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Brooklyn Rapper Ra Diggs Convicted Of Murders He Rapped About
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jun 27, 2014
Modified Jun 27, 2014
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jun 27, 2014
Modified Jun 27, 2014
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Ronald "Ra Diggs" Herron, a self-styled rapper and Bloods gang leader at the Gowanus Houses, was convicted of three gang-related murders yesterday, with prosecutors going so far as to show jurors his music videos and rap lyrics as evidence.
Herron, 32, was convicted of the murders of Frederick Brooks, Richard Russo and Victor Zapata; he was also convicted of racketeering charges. Herron had been put on trial for Brooks's drug-related murder in 2002, but was acquitted; he was indicted again in 2012 after he composed a series of Tweets bragging that he had someone "shot from a hospital bed" and "beat a body."
In addition to Herron's perhaps unwise social media activity, the Brooklynite, who previously served time for a drug bust, produced a number of violent rap songs and amateur music videos that discussed murder. Though the defense argued Herron's music did not reflect his real life, prosecutors showed jurors a number of his videos, and put a linguistics expert on the stand to analyze his lyrics.
Herron will be sentenced on October 1st.
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