Fetty Wap arrested and charged with federal drug trafficking ahead of Rolling Loud set
The "Trap Queen" rapper has been accused of being part of a "bicoastal opioid drug ring"
Rapper Fetty Wap—still best known for his platinum single “Trap Queen,” and a subsequent debut album that landed at No. 1 on the Billboard charts back in 2016—was arrested this weekend on federal drug charges, with the FBI alleging that he’s part of a “bicoastal opioid drug ring.”
This is per Deadline, which reports that the musician was arrested at New York’s CitiField, where he was set to perform as part of the Rolling Loud Festival this weekend. Instead, he’s now in custody, after standing before a Long Island judge on charges of being what the government is calling a “kilogram-level dealer” of opioids.
News of the arrest comes just a week after the release of The Butterfly Effect, the rapper’s second studio album—inspired largely by the death of his young daughter Lauren earlier this year. In the period between the two releases, Fetty Wap has appeared mostly on mixtapes and via the occasional guest verse; he’s also worked occasionally as an actor, appearing on Empire and in the 2018 film Blood Brother, along with a number of music video performances.
Fetty Wap, who’s currently 30, and whose birth name is Willie Junior Maxwell II, was one of several people who are charged with trafficking in relation to the case, which alleges that they worked to move heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, and more from the West Coast for distribution in Long Island. FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael Driscoll issued a statement after the arrest, noting that, “The fact that we arrested a chart-topping rap artist and a corrections officer as part of the conspiracy illustrates just how vile the drug trade has become.”
Originally, Maxwell’s name was blacked out on the indictment, but it was unsealed this weekend, listing him as one of five defendants in the case. Fetty Wap has pled not guilty on the charges.