Bankrolled
The artist used money earned from his songs to “help facilitate further gang activity,” claimed the Brooklyn District Attorney
Brooklyn rapper Sheff G allegedly helped carry out violence against rival gangs using money he earned from his songs, prosecutors claim, per the New York Times.
Sheff G, whose real name is Michael Williams, 24, has been accused of bankrolling two gangs, the 8 Trey Crips and 9 Ways. Brooklyn district attorney Eric Gonzalez, said the “alliance waged war against their mutual enemies” and claimed that the profits Williams earned from music helped “facilitate further gang activity.”
Gonzalez alleges that two days after a shooting in Brooklyn in which one person was killed and five others were injured, Sheff G rewarded the shooters with a Manhattan steak dinner in October 2020. “Sheff G takes the shooters from this incident and some other gang members for a very lavish steak dinner where they celebrate the score against their rivals,” said Gonzalez.
Tegan Chambers, known as Sleepy Hallow and one of William’s musical collaborators, was also there, claimed Gonzalez. Williams and Chambers, drill rappers with more than 100 million views and streams on YouTube and Spotify, were among 32 people charged Tuesday in a 140-count indictment. The district attorney said the gang is linked to 12 shootings and a murder that was caught on camera.
Williams faces up to 25 years in prison, according to Gonzalez, who insisted that they were not targeting the artists because of their music. “This is not an indictment of rap music. In fact, this investigation did not rely on a single lyric to prove any of the alleged crimes,” said the district attorney during Tuesday’s press conference. “But it is an indictment of how when someone does well for themselves and could do real good in our community, they use their fame and money to further gang violence.”