Rapper Fetty Wap Arrested In Queens On Federal Drug Charges

QUEENS, NY — Rapper Fetty Wap is facing federal drug charges in connection to a major drug trafficking ring that allegedly dealt narcotics throughout the New York metro area, the U.S. Department of Justice announced. He was arrested by the FBI in Queens on Thursday.

From June 2019 through June 2020, a group of six people — including Fetty Wap and a New Jersey corrections officer— allegedly distributed more than 100 kilograms of cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl across New Jersey and Long Island. The group used the United States Postal Service and drivers to get the drugs from the West Coast to a storage place in Suffolk County, records show.

Fetty Wap, née Willie Junior Maxwell II, reportedly operated as a dealer for the trafficking organization, finding people who would buy kilograms of the drugs, according to the indictment.

"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," said FBI assistant director-in-charge, Michael Driscoll, in a news statement.

He added that this "pipeline of drugs" contributed "to the addiction and overdose epidemic we have seen time and time again tear people's lives apart."

After officials were granted search warrants in connection to this case, they found about $1.5 million in cash, 16 kilograms of cocaine, 2 kilograms of heroin, numerous fentanyl pills, and a handful of weapons and ammunition, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Five of the group members named in the indictment are also being charged with using firearms in connection with the drug trafficking ring; it is not immediately clear which five people are facing those charges.

Fetty Wap, who was arrested during the Rolling Loud music festival at Citi Field, is the last of the group members to be arrested, records show. He is expected to be in federal court in Long Island on Friday to answer to the charges.

This is not Fetty Wap's first encounter with the law. In 2017 he was caught drag racing in Brooklyn with an expired drivers license, and charged with a DUI. Two years later he reportedly assaulted a trio of hotel employees, and was arrested on three counts of battery.

The rapper most recently made headlines under devastating personal circumstances, when his 4-year-old daughter died over the summer.

Fetty Wap, 30, is best known for his debut single, "Trap Queen," which was released in 2014 and reached number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart the following year.