NEW YORK — A New York Metropolis rapper who joined President Donald Trump throughout a marketing campaign rally final yr has been sentenced to 5 years behind bars after he admitted he used earnings from his music profession to gasoline gang violence in Brooklyn.

Sheff G, whose authorized title is Michael Williams, additionally should serve 5 years of supervised launch as soon as he is freed below the phrases of the sentence imposed Wednesday.

He and the choose agreed on the sentence when the rapper pleaded responsible earlier this yr to tried homicide and conspiracy. Prosecutors needed a 20-year jail time period.

“This defendant had expertise and alternative, however selected to make use of them to gasoline violence as a substitute of constructing a greater future,” Brooklyn District Legal professional Eric Gonzalez mentioned after the sentencing.

The 27-year-old rapper, whose songs and movies have hundreds of thousands of YouTube views and Spotify streams, was amongst these arrested in reference to a long-term investigation into gang-related shootings in Brooklyn. The allegations of violence towards Sheff G had already been made public when he appeared with Trump onstage in Might 2024.

Greater than 30 purported members of the 8 Trey Crips and the road gang’s affiliate, the 9 Methods gang, have been indicted. Twenty-three have pleaded responsible to varied expenses whereas seven circumstances are nonetheless pending.

Amongst these charged was Tegan Chambers, a rapper referred to as Sleepy Hallow who additionally appeared on stage with Trump and Sheff G in the course of the Might 23, 2024, rally within the Bronx. Chambers was sentenced final week to a yr in jail following his responsible plea to a conspiracy depend.

A spokesman for Trump’s marketing campaign was requested on the time about whether or not the marketing campaign knew concerning the expenses and whether or not it was the previous president who sought the rappers’ assist or the opposite means round.

“As Sheff G mentioned: ‘They all the time whisper your accomplishments and shout your failures,’” marketing campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded.

Prosecutors have mentioned Sheff G showered cash and jewellery on gang members as they battled rivals in Brooklyn.

They are saying the rapper acted as a getaway driver on at the very least one event, chauffeuring three co-defendants to and from a 2021 capturing that focused a rival however as a substitute hit two bystanders. Sheff G even handled gang members to a lavish dinner at a Manhattan steakhouse to rejoice a 2020 capturing that killed a purported rival gang member and injured 5 others, based on prosecutors.

Surveillance movies, social media posts, textual content messages and extra proof doc the felony actions, and the 2 rappers additionally boasted about their misdeeds of their songs, Gonzalez’s workplace mentioned.

Sheff G’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, didn’t instantly reply to an e-mail searching for touch upon Wednesday. He’s mentioned beforehand that the plea deal was within the “finest curiosity of everybody concerned.”

Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow had been among the many notable names Trump touted throughout his marketing campaign stops as he labored to woo Black voters on his technique to reclaiming the White Home.

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This story corrects an earlier model that described Sheff G as having reached a plea cope with prosecutors within the Brooklyn district legal professional’s workplace. He and the choose agreed on the sentence, over the objection of prosecutors. ___

Shipkowski contributed to this report from Toms River, New Jersey.

Comply with Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo