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Fetty Wap at the MTV Video Music Awards 2019
Photo: CAITLIN OCHS / REUTERS
The American rapper Fetty Wap, known for the hit »Trap Queen«, has been sentenced to six years in prison for drug trafficking. A judge in the U.S. state of New York set the sentence on Wednesday, as the prosecutor's office of the district announced. The 31-year-old, whose real name is Willie Junior Maxwell II, was on trial with five co-defendants. He was charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess large quantities of drugs.
The rapper had pleaded guilty last August. The minimum prison sentence was five years. The public prosecutor's office had spoken out in favour of a sentence of seven to nine years.
In October 2021, the 31-year-old was arrested at New York's Citi Field baseball stadium, where he was scheduled to perform at a music festival. He was accused of being involved in a drug trafficking ring that sold more than 2019 kilograms of drugs such as cocaine, heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine on the island of Long Island and in the state of New Jersey between June 2020 and June 100.
According to prosecutors, the gang organized the drugs on the U.S. West Coast and then brought them to New York by mail and cars with secret compartments.
Fetty Wap rose to prominence in the U.S. in 2015 with his eponymous debut album, landing in the charts and winning an MTV Video Music Award.
kim/dpa/AFP