Tekashi 6ix9ine sentenced to three months in prison for violating his parole in a gang case

NEW YORK. Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine was sentenced on Friday to three more months in prison for violating the terms of his supervised release in a New York gang case, for assaulting a man and possessing drugs.

The 29-year-old Brooklyn artist, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, admitted the violations during a hearing in a Manhattan federal court, where Judge Paul Engelmayer expressed his frustration with Hernandez’s constant problems. The rapper received a 45-day sentence at the end of last year for violating the terms of his supervised release.

“From time to time, his actions suggest that he believes the ordinary rules don’t apply to him,” said the judge, who added that another prison sentence was needed to send a message to Hernandez. Hernandez, who rose to fame with the release of his song “Gummo” in 2017, gave a long speech to the court, describing several episodes in which he and his family members were harassed and threatened because of his cooperation with the authorities in the gang case.

“Some strangers left a coffin in front of my house with an animal inside to send me a message,” he said. “Three masked armed men pointed a gun at my mother.”

Hernández pleaded guilty in 2018 to his involvement in a violent New York gang, the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods. He received a light sentence of two years in prison in 2019, followed by five years of supervised release for his cooperation in the organized crime case against gang members. He was even released from federal prison several months early, during the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The sentence on Friday related to the finding of small amounts of cocaine and ecstasy at the rapper’s Miami home during a police raid in March, and to the punch he gave a man who made fun of him at a Florida mall in August for his cooperation against gang members. His lawyer had requested six months of house arrest for these violations.