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Rapper Young Thug, 28 Others Indicted On Racketeering Charges
Officials in Fulton County, Georgia announced a 56-count indictment against 28 members of rapper Young Thug's circle, alleging that his record label, Young Slime Life (YSL), is also the name of an organized crime group that's affiliated with the Bloods gang.
Atlanta-based rapper Young Thug was among 28 people indicted on racketeering charges on Monday.
Young Thug, a 30-year-old Grammy Award-winning artist whose given name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, was arrested on Monday and charged with conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and participation in criminal street gang activity, according to jail records reviewed by Oxygen.com.
Prosecutors allege in court filings reviewed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Young Thug is one of at least 28 members of an organized crime group, Young Slime Life, that shares an acronym with his record label YSL; the Associated Press notes that the label refers to its artists as "Slime Family" and that the label released a compilation album in 2021 entitled "Slime Language 2."
The indictment names at least three other artists on the YSL label, according to Atlanta Fox affiliate WAGA: Gunna, whose given name is Sergio Giavanni Kitchens; Yak Gotti, whose given name is Deamonte Kendrick; and Unfoonk, whose given name is Quantavious Grier.
In the indictment, prosecutors allege that Williams helped found the YSL organized crime syndicate in 2012 with Walter Murphy (also known as D.K.) and Trontavious Stephen (also known as "Tick" or "Slug"), who are also charged in the indictment. Among the more than 180 acts cited by prosecutors in support of the 56 charges faced by the alleged participants are drug possession, firearms charges, theft, armed robbery, carjacking, aggravated assault and murder, according to WAGA.
One of the counts alleges that Jimmy "Roscoe" Winfrey shot at rapper Lil Wayne's tour bus during a stop in Atlanta in 2015, according to local ABC affiliate WSB reporter Michael Seiden. Winfrey is charged with aggravated assault in the incident.
The most serious individual act of which Williams is accused is renting an Infiniti Q50 from Hertz in order to help other members kill rival gang member Donovan Thomas, Jr. in 2015, according to the Journal-Constitution.
Williams is also accused of receiving stolen property, making threats and drug possession as some of the other acts underlying the conspiracy. Among the non-criminal acts cited by prosecutors in the conspiracy are Williams' alleged use of gang signs in his videos and wearing "gang-affiliated" clothing, according to TMZ.
Williams has denied the allegations via his lawyer.
“I’ll tell you the response to any allegation is Mr. Williams committed no crime whatsoever," attorney Brian Steel told WSB. "And we will fight to my last drop of blood to clear him."
Fulton County prosecutors at a Tuesday press conference promised more gang-related arrests to come, claiming that gangs are responsible for "conservatively 75% to 80% of all the violent crime in our community," according to ASB.
Williams was scheduled for a hearing before a magistrate judge but it was postponed, according to Seiden.
