Rapper Lil Zay Osama busted in Queens for leaving a tricked out Glock in an Uber
An up-and-coming rapper was arrested in Queens after he left a gun on a seat in an Uber ride, federal authorities said Friday.
Isaiah Dukes, who performs under the name Lil Zay Osama, and several associates took an Uber from a Manhattan hotel to a recording studio in Queens on Thursday, federal prosecutors said. During the ride, the driver noticed Dukes, 25, handling the gun in the backseat, according to a criminal complaint.
When the passengers got out, Dukes allegedly left behind a .40 caliber Glock pistol.
The driver notified law enforcement, who met him at a drop off point. A short time later, he identified the passengers, and Dukes, a convicted felon, who served time in jail on a weapons possession charge, was arrested, authorities said.
Investigators who examined and field tested the firearm later learned that it was modified with a switch device that allowed it to function like a machine gun, firing more than one round with a single trigger pull. Prosecutors said the gun has “the capability of firing until the trigger is lifted.”
Officers also determined that the gun, had one round in the chamber and nine rounds in the magazine. Officials said the gun was manufactured outside New York State.
“The defendant — a convicted felon —carried a loaded pistol affixed with a switch device, rendering the gun to be a machine gun,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Schuman in a note to a federal judge asking that Dukes be detained. “The defendant poses a danger to the community based on his possession of a particularly dangerous firearm.”
Dukes was charged with possession of a machine gun and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Dukes’ familiarity with guns was not limited to his prior conviction. The rapper can be seen on various YouTube videos brandishing what appear to be weapons and rapping about violence and gun details.
“Every day a different Glock,” Dukes raps on one song. ”I just got a brand new Glock. With a fifty and a switch.”
The reference, officials said, is to the machine gun switch and a 50-round magazine.
Federal authorities said there were already two outstanding warrants for Dukes’ arrest, issued by two different jurisdictions.
He already has several felony and misdemeanor convictions, including robbery, battery and a firearm discharge. At 16, the Chicago native was sentenced to five years in a juvenile detention center.
Dukes has also seen the other end of the gun, authorities said. He reportedly survived a 2015 shooting during which he was wounded in the chest. He was arrested on gun charges while he was still in the hospital.
