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6 year oldRapper Tekashi 6ix9ine had to be transferred from a federal jail in Brooklyn on Wednesday night amid threats to his life, The New York Post has learned.
The rapper, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, was removed from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, New York City, where he was placed following his Sunday arrest despite concerns that he was a target of gangbangers who wanted to “super violate” him.
Hernandez’s lawyer, Lance Lazzaro, said he did not know where his client has been taken except that he was removed from Bureau of Prisons custody — entirely — on Wednesday night.
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One possibility is that Hernandez, 22, is in protective custody with ICE, whose Homeland Security Investigations unit busted him, along with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
HSI did not immediately return a request for comment. Federal Bureau of Prisons also did not return a request for comment but their website says the Oof rapper was “released” on November 21.
The rainbow-haired rapper was arrested along with five others, including his former manager Kifano “Shotti” Jordan, and charged with racketeering and illegal guns.
Prosecutors say the men sold drugs and shot people as members of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods of Brooklyn and Manhattan.
But Hernandez also had a public falling out with his alleged fellow gangbangers at the time of his arrest, resulting in his firing Jordan and other members of his rapper posse.
The feds told a judge on Monday that they heard unidentified members of the alleged conspiracy on court-ordered wire taps saying they wanted to “super violate” Hernandez for firing them.
In gangland, to “violate” someone means to hurt them, including by shooting, prosecutors have said.
Being removed from federal custody is unusual — even when prisoners are the targets of threats.
Past prisoners who have been removed from Bureau of Prisons custody include Reza Zarrab, who was abruptly “released” from Manhattan federal prison and placed in FBI custody after agreeing to co-operate with the feds in a high-profile money laundering case.
Mr Lazzaro did not respond to a request for comment about whether Hernandez has cut any deals to sing to the feds about his pals’ allegedly gang activity.
Prior to being removed from Federal Bureau of Prisons custody, the Brooklyn resident was the subject of a “separation order” while in prison, his lawyer said.
Such orders are put in place to keep certain prisoners apart from one another — whether because of safety concerns or fears that they will conspire in prison, said Larry Levine, director and founder of Wall Street Prison Consultants.
But they are not foolproof.
“I had a separation order and we’d go down to religious services and slip through he cracks,” he said about his time in a Los Angeles federal prison.
This story first appeared on the New York Post and has been republished here with permission.Newer articles