Rapper Young Thug arrested on criminal street gang activity charges
American rapper and singer, Young Thug was one of 28 people indicted on Monday in Georgia on conspiracy to violate the state’s RICO act and street gang charges, according to jail records.
The Atlanta rapper, whose name is Jeffrey Lamar Williams, was arrested at his home in Buckhead, an Atlanta neighborhood just north of downtown. He is being held at the Fulton County Jail.
The conspiracy charge dates back to 2013 and the gang charge to 2018, the jail record says.
Young Thug is allegedly one of three founders of the Young Slime Life, “a criminal street gang that started in late 2012” in Atlanta, the indictment says. YSL is affiliated with the national Bloods gang, officials said. Charges include “Preserving, protecting and enhancing the reputation, power, and territory of the enterprise through acts of racketeering activity including murder, assault, and threats of violence.”
Prosecutors in the indictment claimed YSL operates with the Bloods gang and highlighted numerous gang-related incidents, spanning years, that include criminal actions, AJC reported.
One such incident included Young Thug’s renting of a car and ordering the hit of a rival gang member, prosecutors alleged in the indictment.
Young Thug’s lawyer Brian Steel told local media that, “Mr. Williams committed no crime whatsoever” and that he would “fight till his last drop of blood to clear him.”
He will make his first court appearance on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m.
Also indicted on Monday were Atlanta rapper Gunna, whose real name is Sergio Kitchens, and aspiring rapper Christian Eppinger, who was already in jail, accused of shooting an Atlanta Police officer six times in February.
