The U.S. government is opposing the release of rapper Casanova, before his racketeering trial.
The rapper turned himself in on December 4th, after he was charged in a RICO case the government filed against The United Gorilla Stone Nation.
Casanova is being held in the Westchester County Jail on two counts: intentionally manufacturing, distributing, and dispensing crack cocaine, cocaine, and marijuana. The Brooklyn rapper, born Caswell Senior, is also charged with possessing a firearm and furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
He offered up five properties worth over $1,200,000 million dollars, in addition to 13 cosigners, who put up their salaries which totaled over $1,200,000.
However, prosecutors are attempting to keep Casanova locked down according to documents obtained by AllHipHop. According to the Feds, Casanova is just too dangerous to be released from prison. And, the Feds scoffed at Casanova’s claims in a since-deleted Instagram post that they were targeting him over his successful rap career and his lyrics.
As proof, they had to look no further than Casanova’s own Instagram account.
Prosecutors pointed to a post on Casanova’s social media account just days before he was detained, in which he promoted his song “Gripped Up” with a picture of an assault rifle. The Feds also presented new pictures from Casanova’s iCloud and Instagram accounts, showcasing a variety of handguns along with a rifle nestled on a couch.
“While it is incredibly disturbing that the defendant used his now-deleted Instagram profile and public platform to shamelessly promote a violent street gang, his participation in the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation enterprise ran much deeper than that. Right up until his arrest, the defendant was in the thick of Gorilla’s Stone’s dangerous and illicit activity.”
– Acting United States Attorney, Audrey Strauss
To make matters worse, the Feds revealed they installed a listening device at the Auburn Correctional Facility to eavesdrop on visits between The United Gorilla Stone’s leader Dwight Reid aka “Dick Wolf,” and other members of the gang.
During one visit, a co-defendant named Walter “Shells” Luster told Reid a story about how Casanova accidentally shot a gun during a poker game in New York. Luster continued to blab and revealed Casanova was always carrying a gun while he was in the streets.
They also recorded Casanova’s conversations during numerous prison calls with the gang’s leader.
The Feds say Casanova went out of his way to support Reid and The Gorilla Stone Nation by kicking back earnings from his rap career, in addition to organizing and managing gang meetings as a “steward” as a “leader of the violent organization.”
Prosecutors also introduced two posts featuring Casanova blatantly dealing drugs, because he was surrounded by bags of “2 X” branded marijuana, both of which were posted to his Instagram account.
Investigators say Casanova used Gorilla Stone members to sell his narcotics and openly told other gang members, based on text messages recovered from his iCloud, that his “2x” marijuana was going for “1,700 a qt.” The drugs were allegedly trafficked by two of the more violent members of The United Gorilla Stone gang, who paid the rapper via CashApp.
Acting United States Attorney Audrey Strauss pointed out Casanova’s previous criminal convictions in her argument to keep him incarcerated. The rapper has six in total – three felony and three misdemeanors, for three gunpoint robberies he participated in.
Finally, prosecutors scoffed at Casanova’s $2.5 million bail package, and his offer to submit to home detention and electronic monitoring, which “do nothing to assure the safety of the community.”
The Feds labeled Casanova a flight risk due to his delay in surrendering after the RICO charges against the gang were unveiled on December 1st, and because he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and up to life, should he be convicted of all of the crimes he is charged with.
“Indeed, in the minutes and hours after the defendant realized law enforcement was looking for him, law enforcement stopped received geolocation data for the defendant’s cell phone, which is consistent with the cellphone being dropped,” Acting United States Attorney, Audrey Strauss told The Honorable Philip M. Halpern. “And he did not self surrender right away in Atlanta, where he was the day his arrest warrant was unsealed. It was only after several rounds of negotiations with counsel—and after the defendant seemingly dropped his cellphone and drove to New York from Atlanta—that the defendant surrendered two days later…while, in the end, the wisdom of counsel prevailed on him, the most telling insight into this defendant comes from his first reaction the day his arrest warrant was unsealed: he ran.”
Casanova is one of 18 defendants charged in the RICO case against the United Gorilla Stone Nation. The gang is accused of numerous gang-related crimes including racketeering, drugs, firearms, murder, fraud and murder.