Tekashi 6ix9ine’s ‘Gangster Image’ Is Entertainment, Not Criminal, His Lawyer Says
The lawyer representing Tekashi 6ix9ine in his federal armed robbery and racketeering case is arguing that his client is an artist who is being misconstrued as a criminal due to the image he embraced as a means of marketing his music in the rap genre.
Within 24 hours of granting XXL an interview in which he insisted that the six counts Tekashi is facing constitute “an over-charge by the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” Brooklyn-based attorney Lance Lazzaro put out a release declaring his confidence that the 22-year-old rapper is innocent, and that he will be proven so once the time comes to argue fact versus fiction.
“An entertainer who portrays a ‘gangster image’ to promote his music does not make him a member of an enterprise,” Lazzaro contends in a statement that Rolling Stone published in part on Wednesday, November 21.
In the indictment that was unsealed during his appearance before a federal judge earlier this week, Tekashi is described as a participant in illegal acts perpetuated by a violent street gang that has wreaked havoc on New York City throughout his year-long affiliation with its members. Among the crimes he is being linked to are a pair of shootings and an armed robbery that investigators say he recorded on camera as he stood by watching.
Tekashi 6ix9ine's lawyer asserts the rapper, facing 32 years to life in prison, is a "victim" who "portrays a 'gangster image' to promote his music" https://t.co/jiuWRYBwOD pic.twitter.com/AxuqVbYcwi
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) November 21, 2018
ABC News reports that the prosecution has since backed their claims by releasing several images that appear to capture Tekashi’s presence at the scene of the incidents in question.
However, the indictment is also presented as the conclusive ends of a five-year-long investigation into a faction of the Nine Trey Bloods that distinguished itself as “The Enterprise.” While co-defendants Kifano “Shottie” Jordan, Jamel “Mel Murda” Jones, Jensel “Ish” Butler, Fuquan “Fu Banga” Lovick, and Faheem “Crippy” Walter are alleged to have organized a syndicate that harbored firearms and dealt in the drug trade, while committing acts of violence and intimidation, Tekashi is reported to have gotten involved with the crew just months before he re-branded himself and replaced his anime-heavy imagery with the street-life themes that wound up propelling his career to new heights.
“Mr. Hernandez became a victim of this enterprise and later took steps by firing employees and publicly denounced this enterprise through a morning show,” Lazzaro wrote, thereby referencing the move Tekashi made to wipe his management slate clean just days before he was arrested, as the Inquisitr previously reported. “Threats were then made against his life which resulted in this case being brought immediately,” he went on to add.
