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William Junior Maxwell II, better known to hip-hop fans as Fetty Wap, was one of six individuals indicted for conspiracy to distribute more than 100 kilograms of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and crack cocaine across Long Island and New Jersey Friday.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, the two-time Grammy nominee — who was arrested Thursday at New York’s Citi Field on the first day of the three-day Rolling Loud hip-hop music festival — and his co-defendants, “ran a multimillion-dollar bicoastal drug distribution organization with Suffolk County as their home base.”
“As alleged, the defendants transported, distributed and sold more than 100 kilograms of deadly and addictive drugs, including heroin and fentanyl, on Long Island, deliberately contributing to the opioid epidemic that has devastated our communities and taken too many lives,” said Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, of indictments in the statement. Michael J. Driscoll, a top official with the FBI’s New York Office added, “The fact that we arrested a chart-topping rap artist and a corrections officer as part of the conspiracy illustrates just how vile the drug trade has become.”
Details from court proceedings and the indictment, paint a picture of a scheme that ran from June of 2019 to June of 2020 in which narcotics obtained on the West Cast were transported to Suffolk County, utilizing the United States Postal Service and “drivers with hidden vehicle compartments” for distribution and sale on Long Island and in New Jersey.
Maxwell, 30, was a kilogram-level redistributor for the trafficking organization according to the indictment.
What the arrest means for the career of the up-and-coming musician, whose 2014 debut single “Trap Queen” catapulted to mainstream success as it reached No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, remains to be seen.
If convicted on the charge of conspiring to distribute and possess controlled substances he faces a maximum of life in prison.
This is not the first legal challenge for the rapper, who suffered a profound personal tragedy over the summer when his 4-year-old daughter Lauren died and is still mourning the death of his 26-year-old brother Twyshon Depew, who was shot and killed in their hometown of Paterson, New Jersey last year. In 2019 he was arrested on three counts of battery for allegedly assaulting employees at a Las Vegas hotel, and he was charged with a DUI in 2017 after being caught drag racing in Brooklyn.
In 2019 he was sued by a woman who alleged he strangled and punched her during an incident inside of his Los Angeles home. That case was letter dropped by the L.A. District Attorney’s office citing insufficient evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Search warrants executed during the investigation recovered about $1.5 million in cash, 16 kilograms of cocaine, two kilograms of heroin, numerous fentanyl pills, two handguns, a rifle, a pistol, and ammunition.
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