Law&Crime Sidebar - Which ‘YSL’ Gang Members Pleaded Guilty and Agreed to Testify Against Young Thug?

Episode Date: January 10, 2023

Eight members of the “YSL” gang have taken plea deals ahead of Young Thug’s RICO trial. The Law&Crime Network’s Angenette Levy and executive producer Cathy Russon break down who pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against fellow “Young Slime Life” members.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Logan HarrisGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. YSL constitutes an ongoing organization whose associates function as a continuing unit. Jury selection. In the trial of Jeffrey Lamar Williams, better known as rapper Young Thug, is underway in Atlanta, with eight co-defendants already taking pleas and some getting ready to testify against the Grammy winner. So who are those eight who've taken those plea deals? I'm Ann Janette Levy, and welcome to Law and Crime's Sidebar podcast. Young Thug and 13 others are going on trial in Fulton

County, Georgia. They are accused of violating the state's RICO Act by founding and operating the YSL Street Gang in 2012. Prosecutors said, say YSL means young slime life and it's a gang. But others say it stands for young stoner life, the name of Young Thugs music label. Following Young Thugs arrest, he was charged with additional counts of participating in gang activity, three counts of violating the Georgia Controlled Substances Act and firearms charges, including possession of a machine gun. Joining me to discuss the eight defendants who've already taken pleas is Kathy Russon. She is the executive producer of the Law and Crime Network. Kathy, welcome.

back to Sidebar, I feel like you've kind of become an expert on this case. First of all, something that's really interesting about this that we were discussing is the fact that the prosecutor wants to use the song lyrics of Young Thug against him. The biggest talking point in this trial is can song lyrics be used against you? Isn't it just part of artistry? Isn't it just part of the artist? California recently passed a law. And it's not that they said you can never use lyrics from an artist, but there's very strict rules. about how you get how you get to use them and all this other corroborating evidence that has to be with it. In this particular case, the DA said, if you want to admit to crimes in your song lyrics, I will use them against you.

That's basically what she said, I'm ad-living. But there are some motions still outstanding from the defense, different defense teams about the song lyrics. And they went to argue those a week or two ago. And there's sort of a COVID outbreak in the jail. And many of the defendants couldn't be in person. And so the judge has not heard that yet. I expect that to happen either just before. we get started after jury selection or maybe sometime during the trial. But we don't know right now

what if any song lyrics will be in. And jury selection is still underway. And let's get to those defendants now who have taken pleas. The first one I want to discuss is Antonio Sledge. He is actually the co-founder of the gang that's alleged to have existed in this case, YSL. And he's also known as Mount Tonk. And he will testify and has signed off on statements. that YSL is indeed a gang. He will testify that drive-by shootings were committed, murders, really awful things, and acknowledge the involvement of young thug in this case. So that could be pretty damning evidence. This one was the most shocking for me, as I've been watching the pleas come down. He admits what happens in these pleas, there's statements that are written out

and the defendant says yes, yes, yes, you know, agreeing that those statements are true. So during the plead, the prosecutor is reading out a statement as, uh, you agree that YSL is a gang. And he says, yes, you agree that they have committed crimes. And he'll say yes. And I'm just ad-libbing this right now. But that's how these go down. So he admits that he had knowledge of drive-by shootings. He has knowledge of murders and attempted murders. And that Jeffrey Williams, aka a young thug, had knowledge of some of this. He was the most shocking to me, because I I thought, wow, this guy is going to testify. He does have to testify truthfully if called upon. And it's important to remember in all of these plea deals, it's worded if you are called to testify.

