Swaggering Brooklyn-born rapper Tekashi69 has a new moniker: Tekashi-Snitch-9.
The trash-talking hip-hop star has pleaded guilty to nine racketeering, gun and drug charges and is cooperating with the feds, newly unsealed documents revealed Friday.
Tekashi copped to an array of crimes in a secret plea hearing in Manhattan Federal Court on Jan. 23, including selling a kilo of heroin in Bushwick. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 47 years in prison, though he could get less for his cooperation.
“In the fall of 2017, I met and joined the Nine Trey Blood Gang. As a member of Nine Trey, the enterprise engaged in such activities including shooting at people, robbing people, and at times drug trafficking,” said Tekashi, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez.
He said that on March 20, 2018, he “helped members of Nine Trey attempt to kill a rival gang member.” The following month he helped fellow gangsters rob a rival, he said.
Tekashi, 22, admitted that in June he “paid a person to shoot at a rival member of Nine Trey to scare him.”
“I apologize to the Court, to anyone who was hurt, to my family, friends and fans for what I have done and who I have let down,” he said.
Judge Paul Engelmayer confirmed during the hearing that Tekashi was singing to the feds.
“The government has represented that Mr. Hernandez is cooperating against multiple violent people associated with the same criminal enterprise of which he admits…being a member,” Engelmayer said.
On Thursday a new indictment charged 10 alleged Nine Trey gangsters — but Tekashi was no longer a defendant.
Tekashi attorney Dawn Florio declined to say whether his cooperation factored in the new charges.
“We’re doing everything we can to make sure he’s safe and his family is safe,” Florio said.
Snitching on Nine Trey is off-brand for Tekashi, whose songs and frequent Instagram posts were littered with references to gang activity and trash-talk of rivals. The rainbow-haired rapper ran afoul of authorities in 2015 and pleaded guilty to participating in the filming of a sexually explicit video with a 13-year-old girl. He later told prosecutors the video was intended to boost his “scumbag” persona and “just for shock value.”
The “GUMMO” rapper was arrested in November, along with other accused Nine Trey members for robberies, shootings, drug-dealing and other mayhem.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said at the time that the crew “wreaked havoc on New York City.”
Tekashi’s other attorney, Lance Lazzaro, revealed in court that Tekashi recently had a falling out with his crew. In an unusual twist, the FBI offered Tekashi protection from his former friends only days before arresting them all on racketeering and firearms charges. Other accused Nine Trey members were caught on a wiretap vowing to “super violate” Tekashi.
“An entertainer who portrays a gangster image to promote his music does not make him a member of an enterprise,” Lazzaro said during Tekashi’s first court appearance, proclaiming him “completely innocent.”
The rapper is in custody in an undisclosed federal facility due to threats on his life.
“He loves his fans, his fans love him,” Florio said. “He’s never going to stop being an artist.”
