Drill rappers Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow are amongst 32 people indicted on conspiracy charges with alleged involvement in New York’s 8 Trey Crips and 9 Ways gangs. According to NBC New York, the Brooklyn artists were charged on Tuesday (May 16) in a 140-count indictment, and the district attorney’s office claimed that they’re members of a Crips gang, linked to 12 shootings and a murder that was reportedly filmed in October 2020.

Police say that the gang – with members ranging from Brooklyn to New Jersey – has carried out recurring acts of violence against rival gang Folk Nation in the Flatbush section of Crown Heights.

“They’re dangerous people, and it’s a small number of them. They’re repeated recidivists,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “We are not going to surrender our streets to violence.”

“These are no small-time rappers. Sleepy Hollow on one song, upwards of 125 million YouTube views. Sheff G, upwards of 42 million YouTube views. That’s one song alone,” said NYPD Deputy Chief Jason Savino.

District Attorney Eric Gonzalez says that Sheff G, legal name Michael Kyle Williams, “used money he made from a successful music career to allegedly pay for and encourage acts of violence.” If convicted, the 24-year-old faces up to 25 years in prison.

One of the violent acts that DA Gonzalez claims Williams has involvement in is a mass shooting in Brooklyn, where five were injured and one person was killed. The suspects allegedly pulled up in a car and began firing at members of the rival gang. Gonzalez says that Williams ordered the hit, rewarding the alleged shooters with a dinner at a Manhattan steak house.

During a Tuesday press conference, Gonzalez shared that the arrests are more focused on Williams, but clarified that neither him or Sleepy Hallow, legal name Tegan Chambers, are being targeted for their music.