Lately it seems law enforcement has been cracking down on rappers a lot lately.  Rappers like Young Thug, YNW Melly, YFN Lucci are currently all fighting criminal cases, in which two of those individuals are fighting RICO cases.  Rappers like Tekashi 69 did a two-year stint in a case involving the Nine Trey Bloods. J Prince Sr. along with sons Jaz and J Prince Jr. might be having the Feds watching them close after some incident involving their MOB TIES crew.  A lot of people think social media and the way artists flaunt their criminal activities, are to blame for more uptick in rappers being sought after by law enforcement.

YSL RICO Case

Earlier this year, Young Thug, real name Jeffery Williams, was arrested during a raid on an Atlanta mansion after being charged with criminal activity that prosecutors say violated Georgia’s RICO act. Gunna, real name Sergio Kitchens, was also arrested around the same time.

Young Thug is the founder of record label Young Stoner Life (YSL). But according to the indictment, seen by Insider, the rapper is one of the founding members of the YSL (“Young Slime Life”) group — a purported street gang, and not a record label. Prosecutors said the YSL group is affiliated with another high-profile gang, named Young Thug, Gunna, rapper Yak Gotti, and 25 others in the lengthy indictment. All 28 individuals, including Young Thug and Gunna, were subsequently charged with racketeering.

In December Gunna was released after pleading guilty to one count, but stressed that he didn’t cooperate with prosecutors.  The case is still ongoing.

Nine Trey Bloods case

On November 18, 2018, following a five-year joint investigation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the New York Police Department (NYPD), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) rapper Takashi 69 and his associate Shotti and five other individual were indicted charges related to racketeering, weapon possession, and conspiracy to commit murder.

Upon his arrest, 6ix9ine was initially denied bail and pleaded not guilty to all charges. He later changed his plea to guilty after agreeing to a deal with law enforcement on February 1, 2019. The guilty plea resulted in 6ix9ine admitting his guilt and testifying against his co-defendants, as well as full cooperation and an insistence to commit no further crimes, in exchange for reduced prison time. On December 18, 2019, 6ix9ine was sentenced to two years in prison, pay a $35,000 fine, serve five years of supervised release upon being released to the public, and complete 1,000 hours of community service. 6ix9ine ended up avoiding a potential minimum sentence of 47 years. 6ix9ine was originally set to be released on November 18, 2020, although his attorney Lance Lazzaro claimed “6ix9ine will be released ahead of schedule.” His new release date was set for August 2, 2020, although reports surfaced saying he may be released as early as July 31, 2020. However, on April 1, 2020, federal judge Paul Engelmayer ordered 6ix9ine to serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement starting the next day due to him suffering from asthma which makes him particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.

Mob Ties

 Houston police arrested Patrick Xavier Clark, aka DJ Pat, for the murder of Takeoff. A condition of his $2 million bond is that he avoids all contact with J. Prince Jr. J. Prince Jr.’s lawyer wants his name taken off the bond document.

Employees told police an argument took place after the party ended when a large group of people gathered at the front door area outside of the building, which led to the shooting. At least 40 people were at the scene at the time of the shooting,

Chicago’s Duke the Jeweler was robbed and fatally shot after winning $100,000 in a dice game with J. Prince Jr.

Sources say Duke was ambushed and shot as he walked to his car after winning the money from J. Prince.

Not saying J Prince Jr and his mob ties Affiliate are responsible. We were just saying how the incidents are linked together. Currently no charges have been filed against J Prince Jr. or his brother Jaz Prince.

Social Media

Well, it’s pretty much a given that police are scrolling through social media to find crime and check up on potential suspects, raising concerns about surveillance in an increasingly online world.  Monitoring public posts on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram is a common way that police departments across the country collect information about individuals or specific types of activities. Representatives of the Michigan State Police and Detroit Police Department said officers manually search public posts and feed social media photos to facial recognition algorithms that hunt for similarities between millions of faces collected in police databases.

With the uptick of informants, people taking deals, and artists flossing their crimes on social media and in their music, I wouldn’t be surprised if more artists get visited by law enforcement. But I hope this isn’t the case.