Fetty Wap sentenced to 6 years in prison after admitting he conspired to deal cocaine

• Fetty Wap was sentenced to six years in prison after admitting he conspired to deal drugs.
• Prosecutors said the rapper was part of a drug ring that dealt heroin, fentanyl, and crack cocaine.

Rapper Fetty Wap has been sentenced to six years in prison in a federal drug trafficking case, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York said in a statement Wednesday.

Fetty Wap — whose real name is Willie Junior Maxwell II — pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Prosecutors accused Fetty Wap of being part of a drug ring that dealt heroin, fentanyl, and crack cocaine in New York and New Jersey.

Prosecutors alleged that Fetty Wap and his four co-defendants got the drugs narcotics on the West Coast and used the US Postal Service and drivers with hidden vehicle compartments to move them across the country to Long Island.

"The drugs were then distributed to dealers, who sold them on Long Island and in New Jersey," prosecutors said.

The other four defendants have also pleaded guilty and are still waiting to be sentenced.

During the investigation into the drug ring, prosecutors uncovered "approximately $1.5 million in cash, 16 kilograms of cocaine, 2 kilograms of heroin, numerous fentanyl pills, two 9mm handguns, a rifle, a .45 caliber pistol, a .40 caliber pistol, and ammunition," according to the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.

Prosecutors had argued that Fetty Wap should be given more than the minimum sentence of five years because as a famous musician, he didn't need to deal drugs to earn money to begin with, according to a sentencing memo in the case, Insider previously reported.

But the rapper's lawyers argued in the same sentencing memo that funds had dried up during the COVID-19 pandemic with fewer opportunities for Fetty Wap to perform, so he turned to dealing drugs to support family members who have become dependent on him. Fetty Wap's lawyers said the rapper has nine children from seven different women.

"Suddenly it felt like his life was going in reverse and he became ashamed when he began to struggle to keep up the lifestyle he had created for so many," Attorney Elizabeth Macedonio wrote, according to Insider.

Macedonio said Fetty Wap now understands that he "does not have to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders" and is not likely to deal drugs again, leading her to recommend a lower sentence, Insider reported.