Members of rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine’s security team were expected to be arraigned Monday on charges stemming from an August 2020 robbery incident in Harlem.
via: The Blast
According to a statement from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, prosecutors filed charges against FIVE members of Tekashi69’s private security team for “robbing a man after chasing him through Harlem in SUV’s with flashing lights and sirens.” All five of the bodyguards are charged with “Robbery in the First Degree, Robbery in the Second Degree, and Criminal Impersonation in the First Degree.”
Plus, a former NYPD detective — Daniel Laperuta — is also charged with “falsely reporting an incident” for allegedly “falsely claiming to NYPD officers and in a 911 call that the victim was threatening them with a firearm.”
According to the complaint, on August 9, 2020, a 34-year-old man and his girlfriend saw Tekashi 6ix9ine and approached the rapper to record him on a cell phone. At that point, the security team allegedly “shouted at him and began to chase him as he drove away.” The security team “followed the victim for approximately 20 blocks in three SUVs which were equipped with flashing lights and sirens,” the documents state. Adding, “When the victim attempted to flag down a marked police car, retired NYPD detective (Laperuta) flashed a retired NYPD Member Of Service card, and told the officers that the victim threatened them with a firearm. The same bodyguard called 911 as the team drove after the victim, and repeated the claim that the victim threatened them with a firearm.
At this point, according to the complaint, “The team boxed in the victim’s car with their SUVs at the corner of 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, and forced the victim to pull his car over. (One bodyguard) approached the victim, opened his car door, unbuckled his seatbelt and pulled the victim’s arm. The victim’s phone was knocked out of his hand to the ground, where FUHSE stomped on it.”
It continued, “The victim exited his car and wrestled with (a second bodyguard) in an attempt to recover his phone. Laperuta approached the group with his hand on his holstered gun and (a thrid bodyguard) pointed a Taser at the victim.” Adding, “When an unmarked police car approached with flashing lights, the team immediately got into their SUVs and fled the scene.”
The Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance, blasted the security team saying, “A celebrity entourage is not a police department, and Manhattan is not the Wild West.”
He continued, “As alleged, these highly-compensated vigilantes caravanned through the streets of Harlem with sirens flashing in order to track a man down and steal and break his phone. Along the way, a retired NYPD Detective tried to cover up their conduct by lying to his former colleagues and repeatedly claiming the victim had threatened to shoot them. False reports – especially about firearms – can carry devastating consequences and fortunately, no one was injured or killed in the actual police response.”
We will keep you updated as the story continues to develop.
The D.A.'s office says the group chased the alleged victim through Harlem for 20 blocks after the person tried to take video of the rapper.
They pulled over the victim and tried to take their cell phone.
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) July 19, 2021
