Tekashi 6ix9ine and four of his associates were arrested on Sunday by federal agents and charged with racketeering, gun possession, and drug distribution. The 17 counts come on top of several crimes 6ix9ine, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, was already on probation for, including a 2015 sex crime case involving a child and a disorderly conduct charge from earlier this year for an altercation with a police officer. Altogether, 6ix9ine currently faces a minimum of 32 years in prison, and possibly a life sentence.
The charges center on the rapper’s affiliation with the Nine Trey Bloods, a New York Gang allegedly responsible for a number of armed robberies and shootings this year. 6ix9ine’s lawyer Lance Lazzaro argued against his involvement in a statement released earlier today: “Hernandez is completely innocent of all charges being brought against him… An entertainer who portrays a ‘gangster image’ to promote his music does not make him a member of an enterprise.”
According to his lawyer, Hernandez was not an active participant of the gang, but had only hired their members as management and security detail after meeting them at a 2017 concert. The statement from today goes on to address how Hernandez “became a victim of this enterprise,” after which he took steps to distance himself by firing his “whole team” and publicly denouncing them during an appearance on Power 105’s The Breakfast Club.
Prior to his arrest, 6ix9ine was taken into protective custody after a federal wiretap picked up threats against his life, including a promise to “violate” him. Nevertheless, he’s currently being held in the general population section of the Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center as he awaits trial.