Prosecutors in the Young Thug RICO trial are planning to present songs from the rapper and YSL to try to prove that he committed an assortment of crimes.
The trial got underway on Monday, Jan. 9, 2023, in which the state charges that YSL – Young Slime Life – was not only a music label, but also doubled as a street gang.
Born in Atlanta as Jeffery Lamar Williams, the rapper and the score of co-defendants are facing seven charges related to the RICO Act.
Prosecutors allege that Thugger and YSL members explicitly refer to criminal activity in those tracks – and that they furthered the objective of the group by “preserving, protecting and enhancing the reputation, power and territory of the enterprise.”
Eight of the defendants have pleaded out for more expeditious releases from jail and to avoid lengthy prison sentences. Most prominent of these include Gunna, who was sentenced to five years in prison with one year credit for time served and the remainder of it suspended.
The other major YSL member to plead out is Trontavious Stephens, aka “Tick” and “Slug.” He was sentenced to 10 years behind bars, but he was credited with two years of time served and the remainder was to be served on probation, leading to his release from the Fulton County Jail. However, in exchange for that extremely lenient sentence, Stephens has agreed to testify against Young Thug and he will not be able to invoke his fifth amendment privileges. According to Law & Crime Network, he admitted that he was a co-founder with Young Thug. He also agreed that YSL was a gang and that it committed crimes that benefitted the organization.
