Prison possible as rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine pleads guilty to probation violations

MANHATTAN (CN) — Five years after the rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine was released from federal prison into supervised release on gang-related charges, the face-tattooed provocateur again entered guilty pleas before a New York judge Wednesday, admitting to possession of cocaine and ecstasy at his Miami home in violation of the terms of his probation.

In exchange for his guilty pleas on the two drug counts, prosecutors agreed to drop two other counts related to a gun and fentanyl that were also found on his property.

Retreating from his signature neon rainbow-colored hairdo, Tekashi wore his dark hair in straight long braids Wednesday. He wore a baggy black hoodie to court, and later sported a black neck gaiter that partially obscured some of the well-known tattoos on his face.

U.S. District Judge Engelmayer set a sentencing date for Sept. 25, to allow for the rapper to complete the remaining 40 hours of his 300 hours of court-ordered community service prior to returning to prison.

The 29-year-old Brooklyn native, whose real name is Daniel Hernández, was sentenced in December 2019 to two years in prison for his involvement with the Brooklyn set of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods gang whose members he finked on the witness stand during several days of testimony as a key government cooperator.

According to federal prosecutors, police raided the rapper’s Miami home this past March, after receiving a tip from a confidential source who claimed that the rapper-turned-cooperator was in possession of MDMA pills and a pistol.

When law enforcement searched the house, they reportedly found and seized three orange MDMA pills and a small bag of cocaine residue from the rapper’s bedroom, in violation of the terms of his supervised release.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Rebold said Wednesday that police found additional drugs and a pistol in a pool house on the property, but told the judge the prosecution is not pursuing violations of probation related to those items because another person resided in the pool house and DNA testing did not link Tekashi 6ix9ine to the gun.

Judge Engelmayer told Hernández on Wednesday that the probation department has recommended a sentence between three and nine months in prison for the violations of supervised release, but also stressed that judges are not bound by those guidelines and he could impose a sentence of up to five years to be followed by a lifetime term of supervised release.

Engelmayer concluded the hearing on Wednesday by cautioning the rapper to refrain from violating his probation before sentencing, forewarning “severe” consequences for any additional violations of supervised release.

Facing a possible 47-year sentence for his involvement with the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods, Tekashi, who was 22 years old at the time, flipped on his co-defendants quickly after his arrest and pleaded guilty in February 2019 to nine gang-related counts including racketeering, narcotics conspiracy and attempted murder.

He was moved from federal prison into supervised release in April 2020 due to his sensitivity to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is not first time Tekashi returned to the Manhattan federal courthouse for violations of the terms of his release.

Four and a half years into that supervised release in the Southern District of Florida in October 2024, he ended up back in prison for violating the terms of his probation just six months before the probation ended.

Federal prosecutors said Tekashi skirted probation restrictions by going to Las Vegas to perform a concert without approval; skipped or failed drug tests; and tested positive for methamphetamine.

In recent years following his release from prison, Tekashi’s style of music has been crossing over from his earlier. hyper-aggressive rap into the Spanish language market, reportedly signing a recording and performance deal last year with the regional Mexican label Kartel Music.

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