Prosecutors screened a music video for a Brooklyn jury of reputed crack kingpin Ronald (Ra Diggs) Herron banging out a duet of his violent anthem “Live By the Gun” with rapper Waka Flocka Flame outside the Gowanus Houses.
The feds are using Herron’s music videos, which were uploaded to YouTube, to corroborate a mountain of evidence that he was a fearsome leader of a murderous crew that terrorized the housing project and its residents.
“Live by the gun, I’m a die by the gun,” Flocka raps. “A n—– shoot at me so you know I’m shooting back.”
Flocka repeatedly cocks his index finger like he’s pulling the trigger of a gun.
“N—– shot me five times, two days later the n—– died,” Herron chimed in, allegedly referring to the retaliation killing of a gunman who had shot him.
The anonymous jury – 10 whites and 2 blacks, the majority of whom appear to be middle aged – read along the lyrics which are filled with expletives, racial epithets and Bloods gang lingo, with the aid of a transcript.
Former crew member Vincent (Dip) Winfield also provided context for the music mayhem from the witness stand.
Asked how Herron’s rapping about life in the projects and beating a murder rap burnished his reputation, Winfield testified: “Promotion. Advertising. His brand. … Install more fear with people. The average person look at him like he killed someone and got away with it so he’ll do it again.”
Assistant Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Sam Nitze had argued in court papers that the videos should be admitted as evidence because the content shows Herron’s “determination to stand out as a real-life gangster who wrote songs and recorded documentary videos about his real-life experiences as a violent gang leader and narcotics trafficker.”
Defense lawyers have signaled that they will call a rap music “expert” to say the lyrics are merely fanciful boastings for entertainment value.
Yahoo Local News – New York Daily News
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