Casanova denied bond as authorities paint a decorating criminal picture.
The Brooklyn rapper had been denied bail on Thursday after a judge ruled that he was a danger to the community if he is released on bail. The hearing was called at the Manhattan Federal Court, and the judge Philip Halper said the rapper’s criminal history, as well as the evidence collected by federal authorities against him as a member of the Gorilla Stone Bloods gang, makes it too risky that he should be granted bail.
Casanova, whose real name is Caswell Senior, had offered to put up a $2.5 million bail, which included cash and property securities that belonged to himself as well as close family and friends who vouched for his innocence.
The judge said, “the fact that violence seems to be perpetuated by associates of Mr. Senior…it’s plausible to interpret as evidence …Mr. Senior doesn’t have to get his hands dirty,” the judge said. It seems that the judge is saying that the rapper’s influence on his associates means that if granted bail, he is likely to be the mastermind behind further offenses committed by his associates.
According to the NY Daily News, Assistant U.S Attorney David Felton said, “Casanova is a full-fledged, committed leader of the gang,” pointing to “rampant evidence of guns, drugs and violence centrally involving this defendant.”
Casanova’s Attorney James Kousouros unsuccessfully argued that the government’s case boiled down to comments by other accused gangsters about Casanova, as well as photos of him with large amounts of weed.
The rapper who was arrested in December is facing 15 years in prison at minimum for charges of carrying firearms and dealing drugs in connection with the Gorilla Stone Bloods gang. Prosecutors say he was a top man in the function of Gorilla Stone, which was founded by the incarcerated Dwight ‘Dick Wolf’ Reid.
