45°
A federal judge sentenced the platinum-selling rapper – whose real name is William Junior Maxwell II – to six years in federal prison on May 24 for his role in a drug-trafficking ring that flooded part of New Jersey and Long Island with cocaine, heroin, fentanyl and crack.
Maxwell had been charged with conspiring to transport more than 100 kilos of the drugs there from the West Coast.
Rather than risk the potential consequences of a trial, he took a deal from the government, pleading guilty in U.S. Eastern District Court on Long Island last August to conspiring to possess and distribute 500 grams of cocaine.
Although the agreement required a five-year mandatory minimum under federal sentencing guidelines, prosecutors asked U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert on Wednesday to go seven to nine.
Seybert went with six -- all of which Maxwell must serve because there's no parole in the federal prison system.
The government might have kept its ask at five years if Maxwell had agreed to help bag others, as Daily Voice originally reported. But that didn’t happen.
SEE: NJ Rapper Fetty Wap Cops To Drug Conspiracy In Exchange For 5-Year Minimum In Federal Prison
Defense attorney Elizabeth Macedonio emphasized, in fact, that the deal didn’t include Maxwell agreeing to testify against anyone else.
“I want that to be very, very clear,” Macedonio told reporters after the plea hearing.
It turns out he didn’t have to.
Arrested with Maxwell in 2021 were Anthony Cyntje, a 25-year-old corrections officer from Passaic; Anthony Leonardi, 49, and Kavaughn L. “KV” Wiggins, 28, both of Coram, NY; Robert Leonardi, 28, of Levittown, PA, and Brian Sullivan, 27, of Lake Grove, NY.
All five, like Maxwell, took plea deals from prosecutors.
Cyntje, like Maxwell, was sentenced to a mandatory six years. The rest are still awaiting sentencing.
Maxwell had originally been taken into custody at Citifield in August 2021. Federal authorities at the time called him a "kilogram-level redistributor for the trafficking organization.”
Federal complaints say warranted searches turned up 35 pounds of cocaine and nearly 4½ pounds of heroin, as well as fentanyl, $1.5 million in drug cash and several weapons -- among them, two 9mm handguns, a rifle, a .45 caliber pistol, a .40 caliber pistol, and ammunition.
The drugs were brought to Suffolk County, Long Island, via the U.S. mail or in vehicles with hidden compartments, then parceled out to distributors who sold them to street dealers, prosecutors said.
A $500,000 bond package had Maxwell putting up his Georgia home and wearing an ankle monitor while being allowed to tour with permission from the U.S. Attorney's Office on Long Island.
He was not to violate any federal, state or local law, or in any way possess “a firearm, destructive device, or other weapon.”
It didn't last.
Maxwell was jailed again last August after authorities said he flashed a gun and threatened to kill a “rat” during a Facetime call.
SEE: Fetty Wap Busted By Feds For Making Death Threat, Flashing Gun On Facetime While Free On Bond
Federal agents said Maxwell twice tells the victim on the recorded call: "Imma kill you and everybody you with.”
He's also seen holding a gun and pointing it at that person, according to a complaint filed in the U.S. Eastern District of New York in Central Islip, LI.
In addition to the prison term, the judge sentenced Maxwell on Wednesday to five years of supervised release.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Egg Harbor Township and receive free news updates.
