Tekashi 6ix9ine Arrested on Firearms and Racketeering Charges

By Jem Aswad

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Troubled rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine, already in legal trouble on multiple fronts, was arrested in New York Sunday night on federal racketeering and firearms charges, a rep for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed to Variety. The rapper, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, and three others — his former manager Shottie (Kifano Jordan) and associates Faheem Walter and Jensel Butler — are expected to be arraigned on the charges Monday afternoon.

The investigation was a joint effort between the ATF, New York City police and Homeland Security. The news was first reported by TMZ; a rep for the rapper did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment.

Hernandez said last week that he had fired his entire management team.

For all Tekashi’s recent success — the rapper has scored a number of hit singles, including his “Fefe” duet with Nicki Minaj, which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 — he has been plagued with multiple legal problems for the past several years.

On Nov. 8, a gunman fired multiple shots  at a house in Beverly Hills where the rapper and Kanye West were filming a video; there were no injuries and the investigation is ongoing.

He narrowly avoided prison time earlier this month when he was sentenced to four years’ probation in Manhattan court for violating the terms of a plea agreement stemming from his 2015 arrest for the use of a child in a sexual performance; the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office had argued for him to spend one to three years in state prison and register as a sex offender. That case dates back to 2015, when Hernandez admitted to using a 13-year-old child in a sexual performance as part of a plea deal. The case would have been closed if he’d remained on good behavior for two years, but he was arrested twice this year: Once in May for allegedly attacking a 16-year-old in Texas, and later that month in Brooklyn for allegedly driving with an expired license and assaulting a police officer.

Hernandez’s attorney, Lance Lazzaro, told TMZ he doesn’t believe Thursday night’s incident affects the rapper’s parole, but the site says Manhattan officials are looking into the matter. Lazzaro did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.

In a separate incident that remains unclear, in July he was kidnapped, pistol-whipped and robbed of jewelry in his Brooklyn home. He claimed two men got out, forced him into their car, and made him call another man to bring him some personal property, which he did. The rapper said the men took an undisclosed amount of jewelry and left. He “became uncooperative” after filing the report, police reps said, and was then admitted into the hospital.