Young Thug

Grammy-award winning rap artist Young Thug was arrested Monday in Atlanta and indicted on conspiracy and gang charges.

Kitchens is also among the defendants to be named in the indictment filed Monday. Performing as Young Thug, Williams has been hailed as one of the most influential hop-hop artists to emerge in the past two decades. Williams pleaded not guilty, and the case is ongoing, according to court records.

Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug has been named in a sweeping 56-count gang indictment, according to court documents obtained by CNN.

Other alleged members of the YSL enterprise are accused of violent offenses in the indictment, including murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and armed robbery. As of Tuesday morning, Kitchens was not in police custody, police said. Jeffery Lamar Williams, who performs as Young Thug, was arrested at his home in Atlanta on Monday, according to police.

Young Thug, birth name Jeffery Lamar Williams, was arrested in Atlanta on May 9.

The indictment claims Williams is one of the three founding members of YSL or “Young Slime Life,” a rap collective that the court alleges operates as a guise for a Bloods-affiliated gang. “Mr. Williams has committed no violation of law, whatsoever. The “Pushin P” rapper has not been booked yet.

Indictment quotes multiple music videos as evidence and accuses alleged gang members of targeting other high-profile rap artists.

YFN Lucci was among a dozen people charged in another gang-related Rico indictment in Fulton county a year ago. For at least some of them, that could mean life in prison. Fulton county prosecutors say that in late 2012, he and two others founded Young Slime Life, a violent criminal street gang that’s commonly known as YSL and is affiliated with the national Bloods gang.

The rapper Young Thug is in jail after being accused of co-founding a criminal street gang in Atlanta that prosecutors say committed multiple murders and ...

Over the last decade, the Atlanta rapper Young Thug has dropped a steady barrage of tracks about pistols and snipers, mob life and gangsters.

A Black Democrat who was elected in 2020 and swiftly found herself in the center of the firestorm over whether former President Trump and his associates committed election fraud in Georgia, Willis has consistently said her number one focus is targeting gangs. “However, the 1st Amendment does not protect people from prosecutors using it as evidence if it is such,” she said. “These artists often express dramatizations of stories and events that persist in their communities,” he said. After spending two years in jail, Drakeo was acquitted of the murder charge and later released on a plea deal. The indictment charges Williams with renting a silver Infiniti Q50 sedan that was used in the commission of Donovan’s murder. Then they have to demonstrate that those crimes were carried out by two or more people as part of a broader enterprise of racketeering activity that the defendant controlled or was employed by. “The indictment is frivolous,” he said. Under RICO, a complicated statute closely modeled on the 1970 federal law that was used to convict top mobsters and gangsters who engaged in organized crime, a defendant need not have committed a crime to be found guilty. Mr. Williams will be cleared of any wrongdoing.” “It does not matter what your notoriety is, what your fame is,” she said. They also shot at the tour bus of Dwayne Carter, Jr., the New Orleans hip-hop star also known as Lil Wayne. On Monday, Georgia prosecutors arrested Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, on felony charges of participating in gang activity and violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute.

Here's everything we know about the indictment against Young Thug as part of a gang investigation into Young Slime Life.

Rapper Young Thug was arrested in Atlanta on alleged gang-related charges after being named among 28 people, including rapper Gunna, in a 56-count grand ...

It is unclear if he has been arrested. Record label Young Stoner Life was announced in 2016 by Young Thug and is an imprint of 300 Entertainment. More than a dozen artists are signed to the Young Stoner Life label, including Gunna. ABC News has reached out to representatives of the music label but a request for comment was not immediately returned. Atlanta-based rapper Gunna, whose real name is Sergio Giavanni Kitchens, was also named in the indictment on one count of conspiring to violate the RICO Act. ABC News has reached out to representatives for Gunna but a request for comment was not immediately returned. “Mr. Williams has committed no violation of law, whatsoever. Steel said that Young Thug is currently in custody and the court will set a hearing in the near future to consider bond. The rapper was among 28 people allegedly associated with the Atlanta-based Young Slime Life (YSL) gang, which authorities say he founded in 2012, who were charged with conspiring to violate the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) act, according to charging documents obtained by ABC News. YSL is also the name of his record imprint, Young Stoner Life, and a number of those charged are associated with the label.

Police in Atlanta arrested rapper Young Thug, who won a Grammy for his co-written hit This Is America in 2019, on Monday on charges including participation ...

