Prosecutors say the performances boast of his criminal exploits

NYC Crime

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Wednesday, April 9, 2014, 12:56 PM

Federal prosecutors have charged Ronald (Ra Diggs) Herron with three brutal slayings — including one connected to his online boasts.

A Gowanus Houses drug lord is arguing that his “Ra Diggs” rap persona is merely a “fictional gangsta rap character” so the gritty YouTube music videos boasting of murderous deeds should not get air time at his upcoming racketeering and murder trial.

Federal prosecutors say the videos and lyrics are evidence that Ronald Herron was the leader of a violent drug crew that terrorized residents of Brooklyn housing projects.

Keep it real, counters defense lawyer Robert Soloway states in court papers borrowing a term from the ‘hood.

“Like … Johnny Cash who tells us he ‘shot a man in Reno just to watch him die,’ or Bob Marley who claims he shot the sheriff, but not the deputy – [song lyrics] cannot fairly be construed to mean the words express admissions of personal conduct, acts or even the author’s true beliefs,” Soloway argued.

Susan Watts/New York Daily News Prosecutors said Ronald (Da Riggs) Herron, the accused drug lord who terrorized the Gowanus Houses, sang that he “beat a body” on the song “Slow Down.”

The government has not revealed which music videos it intends to use at the upcoming trial in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Prosecutors have previously highlighted the song “Slow Down” in which Herron sings that he “beat a body” and “went head to head with [ex-Brooklyn District Attorney] Charles Hynes office and never lost,” referring to a murder acquittal in which Herron allegedly threatened to witnesses to a killing.

Soloway dismisses the relevance of those lyrics as evidence of nothing more than Herron’s intent to cultivate a “Teflon Don” image like the late Gambino boss John Gotti who beat cases, too, by bribing jurors, or fictional outlaws in the films “Scarface” and “The Godfather.”

Susan Watts/New York Daily News Federal prosecutors say the videos and lyrics made by Ronald (Da Riggs) Herron show he was the leader of a violent drug crew that terrorized residents of the Gowanus Houses.

Herron’s music videos are protected speech under the First Amendment and should not be used against him – just like the hate spewed at soldiers funerals by members of the Westboro Baptist Church couldn’t be used against them in lawsuits, according to Soloway’s thinking.

“Much of Ronald Herron’s work is a commentary on urban crime and violence, drug wars and the utter lack of hope in the inner city he knows,” Soloway stated.

Prosecutors throughout the nation have been using rap lyrics against violent thugs who sing them with increasing frequency.

Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis is expected to rule later this month on the admissibility of the music videos and a bulletproof vest that Herron was wearing when cops arrested him for littering outside a Gowanus building.

jmarzulli@nydailynews.com

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