10/13/2023
A federal crackdown on violent street gangs in Metro Detroit has led to criminal charges against two up-and-coming rappers and a tense debate over whether to release the men who have lucrative deals with music labels according to .
The court fights are chronicled in federal filings and documented in recordings of open court standoffs in recent weeks as local police and federal agents struggle to control crime in a metropolitan area that includes one of the nation’s most dangerous big cities. Prosecutors in recent weeks have fought with one magistrate judge who has a history of freeing popular rappers, including 42 Dugg and RealRichIzzo, an Inkster resident with a six-figure major label deal and a pseudonym that is a play on the name of Michigan State University men's basketball coach Tom Izzo.
The legal battles, including a fight over one rapper who prosecutors succeeded in keeping behind bars, coincide with an ongoing push by the U.S. Justice Department and Detroit Police Department to stem violent gun crime and the widespread use of devices that convert semi-automatic weapons into fully automatic, illegal machine guns. Prosecutors have a mixed record in recent weeks of keeping rappers accused of being members of the area Cashgang violent street gang in jail while awaiting trial in felony gun cases. RealRichIzzo, whose real name is Isaac Young, walked out of federal court in July despite prosecutors saying he illegally possessed a firearm, engaged in a shootout that left a long blood trail around a Wixom apartment building and was involved in a fight at Westland Shopping Center that ended with a pistol-whipping.
“You’ll see the victim’s face opens up and blood starts dripping all over the floor,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney David Cowen, narrating mall surveillance video during a court hearing last month.