The RICO case against Young Thug and his YSL crew
might be the biggest investigation in the history of the rap game.
Even though it’s not heading to trial until next year,
some massive updates have dropped about the case
and today we’re breaking them all down.
Let’s get right into it.
The biggest update in the case against YSL
is that Gunna took a plea deal and walked out of jail.
A lot of people thought YSL would start falling apart
since they’re all facing some serious time,
but fans were shocked when Gunna announced his deal.
He took a deal called an Alford Plea,
which basically means
Gunna thinks the state has enough evidence to convict him -
but he’s not admitting that he’s actually guilty of the crime.
He still got hit with a five year sentence,
but was credited with one year of time served
and the rest of the sentence will be suspended.
When the news broke about the deal,
Gunna put out a statement
and said he wasn’t turning on the crew and working with the cops.
He said
“I have NOT made any statements,
have NOT been interviewed,
have NOT cooperated,
have NOT agreed to testify or be a witness
for or against any party in the case…”
Gunna tried to tell everyone he wasn’t snitching,
but then a video came out showing Gunna telling a prosecutor
that YSL is a gang.
During a hearing
the prosecutor asked him a bunch of questions about YSL,
and Gunna said
YSL is a music lable,
and a gang.
And you have personal knowledge that members or associates of YSL
have commited crimes in furtherance of the gang.
Yes your honor.
They also asked him
You were present when law enforcement officers stopped the vehicle
in which,
you were present along with Jeffery Williams, (Thug)
where hydrocodone, methamphetamines, and a firearm were recovered.
These items did not belong to you?
Yes your honor.
Fans and other artists started calling Gunna a rat as soon as the video leaked.
6ix9ine, Freddie Gibbs,
Boosie, and other rappers all clowned him for snitching -
but Gunna’s lawyer Steven Say-dow says
his deal doesn’t have anything to do with Thug or anyone else in the case.
DJ Akademiks posted screenshots of his DMs with Sadow,
where he says what Gunna admitted to in the leaked video
can’t be used as evidence against anyone else.
Akademiks also asked him if Gunna can be subpoenaed and called to testify,
and Sadow said he could be but that Gunna would plead the fifth
and not help the prosecution out.
Sadow also hopped on IG to clear the situation up.
He wrote
“Gunna did not snitch to get out of jail.
He has said nothing and is not cooperating….
So please stop spreading lies.”
A criminal lawyer on YouTube named Bruce Rivers
broke the whole situation down,
and he says
that Gunna’s statements actually could be used against other defendants in the case.
He didn’t say Gunna is snitching,
but according to him it’s definitely a possibility.
Plus, Gunna won't be able to plead the fifth since he already took a deal.
We won’t know for sure until right before the trial,
if Gunna is cooperating though.
and at this point
nobody but Gunna and his team
really knows what’s going on behind the scenes.
According to Wack100,
Thug and his team had no idea Gunna was taking a deal.
YSL isn’t an independent label,
and it’s under another company called 300 Elektra entertainment.
There’s no evidence to back his theory up,
but Wack says
“he’s on some real f*** s***”
and that Thug’s team believes 300 Elektra knew about Gunna’s deal -
and that they’re trying to breach Gunna’s contract with Thug
so he can sign directly to Elektra.
Even Thug’s sister defended Gunna over the snitching accusations,
Nothing that's going on is not hitting my brother
So can y'all please stop that,
can y'all please stop?
If y'all love Gunna,
then y'all give him support.
but that hasn’t stopped people from running with the story.
Unfortunately
this case is so big
that the snitching rumors
could end up following Gunna for the rest of his career.
He’s already seeing backlash from being involved with the case.
Last week
he was supposed to hand out 1,000 Walmart gift cards to families in Atlanta,
but Walmart canceled the event over “security concerns.”
Gunna ain't the only dude from YSL who’s taking deals though.
Last week the news broke that YSL's co-founder Walter Murphy
pleaded guilty to racketeering
and got hit with a ten year sentence that he’ll be serving on probation.
It’s not clear if Murphy flipped
or if the prosecution will use him as a witness,
but it doesn't look like a good sign for Thug if YSL OGs are copping deals.
Lil Duke was originally facing five gun and drug charges in the case,
but he got all of them dropped
by pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy
to violate the RICO act.
In exchange for pleading guilty he got two years of his sentence commuted,
and now he’ll spend the rest on probation in California.
SlimeLife Shawty took a deal too
and entered an Alford plea like Gunna.
He was sentenced to ten years for conspiracy to violate the RICO act,
but he says he didn’t have to snitch to get out.
According to him,
all he had to do was admit YSL was a gang -
but that won’t affect anyone else because Walter Murphy already said that it was.
According to Thug’s lawyer Brian Steel,
the state is using all the plea deals just to get to Thug.
Last week he did an interview with 11Alive
and said that the cops arrest someone,
then immediately start pressing them on what they know about Thug.
He said
That’s the problem with this case.
