Why Gunna Beat The Charges (& Young Thug Won’t)
The DA didn't have much of a case against Gunna, but they do have one on Thug.
Atlanta rapper Gunna is home once again. According to local Atlanta news, the YSL rapper pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge and was sentenced to five years with one year already served while the other four years were suspended. He entered what’s known as an Alford plea—where you plead guilty on a charge only because it’s in your best interest while maintaining your innocence on the same charge. The news of his release was a joyful development for a hot minute, but things quickly turned a bit sour once people started accusing Gunna of snitching.
According to Wack100, Thug’s team had no idea Gunna was going to take a deal which does not bode well. Meanwhile, a number of the 28 defendants in the YSL RICO case are taking deals, admitting as little as possible, and coming home just like Gunna did. Meanwhile, everyone from 6ix9ine to Freddie Gibbs to Sauce Walka are having a field day calling Gunna out for snitching.
For what it’s worth, Gunna released a statement where he made sure to let everyone know he’s not snitching: “While I have agreed to always be truthful, I want to make it perfectly clear that 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 and have absolutely NO intention of being involved in the trial process in any way.”
(Fetty Wap’s lawyer made a similar remark after the New Jersey rapper got 5 years in a drug bust)
It’s good that Gunna is coming home, although it sucks he had to plead guilty to something just to avoid a long jail stint. From the very beginning, I suspected that Gunna had a good chance to walk away. When I read through the 88-page indictment, it was clear the DA didn’t really have the goods on Gunna.
Most of his charges were flimsy stuff. Three of his charges were with “possession with intent to distribute.” In all likelihood, he probably just had a bunch of drugs on him for personal use. There were a few charges, like the one where a YSL member allegedly stole a rival’s necklace and brought it to Gunna and Thug on the set of a music video where there was some reasonable expectation that he should have known it was stolen—but it’s not like he was being accused of actually stealing the chain. In another charge, he was driving with Thugger in a car but the car following behind them had a bunch of guns in it. The rest of the charges were “furtherance of the conspiracy,” which basically amounts to being signed to YSL. Ultimately, none of the charges against Gunna involved him doing anything violent.
If he wasn’t doing crimes, why even include him?
Chances are, the DA is hoping he would snitch, which goes back to the drug charges. One thing you don’t want in a criminal trial is a co-defendant who is a drug addict because chances are, they might sell you out if they’re jonesing hard enough. In fact, back in July, a woman got caught up allegedly trying to sneak drugs into jail for Gunna. If that was the plan, I don’t think it panned out since it does seem like Gunna was able to stand strong for long enough to sweat the drugs out.
That said, his plea makes sense because why should he risk spending years in jail caught up on a RICO when he wasn’t even being accused of any of the most serious crimes anyway? The DA’s intentions may be nefarious but they were effective; getting Gunna to admit that YSL is a gang is enough to make the charges against Thug stick.
What’s becoming more and more clear every time a person takes a deal is that the state is after Young Thug more than anyone else. He is seen as the head of the snake, he’s being billed as a criminal mastermind.
With RICOs being used against rappers left and right, there is often a lot of fan speculation about what exactly is the extent of their involvement in these criminal organizations. From what I’ve heard and learned over the years, the majority of the time, rappers are not the real gangsters even if they’re associated with them. Often times, a rapper is often just a frontman, the guy with enough believable cash flow to launder money. A good example is Jeezy and BMF. Jeezy was associated with them, sure, but it’s not like he was Big Meech’s right-hand man. When BMF went down, Jeezy was able to go about his business. A better example might be 6ix9ine, who talked the talk but only because Kifano “Shotti” Jordan was behind him walking the walk—and we all know how that ended.
I’ve seen people compare the YSL case to Bobby Shmurda and his GS9 case. Although that wasn’t a RICO, the NYPD had been watching GS9 for years and accused them of a litany of crimes. Unlike Gunna, Bobby (and Rowdy Rebel) did end up doing real jail time though they did take plea deals as well to avoid trial. But the important difference is this: Bobby Shmurda was accused of being a part of GS9, but he was not seen as the leader. He was, however, a star. He wasn’t just some runner or bag man; he didn’t give orders but he didn’t take them either.
Gunna was undoubtedly the second-biggest star on YSL (and maybe even the biggest). Despite his moniker, Gunna wasn’t accused of being a shooter (unlike Rowdy Rebel, who was accused of being in a shootout and then performing at the Barclays hours later in the same clothes). Gunna’s charge of receiving a stolen chain is instructive here; he didn’t tell someone to go snatch a chain, but when someone did, they brought it to him (and Thug).
All of this is to say that it’s unfair and unfortunate Gunna got caught up in this RICO.
However, the same cannot be said for Young Thug. It’s true that some of Thug’s charges are over social media posts and lyrics (the latter of which should never ever be used in courts but that’s a whole other post) but some of the charges against him include him renting a car that was later used in a murder as well as YSL members asking his permission to murder to YFN Lucci. The charge related to YSL members asking permission reads like the police got the information via wiretaps. If the DA is able to prove that charge in court, Thug will be facing real time because the argument there isn’t just that YSL is a gang, but that Thug is the ringleader.
This goes back to why law enforcement invented the RICO in the first place. When they tried to prosecute the mafia, they had a hard time pinning down the bosses who gave orders but didn’t commit murders themselves. (“The family had a lot of buffers”) The RICO ties a bunch of people together in a criminal conspiracy, and so the DA only has to prove there was a gang (something several YSL members already admitted to) and then prove charges and they can pin them on everyone, but especially the head of the organization.
This is why Thug’s lawyer Brian Steel said the biggest problem in the racketeering case is that YSL members are taking plea deals that incriminate Thug.
"He's like the easy target," Steel told 11Alive. "So, somebody gets arrested and gets in trouble and they want to deal. Law enforcement officers are all too eager to say, 'Well, tell us about Mr. Williams. Is he involved in this? What do you know about him? 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 about."
YSL’s RICO trial is set to start on Jan. 9, 2023. Before then, you might hear some new music from Gunna and you might see even more pleas from other members. But don’t expect a plea deal for Young Thug.
Note: To be clear, I am not a lawyer or even a legal expert. This post is just my reading of the YSL situation based on reports I’ve read.