Tekashi 6ix9ine was jailed Tuesday after his arrest for allegedly violating the terms of his supervised release.
Upon returning to Manhattan federal court — where he infamously sang like a canary against members of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods gang five years ago — the 28-year-old Bushwick rapper implored a judge not to throw him back behind bars, saying his punishment thus far has “been bad, bro.”
6ix9ine, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, pleaded not guilty to violating the terms of his release between Sept. 7 and Oct. 8 by leaving Florida without permission to travel to Las Vegas, failing to comply with mandatory drug testing, and testing positive for methamphetamine.
He was due to appear in court early Tuesday but didn’t show, prompting Manhattan Federal Judge Paul Engelmayer to sign a warrant for his arrest.
Now sporting a bleached blond hairdo, the heavily tattooed Hernandez addressed the court after his attorney and Engelmayer urged him not to.
“You’re my judge. I don’t wanna be in front of you. I know how strict you are,” the “GUMMO” rapper said, apologizing for being a no-show earlier in the day. “I know you’re very — a smart person — so I can’t stay here and lie to you.”
Hernandez was arrested in 2018 on murder conspiracy and racketeering charges related to his involvement with the Brooklyn set of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods, carrying a potential decades-long sentence. He wound up pleading guilty to nine gang, gun and drug charges the following year and received a two-year prison term after the feds cited his critical help in securing the convictions of two gang leaders.
Engelmayer, who at the time of sentencing commended Hernandez’s cooperation while condemning him for using the gang as his own “personal hit squad,” ordered the rapper’s early release in 2020 due to the risks he faced from COVID-19.
Telling Engelmayer that the years since his arrest had “been bad, bro,” Hernandez said, “You already gave me a long life of punishment.”
Hernandez said, barring “technically” breaking the rules, he’d been “squeaky clean” since his release and was in good standing with various prosecutors and his probation officers. He said that, though he’d made mistakes, “I’m not a piece of, uh, I’m not a bad person.”
The rapper said things had been going well until federal officers in Florida took over supervising him from authorities in New York, and that after a previous drug test falsely stated he’d smoked marijuana, he stopped attending the appointments, describing it as a misunderstanding.
“I’m coming down to my last six months,” Hernandez said. “Why would I mess up now?”
Engelmayer, who seemed sympathetic to Hernandez, nevertheless said the recording artist appeared to be “cutting corners” and remanded him to custody until his next court hearing on Nov. 12.
Earlier in the hearing, Engelmayer said he was troubled by several incidents, including Hernandez’s October 2023 arrest in the Dominican Republic for an alleged physical altercation, a January arrest there for domestic violence accusations, and leaving the Caribbean country without permission.
Within the U.S., the judge said Hernandez had gotten a speeding ticket for going 198 mph in a 50-mph zone in an unregistered vehicle and had attempted in vain to travel to Germany and Russia, “the latter of which sounds like a particularly ill-advised idea.”
Hernandez’s attorney, Lance Lazzaro, argued that the positive drug tests stemmed from a prescription his client had for Adderall.
Lazzaro told the judge the rapper had traveled to Vegas “to try and survive” by performing at the T-Mobile Arena.
“To try and survive?” Engelmayer responded, sounding incredulous.
“To make money,” Lazzaro clarified.
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