Brooklyn rapper Bobby Shmurda and two other rising hip hop artists will be arraigned with 11 others in Manhattan criminal court Thursday for their alleged involvement in a massive drug ring.
Cops nabbed the group in Midtown early Wednesday as part of an extensive investigation spearheaded by the NYPD’s Brooklyn South Violence Reduction Task Force and the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Gang Unit, authorities said.
Charges against Ackquille Pollard, aka “Bobby Shmurda,” Javase Pollard, aka “Fame,” and Chad Marshall, aka “Rowdy Rebel,” will remain sealed until the state Supreme Court arraignment, according to a statement released by Kati Cornell, an SNP spokeswoman for New York City.
The two-year probe that led to their arrests included reviews of multiple shootings and narcotics trafficking previously linked to the rappers, authorities said. Cops managed to recover around 20 weapons during their sweep.
One incident that was examined was a possible homicide in Brooklyn, law enforcement sources told The Post.
While not suspected of actually pulling the trigger, Shmurda, Fame and Rowdy Rebel are being investigated over any role in the killing, the source added.
Howard Greenberg, the Pollard brothers’ attorney, firmly believes his clients are being targeted.
“I’m not gonna let them crucify my guys,” the lawyer told The Post. “My guy has the world in the palm of his hands. He needs to do this stuff like he needs a bullet in his head.”
Greenberg also feels like authorities have it in for hip-hop stars such as Shmurda, especially since this isn’t his first run-in with the law.
He was collared back on June 3 on felony weapons charges and eventually released on $10,000 bail, according to court records.
“The government hates rap, by extension hates rappers,” he said. “If his name was ‘Joe Blow,’ they would’ve given him a DAT or cut him loose from the complaint.”
Shmurda, Fame and Rowdy Rebel are all signed by Epic Records, which is a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment. The last thing the production company needs right now is another controversy — as executives scramble to do damage control in light of the recent hacks
http://pagesix.com/2014/12/18/bobby-shmurda-to-be-arraigned-on-drug-ring-charges/
