Rap videos used in case against accused head of 4-Nation, who says he's like mobster Gotti
The U.S. Attorney's Office put the Erie gang 4-Nation in the same category as the Mafia when the office in May charged 22 of the accused gang members with violating the federal RICO Act, aimed at dismantling organized crime.
The accused leader of the gang made a similar comparison years earlier.
"In the Hood, yeah, they love me like I'm John Gotti," Davante Q. Jones, known as Smoov, says in a music video posted on YouTube in 2020.
The Hood refers to the Erie neighborhood that includes what the U.S. Attorney's Office said is 4-Nation's home territory around East 24th and Wallace streets.
John Gotti, the infamous "Teflon Don" and Gambino crime boss in New York City, died of cancer in 2002 in federal prison. He was serving a life sentence for racketeering and murder.
The U.S. Attorney's Office considers Jones' comment about Gotti more than street-level braggadocio.
The office is treating the comment — and other comments made on other music videos ― as evidence against Jones as he and his accused cohorts face trial in the largest-ever criminal case prosecuted in U.S. District Court in Erie.
The videos "routinely refer to drug dealing, gang violence, witness intimidation, gang members and defending gang territory," the prosecutor on the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Sellers, said in court on Thursday. "In one instance, Mr. Jones compares himself to John Gotti."
Sellers also said the videos, one of which he played in court, show Jones and a number of his co-defendants flashing the gang signs for 4-Nation.
Sellers cited the videos as evidence as he successfully requested that U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter keep the 30-year-old Jones incarcerated pending his prosecution.
Jones has been in prison since he was arrested in early June, when the grand jury indictment in the 4-Nation case was unsealed. His lawyer asked Baxter to release Jones on home electronic monitoring or work release. Sellers argued that Jones was a flight risk and would be a threat to the community if released.
Baxter agreed with Sellers. Among other things, she said the U.S. Attorney's Office at the hearing had linked Jones to 4-Nation, partly through the gang signs he and others flashed on the video. One of the signs, Sellers said, is four fingers held up.
"There is evidence connecting Mr. Jones to the 4-Nation gang known for drug activity and violence, including but not limited to his close association with other gang members and his display of symbols associated with the gang," Baxter said in her ruling.
The other evidence against Jones, based on what Sellers presented in court, include wiretapped conversations in which investigators said other accused members of 4-Nation can be heard talking about Jones in the context of drug dealing and other illegal activity.
"This is a large drug-trafficking conspiracy," Baxter said in her ruling. "The weight of the evidence against Mr. Jones is strong."
Why feds plan to use videos as evidence in 4-Nation case
The videos are almost certain to be prosecution evidence if the case goes to trial. Sellers said in court on Thursday that Jones over the past nine years made 12 to 13 videos, and that those videos refer to 4-Nation.
Some of the videos were made in Erie, and others appear to have been made in the area of Tampa, Florida, where Jones and his family had been living for about four months prior to his arrest, according to information presented at Thursday's hearing. Jones, his wife and their two children, 5 and 7 years old, were living in a condominium they had built in Tampa, the defense said.
In the indictment, the U.S. Attorney's Office said the use of social media, including videos, represented a key element in 4-Nation's operations — another indication that the videos could be evidence at trial.
"4-Nation members and associates frequently use social media platforms, to include Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, to post pictures, videos and statements that identify and highlight the existence of the gang, their affiliation with the gang and gang-related activities," according to the indictment.
"4-Nation members and associates also use these same social media platforms to communicate directly with each other and to express respect and homage to deceased and incarcerated 4-Nation members."
In another court filing in the case, docketed Sept. 29, Sellers said: "Many members of 4-Nation will produce rap and music videos discussing the gang, shootings, selling drugs, gang activity, etc. Investigators have obtained hundreds if not thousands of images, videos and social media posts confirming these descriptions and activities."
U.S. Attorney's Office describes Jones as head of Erie gang
In court on Thursday, Sellers described Jones as the "de facto" head of 4-Nation. Jones is the lead defendant of the 58 people indicted in the 4-Nation case. He has pleaded not guilty.
In addition to being the largest-ever criminal case prosecuted in federal court in Erie, the 4-Nation case is the first in which the U.S. Attorney's Office brought charges in Erie under RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
The first 22 defendants in the case are accused of being members of 4-Nation. The 22 are each charged with a RICO count — on allegations that the gang was a criminal enterprise that distributed illegal drugs and engaged in other crimes — and a charge that they conspired to traffic in cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl and other drugs for the past 10 years.
