Fetty Wap has been sentenced to 6 years in prison for drug-trafficking

Fetty Wap has been sentenced to 6 years in prison for drug-trafficking.

Rapper Fetty Wap was sentenced to six years in federal prison on Wednesday for his role in a New York-based drug-trafficking scheme.

The “Trap Queen” rapper, whose legal name is Willie Maxwell, pleaded guilty in August 2022 to a conspiracy drug charge that carried a mandatory minimum sentence of five years. The sentence was handed down in federal court on Long Island.

Maxwell apologized for his actions and told the judge, “Me being selfish in my pride put me in this position today.” His lawyers had suggested he turned to selling drugs because of financial hardship brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prosecutors accused Fetty Wap of being part of a drug ring that dealt heroin, fentanyl, and crack cocaine in New York and New Jersey.

Prosecutors alleged that Fetty Wap and his four co-defendants got the drugs narcotics on the West Coast and used the US Postal Service and drivers with hidden vehicle compartments to move them across the country to Long Island.

Maxwell was arrested on the drug charges in 2021 at CitiField in New York City at the Rolling Loud musical festival. It wasn’t Maxwell’s first run-in with the law, though, as was arrested in 2017 on a DUI charge after police said he was caught drag racing on a New York City highway, while he was also arrested in 2019 in Las Vegas after he allegedly assaulted three employees at a hotel. In the DUI arrest, Maxwell struck a deal and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment and in the Las Vegas incident a judge dismissed the charges provided the rapper stayed out of trouble.

Maxwell was arrested in October 2021 on charges of participating in a conspiracy to smuggle large amounts of heroin, fentanyl and other drugs into the New York City area.

The New Jersey-born rapper and five co-defendants were accused of conspiring to possess and distribute more than 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine between June 2019 and June 2020.

The other four defendants have also pleaded guilty and are still waiting to be sentenced.

During the investigation into the drug ring, prosecutors uncovered "approximately $1.5 million in cash, 16 kilograms of cocaine, 2 kilograms of heroin, numerous fentanyl pills, two 9mm handguns, a rifle, a .45 caliber pistol, a .40 caliber pistol, and ammunition," according to the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.