Tekashi 69 Recounts Kidnapping; Says Rapper Jim Jones Is Bloods Member
It was the third day of testimony by Tekashi 69, who has sat for hours, detailing the inner workings of the gang and hip-hop industry.
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In November, federal prosecutors brought a sweeping racketeering and firearms case against Tekashi 69, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez.CreditCreditGonzales Photo/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
By
Colin Moynihan and
Azi Paybarah
- Sept. 19, 2019Updated 9:07 p.m. ET
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On his final day testifying against members of his former gang, the rapper known as Tekashi 69 (or
6ix9ine) reprised for jurors how he escaped from a car that had been used to abduct him, then dashed through the streets of Brooklyn and threw himself into a strange vehicle while begging the driver to speed off or else “I’m going to die.”
He had suggested in the past that the kidnapping attempt had been a sign that his efforts to gain street credibility by associating with gang members had put his life in danger.
But in court on Thursday, he offered a fuller recounting of that night when, he said, his former bodyguard, Anthony Ellison, and another man kidnapped and robbed him.
Defense lawyers in the racketeering trial of Mr. Ellison and another member of
6ix9ine’s former crew, the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods, scrutinized the rapper’s account, raising questions about his credibility. One lawyer referred to the account as “this supposed incident where you were supposedly robbed.” Another cast him as a publicity hungry provocateur.
6ix9ine, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, ending his unlikely cameo as a star witness for the government.
[Read about 6ix9ine’s first and second days of testimony.]
Over three days, before a packed courtroom, Mr. Hernandez
was an eager and cooperative witness, providing an insider’s look into the activities of the Nine Trey gang, whose members have been accused of murder, robbery and narcotics trafficking.
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On Thursday, Mr. Hernandez also testified that he was not the only well-known rapper associated with Nine Trey. On the stand, Mr. Hernandez was asked by prosecutors to identify the voices on a recording of a phone conversation. He said one of them belonged to Jim Jones, whom he called a “retired rapper” and said was a member of the gang.
Before Thursday, Mr. Jones, a
Harlem-based rapper who released
an album in May, had not been publicly linked to Mr. Hernandez’s case.
Mr. Hernandez’s stardom as a rapper was attained in large part though his association with the Nine Trey gang. Members appeared in a viral YouTube video for a song, “GUMMO,” that has been viewed more than 350 million times since it was released two years ago.
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The rapper and the gang, founded decades ago on Rikers Island, formed a symbiotic relationship. The Trey Nines saw Mr. Hernandez as a source of money. He saw them as a crucial source of street cred.
Along the way, Mr. Hernandez, who has the number 69 tattooed on his forehead and wore his hair in long multicolored braids, earned a reputation as a troll and an instigator — someone who would go to extremes for attention. He gained popularity while streaming bizarre stunts and starting disputes with other rappers.
On Thursday, a lawyer for one defendant, Aljermiah Mack, asked Mr. Hernandez about his longstanding role as a “troll” in the world of rap and how he defined that.
“Trolling can mean a lot of things,” Mr. Hernandez answered. “To me it means antagonizing, mocking.”
While being cross-examined by Mr. Ellison’s lawyer, Mr. Hernandez repeated some of his testimony about a night in July 2018 when he said he was abducted and robbed at gunpoint.
That incident began, Mr. Hernandez said, when Mr. Ellison and another man inside a car bumped the vehicle he was in. Both men had guns, Mr. Hernandez said, and they ordered him into their car then drove him to his home. There, he said, the two seized a bag of jewelry including a Rolex watch, chains and rings that Mr. Hernandez valued at $365,000.
Mr. Hernandez said that the men then drove him to a street behind a housing project and told him to get out of the car. He believed they would kill him there, Mr. Hernandez testified. But he left the car and sprinted away, turning corners and seeking refuge inside a stranger’s car. He eventually went to a police precinct, he said, where he reported the incident but provided scant details.
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Mr. Ellison’s lawyer, Deveraux L. Cannick, referred to the incident several times as “supposed.” He questioned Mr. Hernandez closely on how many times he had been struck and to asked him to identify where on his body. Mr. Cannick then asked whether he had given that information to prosecutors during a proffer session.
Mr. Hernandez said he had given some specifics to prosecutors, but may not have enumerated specific blows.
During his cross-examination, Mr. Cannick asked Mr. Hernandez to confirm more than once that the robbery he described had taken place just before the planned release of a song, “Fefe,” which he had recorded with the rapper Nicki Minaj.
Mr. Cannick then asked Hernandez about a version of the story of the robbery and kidnapping that he gave to Angie Martinez on the radio station Power 105.1 shortly after the incident.
Mr. Hernandez acknowledged that he had given Ms. Martinez an embellished version of events, telling her that he had blacked out at one point and had escaped the car driven by Mr. Ellison and his associate by hurling himself from the vehicle as it was moving.
“Did you tell her you were a troll?” Mr. Cannick asked of the interview with Ms. Martinez.
“I tell everyone I’m a troll,” Mr. Hernandez replied.