I do not believe they're going to call all eight of them to testify. But I do believe they're going to call sledge. He admits that the other statement was you are a co-founder of YSL and he says yes. So that's how we know that. At least he's saying that he's a co-founder. I think he might be the most damning witness of the that have taken pleas so far. And the second one is Young Thug's brother, Quantavius Greer. And he's also known as Unfuk. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the RICO Act and theft by receiving stolen property. He must testify, but can't assert his Fifth Amendment rights. So he may be called to testify, but may, I guess, invoke the Fifth to certain questions. What's your take on that? There are several of the eight that in their plea deal says they can't invoke the Fifth. I don't think they're going to call Greer. I don't think they're going to call. I don't think they're going to call. his brother. They might, but I'm, I'm not sure. He has an interesting backstory. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life and he was serving a life sentence. And Jeffrey Williams hired his own attorney that represents him now, Brian Still, to represent Greer. And he successfully got the conviction overturned and Greer spent 11 years of the life sentence. He got out in 2019 and now here we are.

Just all these interesting backstories to these guys and the relationships they have. I don't think the brother, honestly, I don't think they're going to call him to the stand. I could be wrong, but I think he's going to basically assert the fifth to most of anything they ask him. And who knows if we were talking before we started here, that whether or not his brother kind of signed off on this guilty plea, that's very possible. That's what I'm saying. You know, who knows? You know, young thug could have said, dude, just take the plea and get out and get on with your life. Our next one is Sergio Kitchens.

He's also known as Gunna. and he took what's called an Alford plea. That's where you go in, you say you're maintaining your innocence, but you admit you concede that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict you. And he did this last month. He pleaded, entered into that plea for conspiracy to violate the RICO Act. And he will plead the fifth if called to testify, which seems really odd because they could call him and he could basically say nothing.

Here's the interesting thing about this one. He didn't know, I'm assuming, that there were cameras in the courtroom. There was no official pool camera set up during his plea. It was sort of was shocked people. But there was a WSB reporter in the courtroom that recorded this, I think, on his cell phone. So we have seen the video of this plea. Gunna admits that YSL is a gang. He admits some other things in there.

But once the hearing was over, his attorney came out and said he's not snitching. He'll assert the fifth if he testifies. This isn't him turning on young thug. They're very clear about that. I don't think they're going to call him because of all that. I think they won't call him. This is what I like about what they did with him. So an Alfred plea, as you said, you don't admit you're guilty, but you admit there's

enough evidence that prosecutors could likely get a conviction, okay? But he has to do 500 hours of community service, and 350 of those hours must be speaking with young people about the dangers of gangs. I think that's a great thing the prosecutor has put in there. And that is a couple of these guys have a lot, a lot, hundreds of hours of community service they have to do on their probation. I think that's a great thing. Yeah, very good. And I have seen that in, you know, in the city where I live, where there are people who go into prison, they do turn their lives around and they end up helping other people, which I think is always something good

that can come out of these things. Our next one is Walter Murphy. And he's also known as D.K. He pleaded guilty to a conspiracy count. And he must testify truthfully. So he's got to get up there and tell his story. Yeah. And the interesting thing is from what I could see and what I could find, There was no invoking the fifth wording in his. So he's also a co-founder of WISO, or at least that's what he admits to being. And it says he's agreed to testify truthfully, if necessary. And remember, the way this is all worded, I think prosecutors are going to be very selective if any of these eight. I think maybe two of the eight. Maybe Sledge will, I mean, I think Sledge will obviously get called. Maybe Stevens, we haven't gotten to him yet, but definitely not all eight will be called, for sure.

Wuni Lee is the fifth defendant who's resolved his case. And he's also known as Slime Life Shottie. He also took an Alford plea. And his attorney said, basically, you can call him, but he may not help you out. He says that about the prosecution. Yeah, he said, look, my clients will testify truthfully, put him on the stand. But the wording he said, but what he has to say may or may not help the person asking the question. So because of that statement, I believe that he doesn't have a lot to offer to the prosecution. but, or at least his attorney's doing a great job of making me think that. Again, he, he has all this probation. All these guys are getting a ton of probation time, many, many, many years, nine years, 15 years, lots of it. And curfews from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. So that's also getting them off the streets in the middle of the night. With those curfews, they have, you know, if there's a medical emergency,

