Posted on April 12, 2022

Atlanta Rapper Accused of Trafficking Guns to Crime Plagued Philadelphia in Straw Purchasing Scheme

Danielle Wallace, Fox News, April 11, 2022

An Atlanta rapper is accused of running a straw purchasing scheme in which federal prosecutors say he and at least ten other defendants helped traffic nearly 300 guns from Georgia to Pennsylvania.

Fredrick Norman —known as “Slowkey Fred”— is accused of running the ring that’s purchased hundreds of firearms from federally licensed firearm dealers across Georgia since 2020. The group then conspired to sell them without a license and transport them across state lines to Philadelphia, where federal authorities say the guns started showing up at crime scenes or in the possession of convicted felons.

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Philadelphia remains plagued by gun violence, with data from the Philadelphia Police Department showing there have been at least 127 homicides in what was once coined the City of Brotherly Love, outpacing an already historic 2021, according to Fox 29 Philadelphia. A poll released last week by the Pew Research Center showed that residents of Philadelphia are the most pessimistic they’ve been in over a decade, with gun violence being the primary reason cited by the 63% of residents who said they believe the city is on the wrong track.

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