A Georgia grand jury filed charges against more than two dozen people last spring, alleging that they were members of the Young Slime Life, or YSL, branch of the Bloods street gang. The influential hip-hop singer born Jeffery Williams was one among those implicated.
The indictment rocked Atlanta’s hip-hop community, where Young Thug is regarded as one of the most influential artists and helped create the sound of modern rap.
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All of the defendants were charged by Georgia’s prosecutors with conspiring to break the state’s felony racketeering legislation, which is based on the federal RICO Act.
That law has been used to prosecute the mafia in the past and, more recently, to convict famed R&B artist R. Kelly of sex offences.
The YSL conspiracy charge is supported by allegations of specific crimes such as murder, assault, carjacking, drug dealing, and theft.
Young Thug, who established the hip-hop and trap label YSL Records in 2016, is accused of taking part in illegal street gang activity on one count as well.
Defense attorneys maintain that YSL, also known as Young Stoner Life Records, is just a label and a nebulous group of musicians.
