Jeffery “Young Thug” Williams Yawns Through Trial

Is Fani’s RICO Moonshot Putting Him to Sleep?

Young Thug, the entertainer, is yawning through the first few days of testimony in his Racketeering and Corrupt Crimes Act prosecution in Fulton County, Georgia.

After months of attorneys haggling over the selection of jurors, Brady motions, and motions in limine, witnesses took the stand this week in the RICO prosecution of Grammy Award-winning rapper “Young Thug,” whose birth name is Jeffery Williams.  

Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis’s prosecution seeks to determine whether “Young Thug” is running a lucrative business enterprise or is the boss of a criminal street gang known as YSL or “Young Slime Life.”

Brian Steel, one of Williams’ lawyers, in opening statements, pitched him to the jury as a Black man born into abject poverty in a family of ten siblings. Steel said that Williams rapped his way out of the violent Cleveland Avenue neighborhood central to the prosecution’s case; once fortune and fame reached Williams, he returned to help the hood.

Au contraire, Adriane Love, Chief Deputy District Attorney for Fulton County, suggests a different view. Love quote from Rudyard Kipling in conceding that Williams grew up in a heavily policed, crime-infested jungle of Cleveland Avenue. But she contends that Williams didn’t bring his Grammy award back to help improve the neighborhood but to operate a crime syndicate through a wolf pack known as YSL.

While Love began to methodically lay out the State’s case against Williams and several other defendants, Williams can be seen in the court yawning to remain awake during the trial.

During the pre-trial phase of the trial, Williams’s legal team of Keith Adams and Steel filed a motion for a bond, positing that Williams should be released because he was not getting enough sleep, especially the night before he had to be in court for a hearing. According to the motion, Williams has to get up around 3:00 to 4:00 am to get to court on time.

Additionally, Williams has been hospitalized while waiting for trial and has complained of a lack of healthy food, apparently living on “chocolate and chips.” His legal team contends that this diet and the lack of time outside affect Williams’ health. Visibly, Williams has picked up weight since his arrest on these charges, and if not boredom, some other factors could be contributing to his yawning.

The State’s first witness, Detective Mark Belnap, was qualified as an expert witness on the gang culture. He droned on about gang activity in the metropolitan Atlanta area. According to Belnap, the FBI estimates that there are 40 to 50 thousand gang members in the metro area. Belnap believes there are over 100 gangs or groups in Atlanta. He testified that he has identified over 100 members of a street gang that goes by the name of YSL, who have an affiliation with a national “Bloods” gang operating out of California.

Belnap has taught courses on street gangs before the Georgia Street Gang Association. Love used Belnap’s expertise in street gang activity to educate the jury on this unique form of entrepreneurial enterprise. According to Belnap, there are three reasons why young people join gangs: (1) for a sense of family, (2) for protection, and (3) for the pursuit of money.

The State’s expert on gangs told the jury that “the sale of drugs is the main crime of gangs.”

“Respect,” Belnap informed the jury, “means something different to us than it does to the gang. Respect to the gang is fear.” There are two ways, he added, to get into a gang. Either by “banging or making money.”

Banging, Belnap explained, is committing some violent act to earn favor with the gang leaders. Others bring money into the organization from thefts of guns, automobiles, or anything of value that the organization can turn into cash. Belnap said the code on the street is “Pay Back.” If someone does something to you, “payback” is a must to preserve your protection.

The jury learned that the motto of YSL is “Sex, Money, Murder,” or the initials “SMM,” and that the gang originated around August 20, 2016. Members of the gang wear red bandanas or green ones. Ironically, Williams decked out in a fashionable green suit, the exact green color of the banana shown to the jury. The jury got a good education on gang clothing, gang signs, the gang’s book of knowledge, and the thirty-one rules governing gang members, including “Once in, no out.”

Belnap’s testimony ended on a good note for the defense. Belnap testified that the vast majority of kids who grow up in improvised areas do not join gangs. Then Judge Glanville took a break. Williams stood next to attorney Steel, and the two men smiled, apparently pleased that nothing per se was said against Williams’ interest.

On day two of the trial, Love called her second witness, Mellissa Rosser, a former math teacher who learned she could make more money as a “Cheetah Girl” than a math teacher. The life of an adult entertainer led her into the back office, where she keeps the books for the Cheetah Club and the Gold Rush.

One night, she left work at the Gold Rush at 2068 Metropolitan Parkway, Atlanta, Georgia, around 4:00 am. She lived about thirty-five minutes away in Newnan, Georgia. When she pulled into her sub-division that morning, she felt a bump to the rear-end of her car by a car driven by a twenty-something Black man, slim in build and shorter than her five-foot-eight-inch frame.

The other driver spoke to her and rushed to get inside her car, then drove off with her laptop, $1,000 in cash, another $1,000 in uncashed checks, several checkbooks, a camera, and her purse containing credit cards.

On cross-examination, the defense established that Ms. Rosser’s victimization did not take place in Fulton County and nowhere near Cleveland Avenue.