He also earned a Grammy nomination for his rap hit "The London", in 2020. Some were charged with violent crimes including murder and attempted armed robbery. Williams is best known for his albums including "So Much Fun" and the 2021 hit "Punk", both of which topped the Billboard 200 charts.

A day after arresting rapper Young Thug on gang and racketeering charges, Fulton County's top prosecutor said the musician and the alleged gang he's accused ...

Others remain at large as of press time. Between the lines: At a news conference Tuesday, Willis defended her team’s use of song lyrics and social media posts to build a case against the 28 defendants. A day after arresting rapper Young Thug on gang and racketeering charges, Fulton County's top prosecutor said the musician and the alleged gang he's accused of co-founding wreaked "havoc" in Atlanta, with crimes involving violence, theft and drugs.

Young Thug has been charged – alongside fellow rapper Gunna and 26 others – with numerous counts of racketeering. Prosecutors in Georgia allege that the ...

Real name Jeffery Lamar Williams, he is accused of drugs and weapons-related crimes, and renting a vehicle which was used in a drive-by shooting. “It does not matter what your notoriety is, what your fame is”, said Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis at a press conference yesterday. Young Thug has been charged – alongside fellow rapper Gunna and 26 others – with numerous counts of racketeering.

ATLANTA — Popular rapper Young Thug faces a slew of accusations from Fulton County's district attorney, including that he was allegedly a founder and active ...

Young Thug co-founded a violent street gang that committed multiple murders, shootings and carjackings over roughly a decade, Georgia prosecutors allege.

Pushin P” rapper Gunna is in custody at the Fulton County Jail after turning himself into police Wednesday morning for a charge related to Young Thug's ...

“As the district attorney of Fulton County, my number one focus is targeting gangs, and there’s a reason for that. Mr. Williams will be cleared.” Young Thug (real name: Jeffery Lamar Williams) was arrested and taken into custody on Monday, on charges of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and participation in criminal street gang activity.

The Georgia indictment perpetuates a much-criticized history of prosecutors using rap lyrics in court. The defendants could spend decades in prison if ...

Five of Young Thug’s alleged YSL associates—including another YSL rapper, Yak Gotti, whose real name is Deamonte Kendrick—are now charged with Thomas’ murder. As for Young Thug, prosecutors claim he co-founded YSL as a “criminal street gang” in 2012. Gunna is charged only under RICO. Charges against others named in the indictment span murder, attempted murder, robbery, assault, carjacking, and theft, along with possession of drugs and firearms.

Rapper Gunna, who is named with Young Thug in a massive Atlanta gang indictment, was booked into Georgia's Fulton County jail Wednesday,

His third album, “DS4Ever,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart. Gunna and Young Thug (real name: Jeffrey Lamar Williams) were both arrested in Atlanta in 2017 on drug-possesion charges after a traffic stop. The indictment includes 28 total defendants affiliated with YSL, and charges them with 56 counts related to gang activity and racketeering; the indictment alleges that Gunna committed felonies including receiving stolen property and drug possession with intent to distribute.

Rapper Gunna is booked into an Atlanta jail on a racketeering charge after he was indicted with Young Thug and more than two dozen others.

It includes a wide-ranging list of 181 acts that prosecutors say were committed starting in 2013 as part of the alleged racketeering conspiracy to further the gang’s interests. His attorney calls the charges ‘baseless.’ The rapper Gunna was booked into a jail in Atlanta on a racketeering charge Wednesday after he was indicted with fellow rapper Young Thug and more than two dozen other people.

The “Go Crazy” rapper, legal name Jeffery Lamar Williams, is accused of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and ...

The “Go Crazy” rapper, legal name Jeffery Lamar Williams, is accused of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and participation in criminal street gang activity. The 88-page grand jury indictment reveals Young Thug is accused of renting 2014 Infiniti Q50 sedan from Hertz, which was later used in connection with the murder of rival gang member Donovan Thomas, Jr. on Jan. 10, 2015. Young Thug’s arrest comes in the wake of a 56-count grand jury indictment filed in Georgia’s Fulton County that names 28 members or associates of YSL — including fellow rapper Gunna, legal name Sergio Giavanni Kitchens, who is also charged with one count of conspiring to violate RICO. The indictment refers to YSL — which also shares the same initials as Young Thug’s YSL Records imprint — as a “criminal street gang that started in late 2012” that “claims affiliation with the national Bloods gang.”

