Brooklyn rapper Casanova has pleaded guilty in a federal racketeering case, in which the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York claims the rapper had a “leadership role” in the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation Bloods Gang. The rapper, whose real name is Caswell Senior, pleaded guilty 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.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s statement today, Senior admitted with his guilty plea to shooting at someone “with whom he was having a gambling dispute” at a Florida party in July 2020. He also admitted to participation in marijuana trafficking and a 2018 robbery.
The maximum prison sentence of the two counts is 60 years, with a mandatory minimum of five years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled to take place on December 6. According to Casanova’s lawyer James Kousouros, the previous charges of attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon were dismissed.
“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 wrote to 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.”
Pitchfork has reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for comment.