The other 36 defendants are accused of conspiring to traffic in illegal drugs, with some of those defendants connected to the 4-Nation defendants. Some of the defendants are also accused of weapons offenses.
As part of the probe, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies seized 19.2 pounds of methamphetamine; 180,018 fentanyl pills; 5.22 kilograms of cocaine, or about 11.5 pounds; 4.9 kilograms of fentanyl powder, or about 11 pounds; 709.5 grams of fentanyl-related drugs, or about 25 ounces; several pounds of marijuana, 33 guns and $235,151 in cash.
Jones and the other members of 4-Nation did not hide from their illegal activities, Sellers said in court on Thursday. He said the YouTube videos showed that they had no qualms about broadcasting what they were doing.
Videos credited to Bantup Smoov. What do they show?
The video that Sellers played in court is called "Shoot First," which was uploaded to YouTube on June 27, 2021. The video is credited to Jones under the name Bantup Smoov.
The video lasts 2 minutes and 38 seconds and shows Jones reciting rap lyrics in the area of East 24th and Wallace streets — the street signs are displayed in one scene — and other spots in Erie, with a number of other purported members of 4-Nation surrounding him.
Jones is holding large amounts of cash in several scenes.
"I get respect. It's like the pope," Jones says on the video.
"Shoot first, ask questions: That's how we ride," he also says. "And we are the most hated (obscenity) on the east side.
"We throwing up a 4 rather than throwing peace signs," Jones says as he displays four fingers. "And when you are coming down our block, check the street signs."
The video shows the street signs at the intersection of East 24th and Wallace streets.
The line about John Gotti is included in another video, "Same Circle," credited to Bantup Smoov and Reese Youngn and uploaded to YouTube on Nov. 20, 2020. Jones recites rap lyrics throughout the video, which lasts 2 minutes and 53 seconds.
The video is set inside a residence and opens with a printed disclaimer: "Warning. We do not promote gang violence. Any type of material used in the making of this music video were for entertainment purposes only. All props, scenes and lyrics should not be taken seriously."
Jones delivers the line about John Gotti on the video. He is also shown holding up four fingers, displaying cash and rapping about gunfire.
"If they throw shots over this way, we are going to make it rain," Jones says.
"I'm sick of telling my (obscenity) you gotta save your money, because you ain't living for the day. We've got a long journey," he also says.
Wedding video also presented as evidence in 4-Nation case
In court on Thursday, Sellers also referred to other videos that he did not play. He said that one of Jones' videos shows his wife, Minela Krso, "throwing up the 4."
The other video Sellers mentioned is of the wedding ceremony for Jones and Krso, who were married at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie on May 22, 2021. It was posted online.
Sellers told Baxter that the wedding video shows Krso flashing gang signs with Jones' friends. Sellers said the display was one of several reasons to disqualify Krso, 29, for being responsible for monitoring her husband's behavior if he got out of prison ahead of trial.
"It almost plays as an advertisement for 4-Nation," Sellers said of the wedding video.
Do Jones' music videos reflect art or reality?
Sellers made the same argument over the other videos — that Jones and others accused in the case are connecting themselves, in the videos, to 4-Nation and violence and drugs.
Jones' lawyer, Michael Waltman, of Pittsburgh, disputed Sellers' argument on Thursday. He described Jones as a "music artist" who makes rap videos. Waltman cited the First Amendment and free expression and questioned the U.S. Attorney's Office ability to tie the videos to gang activity.
"They can speculate as to what these videos mean," Waltman said.
Sellers countered that the videos reflect reality. He said investigators have linked Jones' description of events in his lyrics to illegal activity that actually occurred.
"The actions described in the videos are actions we see acted out by the gang in Erie," he said.
Jones knew what was going on with 4-Nation, Sellers said. He referred to a line in "Shoot First," in which Jones says, "You know the feds watching gang like a TV screen."
Sellers told Baxter: "In this instance, the feds were watching. We have been watching for some time."
Sellers addressed Waltman's argument that videos represented art and free expression. Sellers again spoke of what Jones described in the videos and what occurred in Erie in real life.
"The correlation of art to life becomes so amazing, it is not art," Sellers said. "It is a confession."
Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: 'They love me like I'm John Gotti': Rap videos cited in Erie gang case