But Love successfully established the first predicate act – auto theft, theft of money, etc.; however, at this point, she has not laid a glove on Williams. As the witness leaves the courtroom, Williams and Steel stand together and smile at one another. The day closes with Williams not being in a worse position than when the day started.

On day two, Love introduces Captain Reginald Pettis, a 17-year post-certified peace officer, to the jury. Pettis was assigned to Zone 3 several days after Rosser notified On-Star about the car-jacking. A beat officer received intelligence from On-Star of the vehicle’s location at 2012 Old Hapeville Road within the city limits of Atlanta; Pettis participated and went to the location to surveil the car.

After a Black male wearing black clothing and a black bandana got out of the car, Pettis drove within 10 feet of the vehicle. When the authorities moved close to the stolen car, it prompted a group of Black men to come out of apartment 7. Pettis testified that the men cursed them, threw gang signs towards them in addition to the middle finger, and motioned them to roll down the window.

One of the Black men, Williams’ co-defendant Trentavious Stevens, flashed a handgun located in the waistband of his trousers, then pulled it out and pointed the gun in the direction of the Pettis car. The Pettis unmarked car drove off in the opposite direction from this group of people, whom Pettis described as very violent in their rhetoric and hand gestures towards them.

Stevens was subsequently arrested at this location and charged with aggravated assault. Desmond Hurst exited apartment number 7 and drove in the suspected stolen car. The authorities stopped him at 151 Cleveland Avenue, accused of auto theft and possession of drugs.

On cross-examination, Keith Adams, a veteran defense attorney with over a decade of prosecutorial experience under his belt, Adams got Pettis to admit that his initial report did not mention anything about flashing gang signs at his undercover vehicle and that Pettis had no idea what gang signs the group of Black men existing apartment number 7 flashed in their direction. Further, Pettis testified that there was no sign of criminal street gang activity during this confrontation.

Next, Love called Sgt. Jonathan Heeb, who said he was looking for defendant Stillwell on a probation violation warrant when his team went to the Green Store to see if Stillwell was on the premises. The Green Store is notorious for narcotic sales, according to Sgt. Heeb.

He testified that marijuana and crack cocaine sales happen from the Green Store, which gets its name because the building is painted green. Heeb stated that anyone selling drugs from the Green Store had to have permission from the 30 Deep Crew, the forerunner of YSL.

During Stillwell’s arrest, he wore a red shirt and bandana. Heeb said that Stillwell had 50 individually wrapped bags of marijuana and 30 bags of crack cocaine. He testified that the packaging of marijuana and cocaine indicated the contraband’s availability for distribution.

On cross-examination, Stillwell’s lawyer, Attorney Short, established that the Green Store is not on Cleveland Avenue and that Stillwell was not charged with criminal street gang activity, nor had he committed any act under this statute. Heep also admitted that he had no idea what Stillwell would do with the money he earned from the sale of the marijuana. The implication is that any income earned from the drug sale could not be in furtherance of and enrichment of a criminal enterprise.

Next, Andrew Phillips, a native of Atlanta, testified that in 2013, he had returned home from a vacation to see his front door ajar. Upon entering his home, Phillips discovered he was missing a handgun, a shotgun, a laptop, and a blanket. He notified the police of the break-in.

A handgun fitting the description of Phillips’ handgun turns up in a traffic stop of a car driven by Jeffery Williams. Phillips was not able to positively identify the handgun as his gun. Attorney Adams drove this point home on cross-examination.

Officer Michael Monheim, an 18-year Atlanta Police Department veteran, testified that on September 9, 2013, he made a traffic stop to a car driven by Jeffery Williams and that during the stop, he discovered in plain view several bags of marijuana packaged for distribution in the vehicle.

After placing Williams into custody, he conducted an inventory search of the vehicle. He discovered a handgun under the driver’s seat that resembles the handgun reported stolen from the Phillips home. The attorneys fought outside the presence of the jury over whether testimony came in that Officer Monheim did not know if Williams knew the gun was in the car.

Williams was smiling with his lawyer, Brian Steel, during the sidebar over this issue. They had the State in a bind because of a lack of proof Williams took possession of a handgun. Then Love resorted to contraband possession 101 and asked Monheim how close in proximity the gun was to where Williams had been seated in the car.

“Within ten feet,” Monheim testified.

Bam! Thus ended the long-awaited first week of testimony in the racketeering trial of Jeffery “Young Thug” Williams.

Harold Michael Harvey, JD, is the Living Now 2020 Bronze Medal winner for his memoir Freaknik Lawyer: A Memoir on the Craft of Resistance. He is the author of a book on Negro Leagues Baseball, The Duke of 18th & Vine: Bob Kendrick Pitches Negro Leagues Baseball. He writes feature stories for Black College Nines. Com. Harvey is a member of the Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, HBCU and PRO Sports Media Association, and the Legends Committee for the National College Baseball Hall of Fame. Harvey is an engaging speaker. Contact Harvey at hmharvey@haroldmichaelharvey.com.