Rapper Young Thug pleads guilty in gang, drugs and guns case

Rapper Young Thug pleaded guilty to gang, drug and weapons charges.

Attorney General Adriane Love said that the 33-year-old Grammy award-winning artist, whose name is Jeffery Williams, entered his defense without reaching an agreement with prosecutors after negotiations between the two parties failed.

This leaves the punishment entirely to the judge.

Young Thug pleaded guilty to one gang charge, three drug charges and two weapons charges.

He also entered a no-contest plea to another gang charge and a racketeering conspiracy charge, meaning he decided not to contest those charges and accepted the sentence.

The judge met with Ms. Love and defense attorney Brian Steel before handing down the sentence.

Young Thug, a hugely successful rapper, started his own record label called Young Stoner Life or YSL.

Prosecutors said he was also a co-founder of a violent criminal street gang, and YSL stands for Young Slime Life.

He was charged two years ago in a sweeping indictment charging him and more than two dozen others with conspiring to violate Georgia’s anti-racketeering law.

He was also charged with gang, drug and weapons offences.

Young Thug’s plea comes almost a year after the prosecution began presenting evidence in the troubled case.

Jury selection at the courthouse in Atlanta began in January 2023 and lasted about 10 months.

The trial of the six defendants began with opening statements last November, and prosecutors have called dozens of witnesses since then.

Three of the other defendants pleaded guilty this week after reaching a deal with prosecutors.

The pleas still leave the fate of the other two defendants unclear.

The nine people charged in the indictment accepted plea deals before the trial began.

Twelve people are being tried separately.

Prosecutors dropped charges against a defendant convicted of murder in an unrelated case.