A federal judge has ruled that prosecutors can use YouTube music videos made by Michael (Rab) Garrett and Paul Rivera — leaders of a Brooklyn drug gang called Together Forever Mafia — against them at their upcoming racketeering trial, according to the New York Daily News.
“The court finds that excerpts of videos depicting the defendants with firearms, cash and drugs are highly probative to the weapons-related charges, narcotics trafficking and money-laundering charges,” Judge Kiyo Matsumoto says. “The defendants may offer evidence at trial that the weapons, cash and drugs depicted are ‘props,’ but it is up to the jury to weigh this evidence and decide what is depicted.”
Arguing their defense, Garrett and Rivera’s lawyers say that the videos are purely “fictionalized dramatizations, boasting and part of the gangsta rap genre,” according to the publication.
Garrett and Rivera allegedly ran Together Forever Mafia from a tattoo parlor located at 361 Sutter Ave. in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
AD LOADING...
They are reportedly being charged with trafficking crack and marijuana, as well as sex trafficking of women and witness tampering. Their trial is scheduled to being next week in Brooklyn Federal Court.
