Up until the tour bus shooting, I considered the grievance between Lil’ Wayne and Birdman to be bad business. It wasn’t the obligatory “I screwed your girl. You said I couldn’t rap. You not as a hard as you claim.” allegations that start infamous rap beefs. It appeared to be the standard “we have contracts and you aren’t fulfilling your obligations” complaints that many proprietors of business endure. Like many, the legal system was set to handle the complaint. However , the 17-page 30 –count indictment alleges otherwise. According to the indictment, Jimmy Carlton Winfrey is facing a laundry lists of charges including 3 counts of R.I.C.O., multiple counts of Violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act & Aggravated Assault among other charges.
The Indictment alleges that Wayne’s Tour Bus shooting wasn’t random. Allegedly Birdman and Young Thug were involved to some extent. The indictment doesn’t explicitly state that the aforementioned gave the orders for Winfrey to carry out, but several notations are made alleging that Winfrey placed calls to phones owned by Birdman and Young Thug leading up to and after the shooting. According to the document, Winfrey left the Vault in a 2015 White Camero and did in fact show up at the Compound (where Wayne had an performance) on April 26, 2015. Atlanta Police saw the assault rifle and in effort to prevent incident, APD escorted Wayne and his entourage away from the Compound. Winfrey fled the scene after APD attempted to detain him. Police detail escorted Wayne’s two tour buses to I-285 where the Lieutenant observed a white Chevrolet Camaro traveling at a high rate of speed in the direction of the tour buses. It would be after the discontinuation of the APD’s escort, said Camaro would pull beside the buses and pump them full of bullets. When the tour buses would finally meet APD at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, it is alleged that Winfrey still on the phone owned by Birdman drove to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Winfrey would later hide the Camaro at a relative’s house only for it to be discovered later by police. The indictment mentions the “Halftime” video and Young Thug’s statement of pulling up to “Lil Whodi” and “popping him in the noggin”.
Why is this of importance? According to the indictment, Wayne was referenced as “Lil Whodi” early on in his career. Also if you know New Orleans’ culture, “whodi” is a term used in reference to people. By default, the reference in Young Thug’s bars leads one to believe he was referring to Wayne as it was once a nickname of some sorts for Wayne and also refers to Wayne’s origin. Who is Winfrey? Apparently he is a member of the YSL sector of Bloods in the Atlanta area. He also appears in the “halftime” video.
Peep the indictment.
Indictment of Jimmy Winfrey
Peep the halftime video which is included in the indictment.
This is when bad business leads to bad blood (no pun intended). I’m now listening to that R.I.C.O. track with a different perspective.
-Niko Rose
A special thanks to my source that gave me a copy of the Bill of Indictment early this morning.