American rapper Young Thug, born Jeffery Lamar Williams, was charged with seven additional felonies on Wednesday, including possession of drugs and illegal firearms, days after being arrested with rapper Gunna in a sweeping indictment of alleged gang members in Atlanta.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the rapper is now facing a slew of additional charges, including possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute and possession of unidentified illegal guns, like a machine gun or a sawed-off shot gun. Per a report from Atlanta’s WSB-TV, the new charges were the result of items found in Young Thug’s home during Monday’s arrest. The new counts add onto the existing indictment against the rapper, which included charges of illegal gang activity and conspiracy to violate the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
In the original 88-page indictment unveiled Monday, prosecutors claimed Young Thug, Gunna and 26 others were members of a purportedly violent criminal street gang called Young Slime Life. The indictment includes a wide-ranging list of 181 acts that prosecutors say were committed starting in 2013 as part of the alleged racketeering conspiracy to further the gang’s interests. The various YSL members stand accused of crimes, including murder, carjacking, armed robbery, drug dealing and illegal firearm possession. Young Thug was arrested on Monday. An indictment filed Monday in Fulton County Superior Court accuses Gunna of violating Georgia’s anti-racketeering law following which, he was booked in jail Wednesday morning.
Others alleged YSL members have also been arrested, but a number have still not been taken into custody.
On Tuesday, Young Thug’s lawyer Brian Steel told local media, “Mr. Williams committed no crime whatsoever,” and that he would “fight till his last drop of blood to clear him.” An attorney for Gunna did not immediately return a request for comment from Billboard. In Tuesday’s press conference Fulton County DA Fani T. Willis said YSL had “done havoc in our community” and that she would be seeking the “maximum penalties” for those involved, including life in prison for some. “It does not matter what your notoriety is, what your fame is,” Willis said. “If you come to Fulton County, Georgia, and you commit crimes … we are going to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”
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