Rappers Young Thug and Gunna have been charged along with 26 other defendants in a 56-count indictment in Fulton County, Georgia.

LAPD booking documents showed the rapper was arrested just before midnight and held until the early hours of the morning with bail listed at $35,000. Young Thug is allegedly one of three founders of the Young Slime Life, “a criminal street gang that started in late 2012” in Atlanta. YSL is affiliated with the national Bloods gang, officials said. Young Thug's lawyer Brian Steel maintained his client's innocence telling USA TODAY in a statement, "Mr. Williams has committed no violation of law, whatsoever.

This 2016 Young Thug track featuring Yak Gotti contains the first lyrics to be cited in the indictment. “Original Slime Shit,” Young Thug feat. Yak Gotti. “Murder gang shit”. “YSL until we ...

Listen to the tracks and read the lyrics included in the lengthy YSL indictment below. “I done for the crew / I done did the robbin’ / I done did the jackin’ / Now I’m full rappin’” Bobby Shmurda’s hit “Hot Nigga” was scrutinized during his case, though the lyrics weren’t formally cited. “I’m guilty for where I live,” he told Vulture at the time. And controversially, rap lyrics from the Grammy-nominated musicians, including a posthumous Juice WRLD single, are also included as evidence. The 88-page grand jury indictment refers to YSL as a “criminal street gang” and lists 182 different acts — including instances of members wearing clothing or accessories with the word “Slime” — that were allegedly “in furtherance” of this collective conspiracy.

Rap star Young Thug is at the center of a case brought by Georgia prosecutors that alleges that his rap crew, YSL, is actually a violent criminal gang.

“Rap was born out of a reaction to urban decay, and for rap artists, it’s really important for your credibility to rap about things coming from the streets. While Young Thug’s involvement in any actual criminal activity will be decided in court, LaPolt worried that RICO laws are especially dangerous when applied to a music scene, and typical rap culture lyrical tropes could register as a confession in court. “People talk about what makes Atlanta different, a Black mecca of sorts, with Black people in power. I’m a general” — are consonant with physical evidence and witness testimony that Young Thug participated in gang activity and violated Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute. He famously paid Lil Baby thousands a day after he got out of jail to come to the studio and stay out of criminal activity, because Baby had a future, and now Baby is one of the biggest acts in hip-hop.” “Young Thug’s artistic influence on artists over the decade is impossible to count, and it goes way beyond Atlanta,” he said. He signed to 300 Entertainment and landed a No. 1 hit guest feature on Camila Cabello’s “Havana.” Sometimes I forget, and it’ll be in my old music and I’m like ‘What the f—?” He’s topped the Billboard 200 album charts three times, most recently with 2021’s “Punk,” a typically inventive LP with cameos from megastars such as Drake, Doja Cat and Post Malone. He’s appeared on six Top 10 hits on the Hot 100, including three No. 1s. It’s especially notable that it happened in Atlanta — the only city in America where hip-hop is such a foundational part of its global brand. For today’s generation of hip-hop fans, Young Thug is as influential and visionary as OutKast was to previous eras of rappers. “My number one focus is targeting gangs,” Fulton County Dist. Atty. Fani Willis said at a news conference Tuesday. “And there’s a reason for that.

Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug's lyrics are being cited as evidence in a sweeping 56-count gang indictment, again raising a debate over whether lyrics are ...

"I believe in the First Amendment; it's one of our most precious rights. Most notably, prosecutors said that in 2015, Williams rented an Infiniti Q50 sedan from Hertz, which was later used in the murder of a rival gang member. According to the 88-page indictment obtained by CNN, lyrics from the rapper's popular songs -- including "Slime Sh*t," "Original Slime Sh*t," and "Anybody" -- were used as examples of "overt acts," some of which constitute racketeering.

The Fulton County District Attorney's Office is accusing Young Thug of being the leader of an Atlanta-area gang. Prosecutors are using song lyrics to prove ...

In a Fulton County court appearance, several new details came up in the sweeping legal tangle Young Thug now faces.

Police reportedly raided the rapper's Atlanta home, leading to drug and gun possession charges.

A former prosecutor in the Fulton County District Attorney's Office give his take on the RICO charges faced by the members of the YSL crew.

Willis also said the public will likely see the DA’s office bring RICO case indictments against other street gangs they’ve identified as well in the near future. The DA says the post supports "an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy." In a news conference Tuesday, Willis said her office has prosecuted at least four of five RICO cases since she began her term.