Rapper Gucci Mane was the target of Pooh Shiesty’s kidnapping and robbery plot, DOJ says

Rapper Gucci Mane was the victim of a kidnapping and robbery attempt by a rapper signed to Mane’s company earlier this year, the Department of Justice said in a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday.

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Lontrell Williams Jr., who goes by the stage name Pooh Shiesty, allegedly asked to meet Mane, whose legal name is Radric Davis, in Dallas on Jan. 10 to discuss his contract with Mane’s label 1017, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Williams is “aggrieved by the terms of his contract” and wants to be released, the complaint said. They met that afternoon in a music studio in an office building.

Williams was wearing an ankle monitor because he was under house arrest after being convicted of manufacturing firearms in Florida, the complaint said. While inside the studio, Williams is said to have found out on the phone that his case manager did not give him permission to leave and that he should return home immediately.

Mane asked to reschedule, but Williams reportedly asked to speak to him in an attached recording room. According to the complaint, Mane confessed and was in the room with Williams, Williams’ father and another musician.

An argument ensued inside the studio, and Williams told another artist to bring her bag, the complaint said.

“He pulled out what appeared to be a black AK-like handgun from his bag, pointed it at Mane, demanding that Mane sign papers to release him from his contract, officials said. Mane signed the papers while Williams’ father and another musician were standing by, according to the complaint.

Prosecutors say that after they left, six others in their armed group demanded “property” from other people in the room, referred to by their first names.

One person, identified as “MM,” stole a Rolex watch, a wallet, Apple Airpods and a Louis Vuitton bag containing other watches, the complaint said. “He was strangled from behind until he almost fainted,” the complaint said.

The victims were prevented from leaving as one of the men involved allegedly stopped them, according to the DOJ. The victims believed they were “going to be killed,” the complaint said.

Williams, his father and seven others left the vehicles later identified in the videos at a neighboring building, according to the complaint. One of the vehicles was a 2020 Dodge Charger Hellcat registered to his father and two rental cars that were rented to Williams’ father at the time.

Williams, his father and six others were arrested Wednesday in Dallas and Memphis, Tennessee, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the northern district of Texas. They are facing charges related to kidnapping and robbery at gunpoint.

Each person faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Ryan Raybould, the US attorney in the region, described them as “using violence and intimidation to achieve their business goals.”

Neither Mane nor Williams’ representatives immediately responded to a request for comment from NBC News on Thursday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the electronic monitoring device Williams was wearing during the alleged kidnapping and robbery put him at the scene of the crime at the time, along with surveillance footage. The accused’s social networks also revealed the allegedly stolen goods after the incident, the prosecutor’s office said.