It’s coming from the word of people who are getting deals
to say,
'Yeah, he was there or I saw him around or
he gave the order or I heard from someone else he gave the order.'
That's what this case is now.
Thug got more bad news
after the cops in Atlanta hit him with new charges
for street racing, reckless driving, and speeding.
Thug was allegedly caught driving 120 miles per hour on Interstate 85,
and now he’ll have to fight those charges on top of everything else.
Brian Steel says that the new charges are proof that the system is being abused
just to lock Thug up.
He said “As of two weeks ago,
that case was being resolved with a seatbelt violation.
Today, now it’s indicted in the Fulton County Superior Court.
He is being wronged by our system.”
Gunna and Slimelife Shawty
might think their statements won’t hurt Thug or the other dudes in the case,
but that’s probably not how it’s going to work out.
One of the biggest keys of the investigation
is to prove that YSL isn’t just a label,
but a criminal gang with Thug calling the shots.
Gunna and the other dudes taking plea deals was bad enough,
but then the news broke that Thug’s own brother Unfoonk had taken a deal too.
He pleaded guilty
to violating the RICO act and theft by reception of stolen property
and got hit with ten years of probation.
What’s wild about the situation
is that Thug actually saved Unfoonk from serving life in prison.
Unfoonk was locked up on a murder charge back in 2007,
but after Thug blew up he hired Brian Steel to be Unfoonk’s lawyer -
and two years later Unfoonk was back out on the street.
Flipping on your own brother who saved you before is wild,
but Unfoonk says he didn’t snitch.
After he got out of jail, he hopped on IG and wrote
“Damn people really think I told on my own brother (shaking my head).
Show me in my paper work I told on anybody LOL…”
But like Bruce Rivers says,
we won’t really know who talked until the trial starts.
So everyone else admitting they knew YSL is a gang
definitely won’t help Thug’s case.
It hasn’t been all bad news for Thug though,
and recently
his legal team was able to get a huge piece of evidence thrown out of the trial.
Back in 2015,
the cops raided his home and took phones and a computer.
The prosecution planned on using the evidence against him in the RICO trial,
but his lawyer managed to get it all tossed out
because the original raid was ruled unconstitutional.
A judge making a ruling that
cellphones and other evidence collected from the rappers home
during a raid
could not be used as evidence in his upcoming trial next month.
It’s not clear what evidence was on the devices,
but it could be a huge win for Thug.
When the prosecutors were arguing to keep Thug from getting bond,
they brought up an alleged text from 2015
that Thug sent to other YSL members.
The text allegedly said
“Anybody goes into a courtroom
and tells the god honest truth they’ll be f***** killed.”
It wasn’t a good look for Thug,
but if the text was on the phone that was seized in 2015,
then anything on it won’t be admissible in court.
The YSL trial is set to start in January 2023,
but there are a lot of details that still have to be worked out before it begins.
The prosecutors recently requested to ban all video cameras from the courtroom.
They plan on calling around 300 witnesses to testify,
and according to them
a lot of their witnesses are afraid for themselves and their families.
One witness has already been placed in protective custody
after their name leaked online.
According to the prosecution,
YSL affiliates are already threatening potential witnesses
and it could have a major effect on the case.
Estimates say the trial will last anywhere from six to nine months,
and there’s no telling what will go down after it starts.
Even the pre-trial hearings have been wild.
On December 15th
Thug had a hearing about the evidence from the 2015 raid.
It was delayed for a few hours because of technical issues,
and when they finally got going
somebody Zoom-bombed the hearing with a video of a naked dude
and the words “Free Young Thug” on the screen.
Nobody knows how the trial will play out,
but Thug and everyone else without a deal are facing some serious charges.
The state hit YSL with a 56 page indictment
that accuses the crew of murder, attempted murder, drug dealing,
and way more.
One of the most controversial parts of the trial
is the fact that the prosecutors plan on using Thug’s lyrics against him.
They’re trying to prove that he's guilty by using lines from tracks like Slatty,
where Thug said
“I killed his man in front of his momma,
like f*** lil bruh, sister, and his cousin
I shoot out, kill em, not leaving a trace”
Fans, other rappers, and Thug’s legal team
all say using his lyrics in court goes against his freedom of speech -
but it looks like the courts are gonna allow the prosecution to use them anyway.
After Walter Murphy,
Gunna, and the other dudes took plea deals,
some fans thought Thug might be working on his own deal.
But according to a journalist in Atlanta named George Chidi,
the district attorney has only offered him deals that would give Thug life in prison.
He says Thug is the one they really want to bring down,
and everyone else in the case is “optional.”
The situation ain't looking good for Thug right now,
but nobody knows what will happen after the trial actually starts.
It’s been clear from the jump that he’s the main target in the case,
and it looks like the state will do anything to lock him up.
He’s got a good legal team fighting to beat the case,
and new updates could come out any day that puts the odds in his favor.
A lot has happened and the trial hasn’t even started yet.
But You never know when new details will drop,
so tap in for updates as the story develops