Fulton County District Legal professional Fani Willis has constructed a status as a tough-on-crime prosecutor wanting to fill Atlanta prisons via sweeping indictments. However YSL Mondo, who co-founded the Younger Stoner Life music crew with Younger Thug within the early 2010s, tells Rolling Stone that the Fani Willis he sees on TV isn’t the identical lady who served as his protection legal professional in 2019 throughout an aggravated assault case.
“This isn’t her character, this isn’t who she is,” he says throughout a cellphone name. “I accomplished had auntie-to-nephew, mother-to-son sort of talks along with her. I do know this not her character. That is what made me begin taking a look at [the YSL case] like I do know it’s greater than simply her. It’s politics behind this shit. It’s different those who’s behind her pulling strings.”
Willis — who’s at the moment prosecuting Younger Thug and 13 different defendants in a RICO case alleging that YSL is a prison gang, which he has denied — labored as a prosecutor within the Fulton County DA’s workplace for 16 years, however she briefly left the workplace in 2018 to ascertain her personal personal follow, The Regulation Workplaces of Fani T. Willis, LLC. Mondo, a West Atlanta rapper who dropped his debut album 1 Of Them Ones on January 17, says he hadn’t beforehand recognized of Willis or her status as a prosecutor earlier than his cousin recommended her as a protection legal professional. “I by no means heard of this woman earlier than, I by no means heard no instances she fought or nothing. I simply went off of the power of my cousin saying that she was lawyer, she’s woman and he or she’s her good friend. I went off of that, then I employed her.”
He posted a clip of his case’s 2019 court docket proceedings on Instagram. Within the video, which has since been deleted, the 2 stand earlier than a choose, and Willis pats him on the shoulder whereas he hugs his little one, who was introduced as much as the protection’s desk. “It actually wasn’t nothing that I used to be attempting to maintain a secret ’trigger the video is on my web page,” he says. “That video proper there went viral. I used to be taking pictures that on the market as a result of I do know it’s going to finish up arising,” Mondo says. Mondo says he posted the video to proactively stop anybody from considering “bizarre shit” about his interactions with Willis. There’s been immense controversy surrounding December’s plea agreements within the YSL indictment, and Mondo indicated that he doesn’t need his identify wherever close to the hypothesis.
Fani Willis, reached through electronic mail, appeared to verify that she represented YSL Mondo, although she used his authorities identify (which he requested that we not print) and famous, “I have no idea him by the identify you name him.”
“All conversations with him are legal professional/shopper protected, and previous confirming I represented him could be inappropriate,” Willis wrote. “Oh, I feel I can say I preferred him. I hope he’s nicely.”
She added, “Once I represented [him], he obtained 110% effort from me. I advocated for him with zeal. I have a tendency to satisfy my purchasers the place they’re. I hope you perceive what which means. I wish to see him do wonderful issues along with his life, and I hope that’s the place he’s headed.”
Mondo says that Willis was a “nice legal professional” for him, getting his aggravated assault cost dropped to a lesser one and having him sentenced to “a program” in lieu of jail time. He says that even after his sentence, she labored to get him an early launch from this system as a result of COVID. And past her casework, he says that the 2 shared a “cool relationship,” along with her being conscious of his rap profession and even utilizing it in her protection. That’s why the YSL indictment is stunning to Mondo. “That’s not her character,” he contends. “She’s virtually like, probably not avenue, however she understands what goes on, bro. She understands life to a sure diploma. She ain’t attempting to take all these little Black dudes down. She ain’t that sort of lady, man. I’m telling you, she’s not.”
Mondo recollects that Willis’ closing recommendation to him offered a glimpse of the place her profession was headed.
“She was like, ‘don’t mess my identify up now. You understand I’m about to get able to run for this head DA. You fuck round and do one thing else, I’m going to sock it to your ass,’” he recollects of their dialog. (Willis advised us the feedback “sound like me, however I don’t recall the dialog verbatim.”) After his case was resolved, the 2 didn’t discuss, and he hadn’t stored up along with her till two years later, when he noticed her press convention saying her want to convict his buddies in YSL, together with Younger Thug. “Subsequent factor , I noticed her on TV doing this indictment, and I used to be so puzzled, like, ‘rattling, the place the hell this come from?’” he recollects.
Mondo says he met Thug via their mutual good friend Buck Buck, and so they co-created Younger Stoner Life solely as a music crew. In 2019, he had a public disagreement with Thug after Mondo’s Instagram feedback about founding YSL have been misconstrued, however he says the 2 have since mended their variations and that he’s been maintaining with Thug’s household because the indictment. “I’ve been speaking to Mama Thug, I’ve been speaking to his sisters,” he says, including that Thug is “staying sturdy” given his circumstances. “Thug is retaining spirit and retaining his head up, however sure stuff he’s simply disillusioned about,” he says, declining to get into specifics.
Younger Thug, actual identify Jeffery Williams, and 13 of his co-defendants are set to start trial someday within the subsequent six weeks after the in depth jury choice course of concludes.