
to prove that he is still a violent gang leader.
All they got is old pics, text messages, and convos
that suggest he might have been in situations he shouldn’t have been in.
But nothing that paints him as El Chapo.
Maybe more evidence will be released as the case progresses.
But right now it looks like the Feds are doing whatever they can
to take down a popular gang-affiliated rapper.
Hopefully, Casanova gets the support he needs to prove his innocence
and make it out in time to continue his rap career.
But at this moment, his situation aint looking too great.
Stay posted for updates