Jim Jones has weighed in on Gunna taking a plea deal in the YSL RICO case, reminding the Atlanta rapper that leaving your co-defendants in the lurch isn’t an honorable move.
Gunna is one of several YSL associates who have secured their release from jail by pleading guilty in the case, which experts say makes Young Thug’s fight for freedom an even bigger uphill battle.
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Jones was asked about the case in an interview with Chicago’s DJ Univercity, and while he refrained from saying too much about the “touchy” legal situation, he condemned the string of plea deals which he believes violates a certain code he grew up with.
“It’s definitely a touchy situation that Thug is facing,” he said. “I don’t know the whole situation, [but] from where I come from, taking a plea when you have co-defendants is really not the thing you supposed to do. If you up against a case by yourself, that’s something different. But when you’re taking a plea it’s a touchy thing.
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“I don’t really want to touch too much on it because I’ve seen my n-ggas go through some of the same things, but I can say this: none of my n-ggas took a plea. They all in jail right now doing the time. They accepted what they did, they accepted who snitched on them, they accepted it all, and they all sat down and did their time.”
He added: “Nobody tried to take a plea, nobody tried to go around. N-ggas even went to trial — they did everything they could. But do that.”
The Dipset rapper went on to share words of wisdom for fellow rappers who come from a similar environment before saluting Young Thug, who he believes shouldn’t be counted out just yet.
“That’s a decision you gotta make when you in this music business. You gotta be very serious about the transition you make, and when you make that transition, you gotta be very serious about the things and the company you keep,” he advised.
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“Sometimes the people that you love might not be the people that you need to have next you all the time. You gotta be aware; awareness is everything. By me not being aware, I would not be here to give you this interview.”
He added: “God bless Young Thug because he’s definitely a dope soul. He’s a Black man that started from nothing and helped so many Black people become successful…I tip my hat to Thug, man. I’ve seen some crazy things; you never know, that man could come home and that’s what I be praying for.”
Jim Jones has been a vocal critic of plea deals in the past. “There’s been times where my cousins go to jail for five years for this, that didn’t really have to be in jail for this, but we take it on the chin like a soldier,” he said during an emotional interview with Funk Flex in 2017. “People don’t understand what this Diplomats shit was built about.”
He continued: “When I was on trial and n-ggas told me I need to take the plea — take what plea? We don’t take pleas, n-gga. And by the grace of God, the trial gets dismissed because they couldn’t find enough evidence of a shootout that happened Uptown over Cam’ron. I went to trial over shit like that.”
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A plea deal for Young Thug, meanwhile, was never on the table, with prosecutors viewing him as “the target of this case” who they’re seeking to land in prison. The rapper faces eight charges in the 65-count RICO case, including conspiracy to violate the RICO Act and participation in criminal street gang activity, as well as various drug and weapons charges.
Jury selection in the high-profile trial began in Fulton County, Georgia this week, although Thug and his 13 co-defendants won’t learn their fate anytime soon as the trial is expected to last for between six and nine months.
