Kay Flock Rico charges explored as rapper to be sentenced in July

Rapper Kay Flock has recently been found guilty in the RICO case against him and the group he is allegedly a part of, Sev Side. Inner City Press, which has been covering the court proceedings for the past few weeks, reported that the jury returned "mostly—but not all—guilty verdicts" on Thursday, March 20.

The New York rapper was found guilty of multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit racketeering, attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering. He was also charged with the use of a firearm for attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon.

However, he was acquitted of the charge of murder in aid of racketeering in relation to a 2021 shooting. He was already in custody for his alleged involvement in the shooting, when he was charged with additional offenses. According to his attorney, the shooting was done in self-defence.

As per the Department of Justice website, in a statement, the acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky of the Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney's Office stated:

“Kevin Perez, a/k/a “Kay Flock,” was the leader of a neighborhood street gang known as Sev Side / DOA, and with that gang, he committed a series of gang-motivated shootings.”

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Kay Flock has been found guilty on multiple charges

Bronx rapper Kay Flock is included in a federal indictment alleging that he is a gang member of the Sev Side gang and has committed murder and racketeering. Flock faces the potential death penalty or a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of release.

Kay Flock is currently being moved to a federal institution and is awaiting his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on the federal charges since the FBI has taken up the case.

The verdict concludes a trial with several collaborating witnesses that started on March 10. According to a state witness who was once an acquaintance of Kay Flock, the rapper shot a rival gang member to take revenge for his friend's shooting.

However, according to the witness's sister's testimony, that was not true. The legal team for the New York rapper said that the lawsuit was an attack on drill rap and that Flock's alleged 2021 murder was actually committed in self-defence.

Kay Flock was first charged in a multi-person federal RICO indictment in February 2023, while he was already in prison for the death of Hwascar Hernandez in 2021.

According to AllHipHop’s February 19 report, government lawyers have filed court documents requesting that his song lyrics and music videos be used as evidence in his impending trial. Prosecutors claim that the lyrics of Kay Flock's "Who Really Bugging" video directly allude to a shooting, and the video is apparently used as evidence.

As per the federal authorities, the lyrics are a confession to gang participation and suspected murder. Stating the same, Matthew Podolsky further explained:

"Perez, a drill rapper, instilled fear across the community with his violent actions, and then threatened rivals, bragged about shootings, and taunted victims in his rap lyrics. But as a unanimous jury has now found, Perez can no longer hide behind his music, and instead will be held to account for his violent crimes."

He added:

“Thanks to the hard work of the career prosecutors of this Office and our law enforcement partners, the cycle of violence that Perez engaged in is over..."

Podolsky concluded:

“Committing a shooting makes a subsequent rap song about that very shooting more ‘authentic,’ and thereby raises the status of the rapper [...] The boasting feeds a cycle of back-and-forth violence.”

According to Kay Flock's team, it is wrong and disproportionately affects Black and Latino musicians especially when rap lyrics are used against someone. They have also stated that his songs are not autobiographical and that drill music does not always represent reality.

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Inner City Press reports that the sentence is set for July 16. Meanwhile, as of now, the rapper's representatives have not said anything.