Young Thug Denied Bond Over RICO Charge
A judge in Fulton County has denied bond for Young Thug Thursday (June 2).
Judge Glanville claimed the rapper, born Jeffery Lamar Williams, is a potential danger to the community and witnesses. “There has been significant proffers about Mr. Williams being a danger to the community,” Glanville said, per Pitchfork. “In particular, the state’s proffer that they have taken proffers from other gang members—people who are in this particular indictment and others who are not in this indictment—that he is the leader of the gang, he is dangerous and if he crosses them he’ll kill them or their families.”
Prosecutors argued that Young Thug is the leader of YSL (Young Slime Life) which they believe to be a criminal street gang and not just a music label.
“The top dog, the most dangerous man here, because he doesn’t have to get his hands dirty, he has others to do his business,” prosecutors said in court Thursday per local news outlet 11Alive.
Prosecutors said they had “statements from YSL gang members that he ‘is dangerous, they are afraid of him, that if they cross him he will kill them and their family,'” and that “he is the one they’re all afraid of, he’s the one that’s King Slime, he’s pulling the shots.”
Kevin Liles, a music executive and founder of the agency that distributes the music from Young Thug’s YSL label, testified he is “like a son” and is willing to back the rapper up in any way he can.
“I’m willing to back him personally and professionally,” Liles said during the hearing per Complex.
The rapper, he said, “is not just an artist – he’s an influencer, a person I think was put here to change the people around him” and a “contributing citizen to this world.”
Gunna, who prosecutors accused of being in a “command” role in YSL, was denied bond late last month.
Both trial dates for Young Thug and Gunna are expected to be January 9, 2023.