if you can prove you have a job, whatever. But they have curfews from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. And that's a really long time to be on probation and to mind your peas and cues when you've maybe not been doing that for a really long time. maybe lived a life that isn't completely above board. That's a really long time to be on probation. Definitely. Martinez Arnold, he is also known as Lil Duke. He pleaded guilty last month. And he has to testify truthfully, but doesn't have to call YSL a gang. I don't quite understand that. I don't, I don't know. I don't know how these defense attorneys were pretty crafty in some of these

plea deals. So I don't understand it either. That is not one that was on camera. So that's not a plea that I saw personally, and he has the right to invoke the fifth. So I don't know that he'll testify, but the very interesting thing about him, his attorney was Ashley Merchant. Some people that have been watching trials with us for a long time know her in Georgia. She represented Ryan Duke in the Tara Grinstead case. She's on Jeffrey Williams' witness list. Now, that doesn't mean she'll definitely file a motion to quash that and she'll try and get out of testifying and probably would succeed. But the interesting thing is, why do they want to call Woonie's attorney in Young Thug's pace. I'm not sure exactly. Yeah, I'm not sure either. It's very curious. Antonio Sumlin,

he's also known as Obama, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the RICO Act and two counts of conspiracy to commit a crime and participating in criminal street gang activity. And as part of the deal, he will testify truthfully if asked during the trial, but reserves his right to invoke the fifth. That's another strange thing. Like, it's like, can you pick and choose which questions you choose to answer? So my understanding with some of these the way they're worded, in the plea deal, the prosecutor types out certain statements and the defendant agrees to that statement.

So they sign their initials to it, whatever. So my understanding is if whatever statements are in his plea, he can't invoke the fifth because he's already agreed to that, but he can invoke the fifth to anything else. It's just that hasn't, that wording hasn't been in each and every one of the pleas. And so it's just very strange to me. And our final co-defendant is Trontavius, Stevens, also known as Tick and also known as Slug. And he pleaded guilty late last month and has to

testify of called and cannot invoke the fifth based on statements he made in writing. This is very interesting. As we talked about song lyrics and how they can be used against defendants. In his plea deal, the prosecutor read out statements that he agreed to. And one statement was, do you admit that you have been accused of and or charged with robbing women? Strange, right? I was like, that's such a. weird broad and he says yes then she gets to a song lyric out of young thug song called you and in there he says tick i don't know the exact words but tick robbed a woman so it's kind of a roundabout way getting there in my opinion it seems very broad but that right there but she read that out in the

plea deal and he said yes about the song lyrics so that leads me to believe they're going to use tick to bring in commit crimes committed that are in the song lyrics which is the biggest part of this case. Yeah, and writing about this stuff in your song lyrics, I mean, I guess they could act like, I'm just writing, I'm just writing rap songs. Yeah, they say it's not real, you know, that's just part of their artistry. Well, wait and see. How long do you think jury selection is going to take? Because we're in it right now, and it seems like it could be a long time, especially with 14 defendants. Yeah, we yeah. And important to know, it started 28. We're down to 14. Eight took pleas, but the others, for various reasons, two are still outstanding. They can't find him. They haven't been arrested.

And then the others, they can't get them public defenders because the public defender's office is so stretched out with this. So they were severed off. That's how we got to 14 defendants. We're in the second week of jury selection. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, they are doing panels of people that say they have a hardship. Now, this trial is set to last six to nine months. I don't know who can sit on a trial like that. So these hearings and these questionings that are happening this week are, can you sit for six to nine months and why can't you? And so that's what's happening this week.

I don't think we could see openings next week, but it could even be the week after that. Well, Kathy Russon, executive producer of the Law and Crime Network, thanks for coming on. We appreciate it. Thanks, Anjana. And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. It is produced by Sam Goldberg and Logan Harris. Bobby Zoki is our YouTube manager. Alyssa Fisher is our booking producer and Kiera Bronson handles our social media.

You can download and listen to Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your podcasts. And of course, you can always watch. watch it on Law and Crimes YouTube channel. I'm Janette Levy, and we will see you next time. You can binge all episodes of this Law and Crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.