Rapper Young Thug’s lyrics are being used against him in gang trial
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Rapper Young Thug’s racketeering trial in Atlanta, Georgia, is getting more serious as prosecutors are now using the artist’s own lyrics against him.
The 32-year-old, born Jeffery Lamar Williams, is accused of co-founding a ‘criminal street gang’ in the form of his group Young Slime Life, ending up with murder, assault, carjacking, drug dealing and robbery, contributing for comprehensive billing.
Racketeering refers to the illegal acquisition of a company, the running of a company with illegally derived finances, or the use of a company to break the law.
Fulton County Assistant District Attorney Adriane Love told the jury in her opening statements that Williams oversaw dozens of crimes, leaving a ‘crater’ that ‘sucked the youth, innocence and even the life out of some of its most young people’.
She added that Young Thug’s lyrics “had a very strange real-life meaning,” referring to the gang’s alleged crimes dating back to 2013.
The lawyer continued to quote excerpts from several of the defendant’s tracks.
Fulton County prosecutors argue that the YSL (Young Stoner Life) label was not a real business, but rather a gang – linked to the notorious Los Angeles Bloods – with Williams and his co-defendants moving “like a pack.”
Love also stated that Williams was referred to by the other members as ‘King Slime’.
The indictment includes a broad list of 181 crimes that prosecutors say were committed in 2013 as part of the alleged RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) conspiracy to advance the gang’s interests.
In 2015, Williams rented an Infiniti sedan that five alleged gang members used when they shot and killed a rival gang member, the indictment says.
The rapper was arrested and charged in May last year, but the jury selection alone took nearly 10 months amid ridiculous pre-trial scenes that saw a lawyer handcuffed and Williams accused of buying drugs while sitting in the dock.
Williams heard Love describe how he became the “proclaimed leader” of YSL after it split from Cleveland-based ROC Crew in 2012.
She produced graphic photos of men allegedly killed by YSL members, as well as lyrics by Williams and his colleagues.
If found guilty at trial, which is expected to last about six months, Williams could be sentenced to decades in prison.
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Source: www.lindaikejisblog.com