Rapper Fetty Wap arrested, charged with trafficking over 220 pounds of heroin, fentanyl, other drugs

Rapper Fetty Wap was charged on Friday for his involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle large amounts of heroin, fentanyl and other drugs into the New York City region.

The rapper, whose real name is Willie Maxwell, was arrested Thursday at Citi Field, where the three-day Rolling Loud hip-hop music festival is taking place. An indictment unsealed on Friday named Maxwell and five other defendants, including a New Jersey corrections officer.

“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,” Michael J. Driscoll, a top official with the FBI’s New York office, said in a statement.

The indictment charges Maxwell and his co-defendants with conspiracy to possess and distribute more than 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine between June 2019 and June 2020. The scheme involved using the U.S. Postal Service and cars with hidden compartments to move the narcotics from the West Coast to Long Island, where they were stored for distribution to dealers in Long Island and New Jersey, authorities said.

Maxwell, 30, rose to fame after his debut single “Trap Queen” reached No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in May 2015. He has had other run-ins with the law, including a 2019 arrest in Las Vegas for allegedly assaulting three employees at a hotel-casino. He was also arrested in November 2017 and charged with DUI after police say he was drag racing on a New York City highway.