Gucci Mane, the Atlanta rap titan who has collaborated with Usher, Doja Cat, Migos and other stars, was held at gunpoint at a Dallas music studio in January by another well-known rapper on his record label who federal authorities said on Thursday was one of nine people charged with kidnapping.
The rapper, Pooh Shiesty, 26, whose real name is Lontrell Williams Jr., angrily confronted the label head on Jan. 10 over Mr. Williams’s record contract terms, pointing what appeared to be an AK-style pistol at him after he refused to release Mr. Williams from the contract, Brittany Garcia, a special agent with the F.B.I., wrote in a criminal affidavit.
Another rapper, Rodney Wright Jr., 26, who is known as Big30, brought the weapon that Mr. Williams brandished at the man who had signed him to his label, the authorities said. Gucci Mane, 46, who was born Radric Davis, was one of three victims who were held and robbed, the affidavit said.
Mr. Wright used his phone to record the confrontation, in which Mr. Davis was forced to say that he was releasing Mr. Williams from his contract, the affidavit said. Both Mr. Williams and Mr. Wright, who was also charged with kidnapping, are from Memphis.
Mr. Williams then robbed Mr. Davis of his wedding ring, watch, earrings and cash during the confrontation at a music studio on Dallas Parkway, according to federal prosecutors, who said that Mr. Davis had been led to believe he was attending a business meeting.
All nine men who were charged face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted, including Mr. Williams’s father, Lontrell Williams Sr., who the authorities said was part of the group involved.
“Instead of discussing business in a civil matter, the defendants resorted to violence and intimidation to achieve their purported business objectives,” Ryan R. Raybould, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, said in a statement.
One of the other men who was charged choked an associate of Mr. Davis’s during the episode, causing him to nearly lose consciousness, before stealing his Rolex, a Louis Vuitton bag with other expensive watches in it and his wallet, investigators said.
Some of the men later posted photos on social media of the items that they had stolen, according to the authorities, who included the images in the affidavit.
At the time of the kidnapping, investigators said, the younger Mr. Williams was wearing an ankle monitor and was on home detention in an unrelated federal case. In that case, he was sentenced to 63 months for conspiracy to possess firearms in furtherance of violent and drug trafficking crimes in Florida in 2022.
Under the conditions of his home detention, which was approved last October, he agreed that he would not possess any deadly weapon or knowingly be in the company of someone with a deadly weapon.
A representative for Mr. Williams declined to comment on Thursday.
It was not clear if he or the other men, including his father, had lawyers.
Representatives for Mr. Wright and Mr. Davis did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
Eight of the nine men were arrested on Wednesday, the authorities said. One was still at large as of Thursday evening.
Mr. Davis’s label, 1017 Records, was named in the affidavit, but the rapper was identified only by his initials. He has faced his own legal troubles, including drug, assault and weapons charges.
In 2014, he was sentenced to 39 months in federal prison for illegal possession of a firearm, but served less than two years. According to a New York Times profile of Mr. Davis in 2016, he had been arrested at least 10 times since 2001.
Jesus Jiménez contributed reporting.
Neil Vigdor covers breaking news for The Times, with a focus on politics.
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