Tekashi 6ix9ine (real name Daniel Hernandez) is facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 32 years in prison, according to the prosecuting U.S. attorney at the rapper’s arraignment on Monday night. The rapper was arrested on Sunday night and faces federal charges including racketeering allegations stemming from Hernandez’s involvement with the Nine Trey Bloods, as well as a previously unreported armed robbery. Hernandez faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
“[Hernandez] is a member of a violent sect of the Bloods,” said Assistant US Attorney Michael Longyear at the arraignment. “This defendant participated in multiple acts of violence.”
Hernandez’ attorney, Lance Lazzaro, advocated for bail for his client under the condition that Hernandez surrender his passport, pay over $1 million for bail and be placed under house arrest. However, the judge denied bail, opting to keep Hernandez in custody and citing that the rapper may still be a danger to the community even if those bail conditions were met. Hernandez’ legal team plans to appeal that decision.
Four of Hernandez’ associates — ex-manager Kifano “Shottie” Jordan, Faheem “Crippy” Walter, Jensel “Ish” Butler and Jamel “Mel Murda” Jones — were also arrested by the ATF on Sunday night and Monday morning and are facing many of the same charges as Hernandez, as well as drug charges stemming from the sale of heroin, fentanyl, MDMA and marijuana, prosecutors said.
According to the prosecution, the charges are the result of a five-year federal investigation. Lazzaro contended that Hernandez has only been affiliated with the associates and, by extension, their gang for a little over one year, when he met them at a concert and subsequently hired them as his manager and security detail. Hernandez publicly fired his management and the rest of his team late last week, alleging in an Instagram video that they had been stealing from him. He subsequently gave an interview with New York radio station Power 105’s the Breakfast Club on Friday to expand on his situation.
The armed robbery charge, which was never prosecuted, took place in Times Square this April; prosecutors said that the rapper’s four associates robbed a rival gang at gunpoint while Hernandez waited in the vehicle and alleged he filmed the robbery. When his home was searched in September, investigators found the stolen items from that April robbery. The prosecution didn’t offer further details.
Hernandez is also being charged with possession of an AR-15, and involvement in two additional shootings: One at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center where he was performing and another in which he allegedly ordered the shooting of a bystander at a Brooklyn housing project. The latter comes with a conspiracy to commit murder charge. The robbery charge comes with a 7-year minimum sentence, and the collected racketeering charges, which stem from the litany of alleged activities with gang members, comes with a minimum of 25 years.
