Rapper Sheff G Charged in Gang Shootings
Two New York City rappers, including Sheff G, were among 32 people charged in a Brooklyn gang bust on May 16. Sheff G and Sleepy Hollow are allegedly members of the Crips gang and targeted rival gang members, according to prosecutors. They bragged about their alleged involvement in the crimes on social media.
"They're dangerous people, and it's a small number of them. They're repeated recidivists," New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a press conference to announce a 140-count indictment, reports NBC New York. "We are not going to surrender our streets to violence."
The Crips gang is linked to 12 shootings, including a murder caught on camera, according to the district attorney's office. The gang ordered and planned violence that stretched from Brooklyn and Manhattan to New Jersey, police said. NYPD Deputy Chief Jason Savino noted that the two rappers had extraordinary reach beyond New York City. "These are no small-time rappers," he said. "Sleepy Hollow on one song, upwards of 125 million YouTube views. Sheff G upwards of 42 million YouTube views. That's one song alone."
Sheff G, whose real name is Michael Williams, allegedly used money he earned from his music to "facilitate further gang activity," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said. The rapper allegedly encouraged other gang members to participate in violence that included a mass shooting in Brooklyn that killed one person and injured five others. The suspects in the shooting allegedly began firing at members of a rival gang from inside their car. Gonzalez said Sheff G ordered the shooting, then offered a steak dinner at a Manhattan restaurant as the reward.
The violence involved other gangs, who allegedly teamed up to take on their rivals, police said. Innocent New Yorkers were caught in the crossfire. In an April 2021 shooting, a 53-year-old man and a 43-year-old woman were struck by stray bullets by three gang members, then jumped into the getaway car with Sheff G driving, the D.A. alleged, reports the New York Post. In a June 2021 Brooklyn incident, ten 8 Trey Crips members brutally beat up a fellow member they thought betrayed the rapper. The members arrived at the scene in a three-car caravan. They beat the man at once scene and then took him to a cemetery to continue the beating, prosecutors allege. They continued beating the man until police arrived, the D.A. said.
The charges against the gang members include second-degree murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, weapons possessions, assault, attempted assault, kidnapping, and gang assault, the D.A. said. Sheff G faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Investigators said they are looking for seven other people who may be involved in the crimes as they continue searching for a motive behind the shootings.
"This is not an indictment of rap music. In fact, this investigation did not rely on a single lyric to prove any of the alleged crimes," Gonzalez said during the press conference. "But it is an indictment of how when someone does well for themselves and could do real good in our community, they use their fame and money to further gang violence."