Columbia rap artist, Boss G, was sentenced this afternoon to 17 years in prison for his role as lieutenant in a large cocaine operation.
Darnell Rodriguez Mealing, whose rap name is Boss G, pleaded guilty last fall to one count of distributing crack cocaine and one count of possession of a firearm in U.S. District Court. Today, prosecutors used Mealing’s role as a mid-level leader in the Folk Nation gang to convince a judge to give him more time in prison.
U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie decided Mealing deserved a harsher prison sentence because he led a lifestyle of violence, using guns and his status in the Folk Nation gang to carry out drug deals. She also considered an incident in which Mealing’s involvement in Folk Nation led to a shootout with another gang in a nightclub, where a bystander was shot.
“You were able to determine when they fought and when they didn’t fight,” Currie said.
Mealing’s case was part of a widespread operation between 2006 and 2009 in which federal agents used wiretaps to track drug dealers’ phone calls. Mealing worked for Pearish Pretty, a high-level cocaine dealer who also supported Mealing’s rap career by paying for things such as time in recording to studios and new clothes to wear onstage.
Pretty, who already is in federal prison for his role in the drug operation, testified in Mealing’s sentencing hearing. Pretty told the judge that he sold cocaine to Mealing, who would cook it into crack and then sell it in his Crane Forrest neighborhood in Northeast Richland.
Mealing oversaw 30 to 50 “soldiers” in the Folk Nation gang, Pretty said. He would use the gang members to pick up cocaine from Pretty and distribute it on the streets. He also used the alias “Dreke.”
Pretty also said he would call on Mealing and his Folk Nation soldiers when he needed protection.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Moore showed in court one of Mealing’s rap videos, “Trappin’ 2 Da Max,” to show the judge how Mealing’s music glorified his drug lifestyle.
As Boss G, Mealing was a well-known rap artist who was on the cusp of making it on the national scene. He has appeared in dozens of videos, including the popular “The South Carolina Rap,” produced by Dinobrite Productions.
