ATLANTA — The RICO case against the alleged Young Slime Life street gang has officially added six new charges against rapper Young Thug, whom prosecutors have tried to portray as the leader of the gang.
The case was reindicted on Aug. 5, according to court records. The original indictment contained 56 counts against 28 individuals for alleged involvement in, and crimes committed on behalf of, Young Slime Life.
The updated indictment now contains 65 counts, six of which apply to Young Thug - whose legal name is Jeffery Williams.
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The charges largely correspond to a second case that was brought against the rapper several days after his RICO arrest, and which stemmed from evidence obtained in a search of his home during that arrest.
There was a question at the time of whether that case would be folded into the RICO indictment - with a prosecutor saying during a court hearing in May that a "decision has not been made yet" about whether to do that. Fulton County court records indicate that is now what's been done.
According to the reindictment, the six new charges are:
- Participation in criminal street gang activity
- Possession of marijuana with intent to distribute
- Possession of codeine with intent to distribute
- Possession of cocaine
- Possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony
- Possession of a machine gun
All are felony charges. They add on to the original charges in the indictment, which included:
- "Theft by receiving stolen property," for allegedly possessing a stolen gun.
- "Theft by receiving stolen property," for allegedly possessing a stolen gun in a second, separate instance.
- "Terroristic threats," for allegedly telling someone who said he was "not welcome" at Perimeter Mall, "If you continue to approach, I'll shoot you in the face with a gun."
- Possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute
- Possession of hydrocodone with intent to distribute
- Possession of marijuana with intent to distribute
- Participation in criminal street gang activity
In the hearing in May relating to the charges that have now been filed in the reindictment, a prosecutor said the search of Young Thug's home turned up a "large quantity of drugs," "several firearms" and a kind of "automatic switch" to turn his firearm into an "automatic machine gun" - that's now described in the indictment as a "Glock 45 firearm with a converter switch and extended magazine."
A judge at that time determined the rapper was a flight risk and a risk to interfere with others included in the indictment or potential witnesses, and denied him bond.
Unless a new ruling comes in, Young Thug stands to remain in jail through the trial - with a trial date currently set for Jan. 9, 2023.
His attorney has strongly maintained the rapper's innocence, saying in May that he did not agree Young Thug is "responsible for any type of crime."