Rapper Pleads Guilty to Machine Gun Charge: Update on Lil Zay Osama's Case

The 'Go' rapper was originally arrested in September 2022 after leaving a loaded gun in a rideshare vehicle.

By Allison Schonter

Chicago-based rapper Lil Zay Osama has pleaded guilty to leaving a loaded handgun in an Uber in Queens in September 2022. During a court appearance in Brooklyn on Thursday, May 30, the "Have You Ever" rapper, real name Isaiah Dukes, pleaded guilty to a possession of a machine gun charge, telling Magistrate Judge Taryn Merkl, per the New York Daily News, "I knowingly possessed a firearm that was a machine gun in Queens County on Sept. 29, 2022. I know that it was wrong and against the law."

Complex reports that online jail records listed Dukes as an inmate at MDC Brooklyn. His release date is currently listed as "unknown." When a federal grand jury in January returned an indictment charging Dukes with possession of a machine gun and possession of an unregistered firearm, it was noted that Dukes was facing a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars if convicted on all charges. The possession of a machine gun charge alone carries a 10-year maximum sentence. However, it is believed that Dukes will have a much lower sentence, with federal guidelines putting his possible sentence at 21 to 27 months, per the New York Daily News.

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The May 30 guilty plea brought the years-long case one step closer to a conclusion. On Sept. 29, 2022, Dukes was arrested and charged with possession of a machine gun and being a felon in possession of a firearm after took an Uber with friends from a Manhattan hotel to a recording studio in Queens. Dukes was allegedly holding a loaded Glock "affixed with a switch" that made the gun fully automatic when the rideshare driver picked up the rapper and his friends. The rapper left the loaded firearm in the car after being dropped off, and the driver called police to report the gun. Authorities who retrieved the gun determined Dukes had been carrying a modified Glock 22 .40 caliber pistol that had a "switch" device attached.

Although Dukes was originally charged in connection to the incident, just two months later, the case against him was dismissed without prejudice. At the time, Dukes applauded the dismissal, writing in an Instagram post, "Bet Not Listen To The Media They Don't Know My Life Fr F— That Wikipedia Case Dismissed." In January 2024, a federal grand jury indicted Dukes, who two in January 2023 was arrested again on a separate weapons possession charge, with possession of a machine gun and possession of an unregistered firearm.

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