Brooklyn rapper Casanova pleads guilty to drug and racketeering charges

Brooklyn rapper Casanova has pleaded guilty in a federal racketeering case, Rolling Stone reports. The artist, real name Caswell Senior, admitted to one count of “conspiring to conduct and participate in the conduct of the affairs of a criminal enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity” and another count of “conspiring to distribute over 100 kilograms of marijuana.” He is facing a maximum prison sentence of 60 years for the two charges, with a mandatory minimum sentence of five years. Sentencing is scheduled to take place on December 6.

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York has said that Casanoba had a “leadership role” in the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation Bloods Gang. He admitted to participation in marijuana trafficking and a 2018 robbery as well as shooting at someone “with whom he was having a gambling dispute” at a Florida party in July 2020. Casanova’s lawyer, James Kousouros, told reporters that previous charges of attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon were dismissed prior to the trial.

“Mr. Senior accepted responsibility for his conduct which was possession with intent to sell marijuana and the robbery of a young lady in a diner who was filming him with her phone,” Kousouros said in a statement Pitchfork. “We hope that our presentation to the court in advance of sentencing will illuminate the facts and circumstances surrounding this case and present Mr. Senior for the person that he really is.”

“Like twelve of his co-defendants, Caswell Senior, an accomplished recording artist and performer, now stands convicted of playing a leadership role in Gorilla Stone, a particularly violent Bloods gang that operates throughout New York and across the country,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “In addition to his supervisory role, Senior was an active, hands-on participant in the gang’s senseless violence, including a shooting in Miami and contributing to a robbery at a Manhattan diner.”

In 2019 Casanova released his debut album, Behind These Scars, via Roc Nation. He was arrested in December 2020 after surrendering to federal authorities.